Caray, Caray!

There was a question recently about episode numbers. I had been counting the episodes in one-hour increments and numbering them accordingly. Not surprisingly, these numbers don't match up with the official numbers on the esmas website. I haven't been looking there because I want to avoid spoilers. The ep numbers tend to get out of sync because of differences between the way Televisa creates these shows to be aired in Mexico, and the way Univision chooses to broadcast them (for example, I think someone mentioned an Easter special that we didn't see).

To avoid confusion, I'll stop numbering the episodes with my hourly count. That way you don't go looking for the wrong episode number on YouTube or whatever.

Part 1: No more Mr. Howdy Doody

Tom is sighing at Lupita's window (I guess he's recovered from Pina's rejection) when Pina comes outside with Abeja, who is whining painfully. Abeja and Popeye exchange joyful but longing greetings from afar. Pina tries to get rid of Tomás, but he insists on helping out with the trip to the vet.

At the awards event, everyone is shocked to see Pancho show up with his entire family. (I have no idea WHY they're surprised.) Rebe sees Pancho and glammed-up Chela exchange proud glances and suddenly looks a little insecure. The press flocks around him with easy questions, and one reporter even says he's their favorite businessman!

Vince expresses relief to his beloved Inés that Pancho's family didn't bring the dog this time. She takes one look at Candy and tells Vince she's the epitome of vulgarity. (When this actress was in Querida Enemiga, we called her character "Snorty" partly because of the disapproving face she'd make as she sniffed each dish prepared by her catering staff. NOBODY makes a better disapproving face than Maria Rubio.) Then she pretends not to recognize Rebeca, whom she's already met.

Pancho tries to make nice with Inés and introduces Chela. Chela offers her hand, which Inés accepts with obvious reservation. Chela recoils slightly. Rebeca, of all people, asks if she's all right. Chela confides that Inés gives her the creeps. She actually felt a shiver when they shook hands. Rebe observes that this may be the first time they agree about something.

Candy is fending off admirers when Vince beckons to her from behind a potted plant. She refuses to wish him luck over her own brother. She gives him only the tiniest kiss, but he obviously enjoys it.

The ceremony is starting. Amazingly, the compere is none other than Pancho's stuttering speech coach! He's not stuttering tonight. Vince gets back to his table, looking flustered, with a leaf from the potted plant still in his hair. His son and fellow Pesketeers notice.

The compere asks Vice and Pancho to come to the podium. Chela gets her family to cheer for Pancho. Arnold leads Vice's table in a competing cheer. Pancho and Vice approach the stage arm-in-arm. Candy frets over the tension. Vice winks at Inés. Pancho is suspicious of Vice's overconfident air.

Mónica is at home (the Lopez home), plugging names into search engines, looking for her mother. Popeye scratches at the door. She takes him outside and he runs through his little routine of tricks. Moni can see that he wants to tell her something, but she can't figure out what.

The compere introduces Inés. Rebeca grumbles to Chela what a horrid woman she is, but stops herself in time to avoid divulging that the woman was buying votes for Vice. But Chela notices the awkward break.

Vice and Pancho trash-talk while Snorty, er, Inés disdainfully opens the envelope. Guess who the winner is? Just guess.

Vice gloats. Pancho and his family are sad. Vice gives an icky speech about how tenacity and professionalism triumph over vulgarity, and his award is a symbol of class, good breeding, and culture defeating coarseness and barbarity. He takes Pancho aside and tells him, "this is the beginning of your end."

Fernanda shows up unexpectedly and tells the crowd that the award is a fraud and a lie, based upon the lowest kind of corruption. ("I'll kill her," Inés grumbles.) She reveals that Inés paid millions of dollars for a vote. The two of them trade ugly accusations in front of an open mike. Beto offers to turn the microphone off, but Fernanda says she wants everyone to know what sort of vermin Inés is.

Meanwhile, the vet tells Pina that Abeja will be having her pups very soon. Pina wants to stay and hold Abeja's "hand," but the vet won't allow it. Pina is suddenly very excited about becoming a grandmother! The doctor says Abeja is depressed and anxious because she needs to be with the father of her puppies, and Pina's attitude isn't good for her.

Inés ends the bitchfest with Fernanda by saying "drop dead - oh excuse me, that is going to happen very soon, right?" Even the Pesketeers are horrified by that.

Pancho is still stunned to hear that the whole thing was rigged. Stunned and angry. Rebeca tearfully admits that Fer even tried to get her to bribe that guy twice as much as Inés, but she couldn't do it. Now he's REALLY angry to know that she and Fernanda have been working him like a puppet for a prize that's no more than a battle between two rich and powerful women. He knew Fernanda manipulated him into signing that contract in the first place, but didn't think Rebeca would do such a thing, he got all dressed up and brought his whole family for this thing, he doesn't ever want to see her again. NEVER!

Vice stops Pancho on his way out and gloats some more that the party is just beginning and "you and your families are losers and you'll have to go back to the market and the 'hood." Candy hears this and screams in Vice's face that she'll never forgive him. NEVER!

Rebeca begs Pancho's forgiveness. Unfortunately, he's not in the ladies' room to hear her.

Fernanda tells Pancho that she did everything she could to ensure his win. (Wow, lady, you REALLY don't get it, do you?) He doesn't want to hear about it. He says it's time he set some things straight while he still has his dignity. He and his family file into La Burra, leaving Fernanda looking ashamed and bewildered.

At the awards event, Vice tells the Pesketeers and Fraud that this will lead to juicier contracts and they're going to be rich. Pina calls and tells Fraud that he's about to become an uncle. Vice runs away with trophy still clutched in his hand!

At the vet's, Tomás excuses himself and Pina thanks him for his help.

At home, Pancho goes to his room and cries. Candy also wants to be alone. The family frets. Moni shows up and says Popeye is agitated.

Pancho, still crying, is now packing a suitcase angrily. I guess that bag is gonna pay, even if no one else does!

Rebe and Fer compare notes. Rebe thinks she's going to lose Pancho and she doesn't blame him. She wants to be alone.

Pancho tells the family he's leaving. They offer to go with him, but he needs to be alone. (Hey, I just noticed, Chacho cleans up pretty nice. Too bad Chela never looks at him!)

Pina and Vice fret in the vet's waiting room. Abeja's going to need a C-section, because she's very small, while the pups are large and many. They and Abeja will all DIE if he doesn't open her up soon. He needs their permission. There is much melodrama.

Chela serves some chocolate. Fernanda comes over and they won't tell her where Pancho went. She explains what happened with the vote. They think Pancho will forgive her in time. Chela asks if she'd like anything brought up to her room; Fer says she's staying at a hotel. She feels the house is now more theirs than hers. Chela promises to tell Pancho next time she sees him that Fernanda's sorry.

Ana notes that Pancho left without any supper. She suggests that Chela bring him something to heat up. (Sure, go ahead. He's still not going to fall in love with you, though.)

At the clinic, the vet has bad news: everyone's okay, but none of the pups look like Abejita. They're all bushy and dark like Popeye. Vice and Pina are devastated. They ask him to keep their secret. I'm surprised they don't ask him to put them in a sack and take them to the river.

Popeye paces in frustration around the foyer at home. Rebeca arrives, wanting to see Pancho. Ana isn't helpful, but Rebe thinks she knows where she can find him.

Sure enough, Chela has gone to the Casa Popular with some food. She can't leave him alone for ONE HOUR! She gives him another speech about Who We Are and Where We Belong. She relays Fernanda's regrets and puts in a good word for forgiveness.

And also sure enough, Rebeca shows up there just in time to see them hugging, and not exactly kissing, but their mouths are close enough to make an insecure woman worry. Chela says "you two have much to discuss," and excuses herself. She walks out to the sidewalk with moist eyes.

Adoración, now totally recovered from her mystery illness, wants to talk about Abeja's lovely puppies. Pina says they're all trampy half-breeds like their father.

Pancho is still bitterly disillusioned with Rebeca. Nothing she says makes any difference. "I've never loved anyone like I love you, Pancho." He slams the door behind her.

Part 2: Fernanda's chickens come home to roost

Next day, at the market, Pancho tells Chacho, "Chela was right all along." He never should have left this place, his people. A tall guy who looks like my cousin James teases Pancho about his presidency and high position and offers to make Pancho a "lite" quesadilla. Pancho is hurt. Later he tells Chacho that he has to decide what to do with his life.

Chela tries to soothe Candy's broken heart by reminding her what a bum Vice is. Married, worst enemy of your brother, you're a bad friend to Pina, etc.

Fernanda tells Rebe that this will all pass. Rebeca chews her out for all of her arrogance. "You think you know everything." She wants to manipulate everyone at all times. She manipulated Pancho, Rebeca, Vice, Inés, and it's not going to work any more because she's gone too far and hurt too many people. It's irreversible. You shouldn't play with a good man's heart.

Candy is too distracted by her own heartbreak to discuss her new show with Ortiz, the producer. Arnold overhears and can't wait to tell Pina that Ortiz is doing a show with Candy. He's there to talk Ana into being the face of the new Avon campaign. She's already decided to do it, but she's worried that this might be some trick from Vice and Enzo. He swears on his beloved cat Adelaide that it's not a trick, and that the campaign is best for the company and he's a total professional (which may be true, since he's the only one I've ever seen doing any work). They pinkie-swear, which we all know is as legally valid as a notarized triplicate form signed by the mayor.

Pancho angsts and agonizes and then decides to take the kids from the Casa Popular daycare to a field with a big tree full of toys. Each kid makes a resolution of some sort, like to be less rude, or brush three times a day, or to become an astronaut or an accountant. Then they all get to take a toy from the tree. Whee.

Lambi is worried that something's happened to Pancho because he's not in the office yet. He needs Pancho to make a decision and sign a document. Apparently it's something that Fernanda can't sign, so Vice signs it himself because he's the vice president.

Oh, one kid is sad because he's an orphan and all the other kids make fun of him, so Pancho promises to be "like his father" and be at his side forever. He tells Laurita that they've got one more kid and he's going to have to sell more vegetables.

Arnold tells Pina about Candy's show. Pina is angry but then employs some twisted logic to convince herself that Candy's show won't be a threat. She gives him a whole bottle of some flor de Bach.

Vice tells Enzo about Pancho's strange, quiet reaction to his insults last night. He's sure that he'll soon be president of Avon.

Ortiz tells Pina that her own show is going to get moved to a different time, and Candy's show will take its place. He had nothing to do with it; he just wanted to give her a heads-up. She threatens to stop doing her own show. "Okay then," Ortiz calls her bluff. Pina storms over to the house to confront Candy. Candy knows nothing about the schedule decision. Pina calls her a cheap copy (remedo) of a show host and insinuates that she used her body to get the show. Chela tells Pina to leave. After Pina's gone, Lupita says this is what Candy gets for fooling around with her friend's husband.

The family and Fernanda go to Casa Popular. Rebeca shows up separately. Pancho has something to say. Actually, since Rebe and Fernanda don't respect anything he says, he's written it down - his resignation. They say he can't do it, but he can and he will. Thanks for everything, but he had a nice quiet life before and now he's got enemies. He wants his old life back. There's a world of difference between them, they manage their lives in different ways. "My resignation is definitiva." Chela beams.

Vice promises to make Enzo his vice-president and tells him to make things right with Mónica. Enzo doesn't want to make her suffer. Vice tells him that uncertainty will be worse for her. He tries to force a smile onto Enzo's face. Enzo tells Vice he's always been there for him, through all his crises with Candy, but now he needs Vice's support. "Give me a hug," Vice says, and takes a flying leap into Enzo's arms!

Karina goes to visit Moni at Avon. Mo tells her about the trip to Valle de Bravo, but doesn't say whether or not they had sex (I say they did). Then she tells Kari her mother's alive. For once, Kari is speechless. Mo wonders why her mother left her and made her father raise her alone.

Fernanda wants to speak to Pancho alone, but he doesn't want any. He wants her and Rebeca to leave so he can talk to his family. "Was it all bad? Was everything a loss?" Fernanda asks. "Wasn't there even one good thing?" Pancho asks them again to leave.

Outside, Rebeca tells Fernanda that with Pancho's resignation, her own mission at Avon is done too. She leaves. Fernanda nearly keels over, says she doesn't feel well, and lets Gonzalo help her into the car.

Next time:
The Three Pesketeers celebrate Pancho's resignation, but now they must face the Wrath of Candy.

Labels: familia