Caray, Caray!

My last recap, and boy, did I get a doozie of an episode. Whoopie! I had problems with the sound breaking up in the first third of the first capítulo, though, so any corrections on that (or on any of the rest of it) are very welcome.

Make sure your seatbelts are tightly fastened, and the overhead compartments securely latched, and hang on!


Capítulo 204


Friday: Kristel showed up at La Mala Noche in yet another step in her carefully constructed career development plan. This particular step she calls “What the Hey.”

In Fedra’s dressing room, a startlingly solicitous Lorenzo is massaging Fedra’s leg and telling her that everything’s great. The policeman and Marianela are out of the way, and they are together, so how’s about having some lovely wine and sitting and watching the new dancer? La Reina is not amused. She doesn’t want to be stuck in a wheelchair watching some babe dance on her set.

He keeps on massaging, telling her how things are going to change real quick now, and they’ll get everything back and have a great life. Fedra glooms about a life without the use of her legs, and without Emanuel. He says yeah, he feels it, he just lost Ilitia, too. The sound keeps breaking up here like a bad cell phone connection, so bear with me.

Owie! says Fedra, and Lorenzo realizes she has feeling in her foot. They’re excited. He tells her to try moving her toes. She stares at them hard, and sure enough, she wiggles them a little. Jubilation.

Ilitia is happily rubbing her tummy and reflecting that Brandon will be the best darned daddy in the whole wide world. She hears applause behind her and turns to see Mauricio in her bedroom, clapping and saying gosh, she almost makes him want to weep. She calls out for Muñeca and Fidel, but Mauricio smugly informs her there’s nobody home.

Rats, the sound keeps cutting out and I’m getting only about 50% of what is said. Mauricio throws a paper on the bed; Ilitia is supposed to write a note to Muñeca saying she’s going away for a while and needs to be alone, or her mother gets it. He tells her she’s coming with him, she refuses. He tells her that Mayela is her real mother, she thinks he’s lying. Anybody else might be feeling like they were losing ground at this point, but not Mauricio. He just tells her she has to write the note and come with him or Mayela gets it. There are some goons with her right now, in fact.

The Lirio comes into Vicky’s room and she exclaims You’re here! The Lirio de Plata! (Would you like to have a boyfriend called the Silver Lily?) She falls into his arms and gets right to kissing him. He professes his undying love. She tells him she wants an honest answer – did he take the papers that were inside her dolly? Not me, sez he, and he tells her that this is probably their last night together. Back to heavy-duty kissing.

Ilitia doesn’t believe Mauricio, so he gets out his cell and tells her to talk to the lady. The lady is Mayela who is weeping that guys broke in and are holding guns on her. Call the police! Ilitia says she can’t do anything because Mauricio is there telling her she’s coming with him and those are his men. She doesn’t want him to rape her again, and doesn’t want her baby hurt.

Mayela tells her not to do anything to save her, and not to go anywhere with Monster Mau. Ilitia asks if she’s really her mother. Your real mother is Muñeca, says Mayela frantically. I never loved you; you were never important to me, so don’t do anything for me, and don’t go with Mau. Ilitia tells her Mau said he would kill her (Mayela) if she didn’t go with him. When you were born, I put you in the orphanage, says Mayela, heck, I would have thrown you in the trash, so don’t do anything for me.

See? says Mau snatching the cell phone away. Ilitia is to write the letter, or Mayela is a goner.

The comisario waves the headline about the Lirio saving little Javi under Brandon’s nose, and gives him hell for not doing his duty. Brandon protests that he may be a policeman, but he’s a human being too, and Javi is like a son to him. Besides, it’s a policeman’s job to save the lives of others, and that’s what he helped do.

The comi tells him about Jairo having an interview lined up with the Lirio. Get him, or lose your badge.

Vicky asks the Lirio why it’s the last time. He swears he loves her, and doesn’t want her to ever forget him, but the time has come for him to turn himself in. A journalist is going to interview him, and then the whole world will know who he is, and then it’s jail. Vicky begs him not to.

Fedra wants to see her doctor right now. Lorenzo says he’ll bring him; too dangerous for her to go to the hospital. She exults about being able to move her legs in the future. Lo cheers her on, and says that her strength is one of the million things that makes him love her. Sí, ¿verdad? she agrees. He tells her that she’s the love of his life. She tells him she’s awfully vulnerable right now.

Kristel tells Bernardo that she’s grossed out (eeew! eeew!) that her mami was a stripper there. Bernardo says Fedra got the place to relax, and to exorcise her demons. Kristel’s plan is to dance and to be mil ocho mil times better, and to see her suffer. Bernardo laughs and says she has to follow his orders now, but he’s sure they’ll be able to help one another.

Ilitia has written the letter: “Mama, don’t worry about me. I just had to go away to think about my life, my future.” Perfect! says Mau, let’s go. No, says Ilitia, not until you call your goons off Mayela.

She pleads that she’s pregnant, but he just grabs her and demands to know how she could sleep with that crummy policeman. You’re mine! He drags her struggling to another room.

Emiliano and Netty are having dinner in a romantic restaurant, and he reflects in his velvet voice that finally, after all these years, they can be together. He is amazed that Fedra was capable of so many lies. He talks about how he loves all his children, and Netty assures him that they can always count on her affection and support. Aw, that’s why he loves her so much. It’s hard to wrap his mind around all this stuff (tiny hamster, big wheel). And then there’s Kristel… Netty looks surprised. You mean Kristel isn’t your daughter either?

What do you mean “either”? asks Emil.

Delicia and Axel overhear Nereida telling somebody on the phone that she’ll jump into a taxi and get over to La Mala Noche. Axel has a flashback of tricked-out Gretel telling him he can’t be at La Mala Noche y punto.

The Lirio tells Vicky he can’t be a coward, he has to buckle up his swash and face the music. She pleads for him not to abandon the kids, or her. Fedra’s a bad person, but he’s different! To the law, we’re the same, he intones. More weeping, more begging. He’s doing it for her; she’s the most important person in the world for him. She doesn’t want him to go to the polithia. That Vicky sure has focus; she never forgets to do her accent. He wants them to be able to love each other without masks.

Emil is ruefully chuckling over the latest news. Oh well, as least he knows Axel and Gretel are his kids. Netty coughs nervously. Then she gives him the backstory on Mari/Vicky – lost weight in Spain, like another person, pretending to be Mari’s friend, Netty didn’t realize either, then Jorge told her, and Jorge not her husband.

Emil can tell Netty doesn’t much like Jorge. She thinks he has ulterior motives that don’t include the amor he professes. Emil’s glad, now Eman and Mari can be together, but Netty drops the bomb that Mari’s baby isn’t Eman’s. In fact, she suspects Jorge, since he liquored her up and took advantage of her. Emil’s jaw flaps open and shut a few times.

El Lirio declares that Vicky deserves a man who shows his face. She asked him to give up the Lirio biz, remember? She weeps that she was wrong, and he should keep fighting for what he believes in. Nawp, he’s gonna do the interview and take off the mask, and he wants her there with him. It’s all coming down tomorrow. He hands her Jairo’s phone number and an address where he will wait for them.

More weepy lovetalk. The Lirio says he was born to love her. I thought he was going to climb back out the window, but no, she puts on her blindfold and he takes off his mask and it’s time to bust some awesome beso bop moves.

Bernardo wants to know what Nereida’s doing in Kristel’s changing room. Kristel blathers that she needs a personal assistant, so privacy please, yes yes? Bernardo smiles luridly through all that, then turns icy and orders Nereida not to let Fedra see her.

Netty tells Emil more – how Brandon is the actual father of Ilitia’s baby (Emil is astonished) and now it turns out that Mari’s baby isn’t Eman’s (Emil is astonished again, though he already heard about it a few minutes ago. What a loveable doof!) He feels sure Eman will understand, though, and will love the child like his own. Vicky and Eman’s destiny is to love one another and be together forever.

Netty just loves how he talks. She runs about the table and kisses him. Cut to the unmasked masked man and the masked unmasked woman in bed, also kissing.

Brandon shows up at Muñeca’s to get Ilitia, but Muñeca, Flora and the kids just came back, so they guess she’s up in her room. (Wasn’t Muñeca going to pack up the kids and go hide just yesterday? What happened with that? Here they are still all settled in at home.) Muñeca wants to hear the latest, and Brandon takes her hands and gushes over Ilitia, how he loves her, how they’re going to create a family, how he’s going to ask her tonight to marry him. Muñeca is meltingly happy. Little Apple comes down the stairs with Ilitia’s note and everyone’s hopes are dashed.

The note goes on to say “Tell Brandon to forgive me, and to forget me and our child.”

Maurico has gagged Ilitia, and tied her hands. He tosses her on the couch and delivers one of his speeches for which he so famous, about how it’s going to be a night of passion. She believes the police will come after him, but he tells her nobody knows about this house in the boonies he’s bought.

Yet another blindfold! The doctor is brought blindfolded to Fedra’s dressing room. She apologizes for the rough handling, but the police might be looking for them. It’s important to her to have a living doctor to attend her, get it? He gets it. She sends Lorenzo out and then excitedly tells the doctor about the small movement in her toes.

I’ll tell you the truth, the doctor says, but don’t kill me. Huh? she says.

It’s the moment we’ve been waiting for! Lo and Bernardo are sitting together at La Mala Noche, and Kristel’s about to dance. Here she comes! She’s in a harem outfit (her perfect figure oddly enough covered by a sheer flesh-colored body suit), her face, except her eyes, hidden behind a bangled scarf, and look at her hip action! Look at those snake arms! Bring it, Kristel! Whoo-hoo!

Lorenzo thinks she’s preciosa, which is not exactly the word I’d go for. Bernardo says he can fix him up with her if Lo’d like. Lo demurs, saying he’s given up temptations (maybe for Lent?). Bernardo asks him if he doesn’t know that body, and tells him to look closely.

Unlike every other character in this show, Kristel whips her disguise right off for her bows. Lo is impactado.

The doctor, again politely asking not to be slain, tells Fedra that Bernardo paid him to give her with a spinal block. Bernardo? she says wonderingly.

I never thought I’d be on the same brainwave as Bernardo, but “whoo-hoo” is his exact catcall after Kristel prances off. Lorenzo tries to get up, telling Bernardo he can’t let his daughter exhibit herself like that. Bernardo delights in describing the base passions that Kristel arouses in Lorenzo. Lorenzo says he’s fought those impulses since he found out she was his daughter. But what is she doing there dancing?

Just following in Fedra’s footsteps, says Bernardo. They’re so alike! Bernardo yummies over her and Fedra too, and Lo says he would cut off his hands before he ever touched Kristel again. Not necessary, says Bernardo, because Fedra lied to you. Kristel isn’t your child.

Lorenzo thinks Bernardo’s just saying that to separate him from Fedra, and besides, he had the DNA test done. Bernardo snorts that it was Ilitia’s hair Fedra gave him, and suggests a second test. He does some delicious gloating, while Lo mumbles how in love he was with Kristel, and how he was willing to give up everything for her. Bernardo laughs how Fedra did everything she could to separate Lo from Kristel, and guess what – she succeeded. Salud!

Fedra is astonished that Bernardo would do something like that spinal block to her. She wants the doctor to reverse it, but he tells her to just wait, it’ll wear off in 10 days. She grabs him by the tie and demands that he reverse it now. He suddenly remembers he has a medicine he can give her that will hurry it up to tomorrow.

Brandon rips up Ilitia’s note and wonders to Muñeca why she did that to him. She’d just promised to never leave him. Why oh why??? Now he’s crying and furious. She did it again! She used me! She just tossed me in the trash - and she’s taken my child from me.

Muñeca doesn’t understand. She swears that Ilitia loves him, but he doesn’t think Ilitia is capable of it. He’s going to rip her out of his heart once and for all.

What’s this? Ilitia is listening outside a door. She holds her tummy protectively, and tells her baby that Brandon is going realize what happened and come save them.

Next we see Mauricio giving someone some money, telling him he has to go and telling him to take care of Ilitia, and, so she’s not too lonesome, have his goons bring her her mama.

In Kristel’s changing room, Bernardo tells her Lo saw her dance and it drove him crazy, so now he’s outside waiting to congratulate her personally. She agrees, and tarts a bit in front of the mirror, brushing her hair which is so lacquered up that she only dares brush the ends. Bernardo drags Nereida out by the hand so the two can be alone.

Lornezo disapproves of what Kristel is doing, but she says who better to step into her mother’s 4-inch strappy stilettos? He tells her Fedra would take it really hard if she knew, while managing to slyly slip her hairbrush out of her hand.

She wants Fedra to see her, so she can feel Fedra’s jealousy. She wonders what he’s still doing with Fedra – yuck! She comes on to him, but he pushes her off. She can’t understand why he’s rejecting her. Check out this bod! He checks it out all drooly. She tries again to kiss him and he has to really struggle to tell her no, but he finally does. Before anything can happen between them, he has to find something out, and if it’s true, Fedra could end up alone and poor.

Outside, Bernardo gives angry Nereida taxi money to go home, warning her that Fedra must never know what happened. What did happen? she asks. None of your beeswax, he says, giving her a little shove down the street. She hisses at him that it’s obvious – he’s trying to get Lorenzo out of the picture so he can have Fedra all to himself.

Why couldn’t you ever love me like you did her? She’s just treated you like dirt. Leave her! You’ve got me. Bernardo tells her not to compare herself to Fedra. I love you! Nereida declares. Before he can say anything, we hear Fedra’s voice calling him. He tells Nereida to hide, and she squats down behind some trash cans. (Nereida, snap a mental photo. Fedra = la Reina. You = crouched among trash cans. Get the picture?)

This should be good! Tiburon is pushing Fedra’s wheelchair down the street. She sends Tiburon away, and after he’s gone pulls a big gun with a silencer out from under her laprobe and lets him have it in the legs.

You paid the doctor to make it so I couldn’t walk! You try it. He rolls on the pavement, agonizing, while Nereida peeks out in horror.

Capítulo 205

Fedra tells him off big time. So this is how he planned to get Lorenzo out of her life? Lorenzo loves her! He’s sticking with her even though she’s in a wheelchair, and they’re going to get married.

Just kill me! says Bernardo, while hidden Nereida freaks out. I’d like to, says Fedra, but the gun had only two bullets, one for each knee. Now we’re even. I don’t owe you anything. Tiburon will take you to the hospital, and when you get out I’m going to be far from here, tap dancing, walking! Lorenzo and I are going to be husband and wife. Like it?

Too bad your pistol had only two bullets, says Bernardo, pulling out a gun, and calling her an ungrateful bitch (perra malagradecida – an absolute must for your vocabulary list). Fedra reminds him that he couldn’t possibly kill her. Why not? He sneers. Because you love me, she says.

He cocks the pistol. See you in hell, he says, sooner than you think.

He turns the gun to his temple. No! shouts Fedra. BAM, a bullet to the brain. Nereida is hysterical, and Fedra crawls out of her wheelchair to him, lays her hand on his face to close his staring eyes, and lays her head on his side and sobs. Terrified Nereida runs off.

Axel, being driven by someone (isn’t he old enough to drive?) has arrived at La Mala Noche. Inside, Lorenzo is in Fedra’s dressing room, holding Kristel’s hairbrush and telling himself he’ll get the DNA test tomorrow.

Tiburon wheels Fedra in and leaves. Lo notices that she’s shaking and crying. She pulls the blanket from around her shoulders and shows him the blood on her blouse. Bernardo’s dead! She wails. I need a hug, you’re all I have left. He rubs her shoulders and thoughtbubbles that he hopes she didn’t lie to him, or she’ll be joining Bernardo in hell.

Axel comes in, and gloats that there she is with her lover. He’s going to call the police (though he doesn’t seem to have noticed the blood on Fedra). Lorenzo takes him down. He slugs him a few times while Fedra tells him to stop. Who told him they were there? Nobody, says Axel, who receives a few more gut punches.

Lo says he’s going to teach him what his father never did, how to be a man. He’s not Emiliano’s son, Fedra yells, he’s yours and you’re hitting him. Both Lo and Axel look stunned. They stare at each other in horror.

Vicky wakes up and takes off her blindfold – her leather bird has flown. She swears that she won’t let him confess until he knows that they’re expecting a child. She had all night to tell him that, but I guess she didn’t get around to it.

Tiburon is taking Axel away to be locked up somewhere per Fedra’s orders. Lorenzo is furious that he didn’t know Axel was his son. Fedra says she had to stop him some way. So it’s two now, huh, that are mine? Is Kristel really mine? Yes, says Fedra in a small voice. He tells her she better not be lying. Why would I lie? Besides you had the DNA test done.

Jairo calls the comisario to tell him that he has the interview with the Lirio set up. Gretel wanders in and he tells her about his upcoming big scoop, and that he told the police. Gretel takes a fit that he called them. Besides, it was supposed to be her story. He says they’ll do it together, and it’ll be great for her career. She doesn’t want to further her career at the cost to somebody else, particularly the Lirio. Jairo should have talked to her first.

Jairo can’t figure out why she’s so upset. She says she knows who the Lirio is, and no way does she want him thrown in jail.

The comisario exults that they’re about to get the Lirio. Brandon insists that there be no shooting – he wants to take him alive.

Vicky tells Netty about the Lirio aiming to turn himself in. Netty says to heck with that, she’s calling him right now, and she picks up the phone. Hold it, says Vicky… how can you contact him? You know who he is? You have his phone number?

No no no, says Netty. I’m just going to … um... leave a message with someone who knows him. I don’t know who he is.

Vicky doesn’t believe any of this. Netty confesses that she knows who he is, but she’s not going to tell. She promised, just like she promised Vicky not to tell. Vicky begs her to say who he is.

What’s the big deal? Netty wants to know. Just then Jorge strolls into the pension. I need to know, says Vicky, because the Lirio is the father of the child I’m expecting. Netty’s jaw drops. Jorge stares stone-faced. Netty is all excited.

Carlota’s maid appears behind Jorge and greets Vicky warmly. She’s come to testify that Fedra was with Carlota the day she died.

Benigno, Jose Maria and Fidel show up at the big house and Jose Maria tells Emil that he (JM) had said he’d give his life for Eman, and it looks like the moment has come.

Vicky and Gretel are separately lurking in what looks like an empty parking structure, or maybe a concrete building under construction. They both jump when they see the other. Gretel says that she’s come for the Lirio’s interview and that Jairo ratted him out to the police. She talked Jairo into not coming. We cut to him, tied up with tape over his mouth.

Vicky says there’s nothing they can do – El Lirio has decided to turn himself in, and she’s promised to be by his side when he does it.

The Lirio materializes and is glad to see that Gretel will be his interviewer.

Delicia tells Paula that she’s worried – Axel seems to be missing. Next we see Axel trying the locked door of a room, when Lorenzo, all spiffed up in a suit, with a pocket handkerchief that matches his tie, opens it and walks in. The light of fatherhood in his eyes, he says that he never knew Axel was his son. I always thought you were so…. Emiliano never suspected. He steps toward Axel, who turns away, telling him not to touch him.

Lorenzo tells him that he and Fedra are going far away.

Axel: Like the pair of criminals you are.
Lorenzo: We’re going to get married.
A: You’re two of a kind. Get out, leave me alone; I don’t ever want to see you again.
L: You are my son. Even if you don’t believe it, it’s something very important to me. I’ll make sure you are well taken care of, that you don’t lack for anything. It’s the least I can do for you.
A: I don’t want anything that comes from you. My father is Emiliano Ruiz y de Teresa. I’m very proud of him. You are nothing to me - nothing and nobody.

Mauricio brings in Mayela at gunpoint and plops her down on a couch across from Ilitia. He says he kept his word, and now he’ll leave them alone as they probably have a lot to talk about. And they should say their goodbyes, because they won’t be seeing each other again. Today Ilitia’s new life starts, at his side.

Two plastic chairs are set up in the cement-walled room and there’s a video camera. The Lirio sits in one and instructs Vicky to start filming. Both ladies protest, but he’s firm in his conviction.

Gretel starts up in TV news anchor mode: We’re here today with the Lirio de Plata, and the police are on the way. Lirio, (he corrects her to “Lirio de Plata”) many people think you are a hero. No, he says, I’m just someone who cares about the well-being of others.

Gretel states that the Lirio only robs Mafiosi and narcotraficos but what makes him different from them? (Probing journalist Gretel leaves out the inconvenient detail that he also steals from society people, his own wedding guests included.)

The narcotraficos destroy the souls of all of us, and steal the future of our young people. I just want to give it back to them. Maybe it wasn’t the best way to do it, and I don’t recommend it for others. I know have a debt to pay to justice, and I’m ready to pay it.

Police sirens. Gretel wipes a tear away, Vicky begs him not to do it. Nope, he says. It’s time, and everyone needs to know who’s behind the mask.

He turns to Gretel and and I think he says (the sirens are so loud) that she above everyone should know what it’s like to live with so many lies. He starts to untie his mask. Both ladies look on breathlessly.

He takes the mask off. Tu! Eres tu, Emanuel! He allows himself a little smile and Vicky faints dead away. Gretel begs him to leave. The police are sneaking up on the Lirio by blaring their sirens, so we know they’re close. At the rate they’ve been approaching, he could be on a beach in Brazil sipping an umbrella drink by now. He begs Marianela (!) to wake up.

Outside there are a gazillion police cars and everyone in combat gear. Brandon knows Vicky is in there, and asks the comisario to let him do things his way. He wants to go in alone, and promises he’ll bring the Lirio out. Okay, says the comisario reluctantly. Oliver wants to go in with him, and Brandon says okay. For unknown reasons (okay, actually known, for visual effect) golden dust swirls high. The comisario tells everyone to stay outside. Police are running in all directions.

Rogue cop Valenzuela grumbles that it’s always about Brandon and Oliver. He wants to be the one to bring the Lirio down.

Gretel begs Emanuel to run; they want him dead or alive. He says he’ll go peacefully, and keeps tending to unconscious MariVicky, who must have one hell of a bra on, as her bazoomies don’t seem to have swooned with the rest of her, perkily thrusting heavenward as she lies supine on the concrete.

She comes to. Yes it’s me, he says. Now you understand why I have to turn myself in, that I can’t send my own mother to prison while I don’t pay for the crimes I’ve committed. He assures her there won’t be any shooting. She doesn’t care if they shoot her – she will gladly die at his side. Time for a kiss.

Gretel begs him again – they’ve got guns! He puts his mask back on. Vicky decides this is a good time to tell him who she really is, but Oliver and Brandon come in, guns drawn. Vicky clings to the Lirio.

Now it’s time for that mother-daughter chat. Mayela tells Ilitia she didn’t need to do anything to save her. Ilitia protests that she gave her life. Mayela says she didn’t want to get pregnant, didn’t want to have children. She left Ilitia at the orphanage and Muñeca moved heaven and earth to find her. Her real mother is Muñeca.

Don’t tell me that you don’t love me, says Ilitia, because it’s not true. You’ve always been near me. Your father obligated me, says Mayela. I would help with your career with the stipulation that you would never know the truth. Rats, Ilitia still believes Mayela loves her. She’s afraid.

Mayela asks for a hug and Ilitia goes to her. They hug and cry and Mayela tells her of course she matters to her. She does love her, she just knew that Ilitia’s life would be better away from her.

Mauricio comes in and laughs sarcastically. What a moving family moment! He snaps a photo with his cell.

Gretel plants herself in front of the Lirio and tells Oliver and Brandon if they want to get at him, they’ll have to kill her first. The Lirio says he’s going to turn himself in peacefully. Vicky asks him to come with her, because it’s very important that he hear what she has to say before he goes. Brandon is not in favor. Vicky tells him to arrest her too, then; it would be an honor to be an accomplice to the Lirio de Plata.

Oliver wonders what’s up with her and the Lirio. She loves him! She loves him with all the power of her soul! (Look at how that translates into English… can you believe that we’re so used to that kind of purple love declaration that our lips move along with a character’s when they say this sort of smarmy stuff? However iffy our Spanish in other realms, after watching novelas we are all linguistically groomed to have a torrid love affair with a Spanish speaker.)

Brandon, to Oliver’s surprise, gives him 10 minutes to talk to her. He can’t begrudge 10 minutes to someone who brought him back to life. He has a flashback of Eman pounding on his chest to get his heart started. (I thought he’d given up on the idea of Eman being the Lirio, but whatever….) Oliver can’t stand that the Lirio is walking away, but Gretel stops him with a glare.

The police are all outside waiting when they see the Lirio and Vicky appear on a balcony. The commisario radios in to Brandon.

The rogue cop is creeping up some stairs. He gets a call on his cell, and tells whoever it is not to call him; he’s right in the middle of a big operation. Turns out it’s Mauricio he’s talking to. Mauricio wants the Lirio, and after that, he wants him to kill Brandon. Ilitia cries out. Mau assures him about his paycheck.

Ilitia tearfully points out that Mauricio has her, so why can’t he leave Brandon alone? Because he’ll hunt me down, says Mau, sitting down and relaxing. Ilitia thinks the note will have convinced Brandon that she’s left by herself. Nawp, he can’t risk it. Mayela thinks that when Lo finds out, he’ll kill Brandon himself.

Mauricio whips out his gun, scaring them. He’ll get Lo first, and, with the Lirio and Brandon out of the way, and all the business in his hands, there’s nobody but nobody to stand in his way. Bwaaahahahaha!

Brandon, by cell phone, tells the comisario that everything is under control. Oliver meantime is eyeing Gretel like he’s annoyed. So, your brother, he’s the Lirio. He fiddles with the camera. He’s decided to make a decision about his venemito’s family. Gretel pleads that Eman is part of his family now too. I know, he says, removing the videotape cartridge. He pulls yards of tape out of it. Because you and I are going to get married. He drops to his knees and she does too. He proposes to weepy Gretel, who asks if he wants to be married to someone who’s maybe not so stable and has lots of problems.

Of course he does. Just the way that she offered her life to save her brother, he’d do the same for her. Every time she’s had a crisis, he’s been there. She knows he’s been there for her in the worst moments of her life, when any other man would have run away. More wonderful lovetalk, more crying on both their parts, and they decide maybe they’re both crazy. She accepts joyfully and they kiss. Aw.

Back to our other lovers. Eman tells Vicky that despite being about to go to jail, he feels freer than ever, now that there are no secrets between them. No, she says, she has a lot to tell him, and after she does, she hopes he won’t turn himself in. He tells her nothing is going to change his mind.

Somebody runs up and cold-cocks Eman from behind. Why, it’s our little Benigno, who tells Vicky he’s just protecting Eman as always. Emil and Jose Maria, in a Lirio outfit, are there too, having gotten through the police lines heaven knows how. Do we care about these little details? Nah! Let the good times roll!

Emil has a change of clothes for Eman along, and Vicky wants to know where they got that Lirio costume. He lets Vicky know he’s stood in for the Lirio before. He asks Jose Maria if he’s sure about what he’s doing. JM says there’s no other way. He knows jail; he doesn’t have long to live, but their (!) son has a lot of future ahead of him.

Good thing we had that closeup of Eman and JM so we don’t see Eman in his undies.

Fedra, still in a wheelchair, but now in pearls and a white dress, asks sulky Axel if he isn’t glad that she’s marrying his father. He can be the witness. Axel wants to leave. If you wanted to destroy me, you already did it by telling me the truth. She’s afraid he’ll have to stay because he tends to be more gossipy than macho.

Besides, she doesn’t see why he’s so upset about. Now that he knows Lorenzo is his father, he ought to make a little effort to get closer to him. Axel tells her to shut up, that’s not his father. Just saying his name makes her dirty. Fedra says she guesses that’s how Axel is, he’d rather play the guitar and sleep with servants.

And who are you? You have this place, you’re a tiebolera (stripper, table dancer). Me? Says Fedra, a tiebolera? No, she says, rising from the wheelchair. I am La Reina.

Axel is stunned that she’s standing. She tells him that’s her first step. She sits back down and Tiburon comes to roll her to where the judge is. If you weren’t such a rotten musician, she zings Axel, I’d have you play the wedding march.

In a makeshift wedding chapel with bordello-red walls, actually the main stage of La Mala Noche, the mafia lawyer tells Lo he’ll have the results of Kristel’s DNA test tomorrow. Lo wants to know about Mauricio. They’re searching, says the lawyer, but they haven’t been able to find him.

Tiburon rolls Fedra in. She dramatically stands and walks towards Lorenzo, who admires the doctor’s handiwork. I think she says (seductively) that he must think it’s great that she can move her legs. He kisses her shoulder and calls her the most beautiful bride in the world. Sí,¿verdad? she agrees.

She thinks white isn’t the right color; she should have worn black for Bernardo. Lor doesn’t look pleased, so she says it’s a little late in the game for white, it makes her feel dirty, deceptive - he likes that doesn’t he? Yum, yes, it fascinates him. Nothing, he says, is as true in life as his love for her. She flutters happily that she feels like the heroine at the end of a telenovela like the ones Netty does, only the others are the antagonistas and she is the protagonista. He goes to kiss her, but suddenly she’s haughty.

Being in love doesn’t make her stupid, she says, Before she signs any marriage certificate, she wants to be real clear about what’s happening with the money. The lawyer steps up and says the money will be in an account in Switzerland and it will require both signatures, or the death certificate of the other, for any withdrawal. Fedra smiles her approval. Til death us do part, and the person left is a millionaire!

I sense an anvil approaching at 32.2 feet per second per second.

Eman, now in his civvies, is unconscious. Oliver and Brandon, guns drawn, come running in with Gretel and demand to know what’s going on. The fake Lirio says Eman tried to rescue Victoria, so he knocked him out. Eman comes to and holds his head. He tries to figure out what’s going on. Who is that Lirio? Where is his own outfit? Emil tells him it’s for his own good.

Brandon lets the comi know that everything’s in hand. Eman protests forcefully, but Brandon tells him not to obstruct the law. In the background, we see the rogue cop come around the corner and point his gun. Eman demands that the Lirio take off his mask, and the Lirio starts to, but the rogue cop shoots him.

Oliver finds the rogue cop and demands to know why he shot. The cop says the Lirio was armed, but Oliver knows better. The cop shoots Brandon, and starts to run off, but Oliver shoots him. Pandemonium.

Ilitia is hysterical, sure that Brandon is going to be killed. Mayela hugs her and tells her to hang on for her baby.

Eman takes the mask off the Lirio and is amazed to see that it’s Jose Maria.

Outside, the comisario wants to know what the hell’s going on. Oliver responds, saying that Brandon is busy right now, but they’ll be down in five minutes. Oliver is holding a gun on the rogue cop, who is wounded in the leg.

Brandon pops back up – he had a bullet-proof vest on. Eman asks dying Maria Jose why he did it. JM says Eman’s cause is his cause; and Eman is his son and he has to watch out for him. It was the right thing to do. He swoons.

For somebody who thinks she’s a telenovela heroine, Fedra sure is offhand about the wedding vows, but it’s all done and they’re man and wife. Suddenly Mauricio is in the background, applauding, and saying congratulations. Two goons appear behind him. Pulling out his cellphone, he says he has a little present for Lorenzo. He shows him the photo of Ilitia and Mayela and tells him that he has his little princess in his power, so if Lo so much as lays a finger on him, he’ll kill her like a dog.

Nereida has told Delicia and Paula about Bernardo. They are horrified. Nereida has her suitcase and is about to leave, but tio to the max, Max, comes in and says he’s giving orders and Nereida and all of them are to go with him to the police to denounce Fedra as a murderer. Nooo, wails Nereida. What do you mean, no? Max demands.

Brandon is rapidly filling the comisario in. Netty shows up, and hears that the Lirio’s been wounded. We see Jose Maria being carried by on a stretcher. The comisario gloats that they finally have him, and when he gets better, he’s going to be clapped in a maximum-security prison.

Jose Maria gasps to Eman that it had to be that way. Eman begs him to hang on. Capitan Sevilla, don’t die!

Let me go, says Jose Maria. Look at me – there’s no pain, just a peaceful smile. Eman doesn’t want to, now that he’s found him, he doesn’t want to be separated from him. He calls him papa. Jose Maria gasps that it’s the greatest blessing he’s ever received to hear him say Papa. He fades away.

No, no! mourns Eman. I love you, mi capitan. Mi capitan! Papa…

Avances: Gran Final!

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