Caray, Caray!

Recapper’s Note: Scenes were combined for sanity and continuity

Lo del pasado :
The police detective is in full-on lawyer mode as she asks Isabel if she is sure she didn't sign the checks that withdrew all that cash from her account. She repeats the question and hands Isa copies of the checks in question: "Did you, yes or no, sign these checks?" "No, of course not," she insists to the investigator. "My signature was forged."

Lo de Nuevo:

My Mother Is Sickly and Evil ¿Captas?

Little Aranza begins her short descent into spoiled brat-dom. She channels her inner Nikki Brizz, chiding her two amiguitos for playing while her mother is sick and they can’t camp and karaoke anymore. One of the friends suggests that she’ll get her mother to go speak with Eugenia and arrange for another camp and karaoke. Aranza isn’t satisfied by this perfectly reasonable compromise and puts out a laser-beam side-eye that says “No fun is to be had while my mother is sick. ¿Captas?” even as she says, “Don’t bother, I’ll be fine.” After basketball practice is over, Aranza’s friends ask her why she’s still sadmad. “My mother is a bad person.” “No, she isn’t,” the amiguitas counter. Yes she is, Aranza insists. I thought you all were my friends and would support my sick twisted vision that my mother is purposefully getting sick to cramp my style and disturb my peace. Since you are not buying, even at three for a peso, the sick twisted vision I’m selling, don’t say another word to me. Ok? The amiguitas, along with Viewerville, go wait, what? I thought you loved your mother. Why is Eugenia evil, again?

The Very Merry Widow is Free to Give to the Needy

Bruno comes in the kitchen surprised to see Tita, along with her housekeeper—I really dislike the word ‘maid’, so I never use it—packing foodstuffs like oil and sugar to give to the church to help la gente necesitada (the needy). Bruno has on a Que the heck? face since he notes Tita isn’t the type to engage in charity work. "Well, your father wouldn't let me. Now that he’s no longer with us, I’ll do all that I wanted to do but couldn’t." Sayeth Bruno, "Was life with Dad so unhappy and boring?" "Your father was a marvelous man," Tita says, "but he was a bit controlling; I've always wanted to do something more than just be a housewife. Now's my chance. I want to live, do something and I will do something." Sounds like she was more oppressed than bored, but oppression tends to get boring after a while I suppose. Let’s just say Tita is a very merry widow.


The Anvil Makes Its Slow and Sure Descent on Eugenia

Eugenia drives up and the domestic couple (Lucha is the wife, Gabino is the husband)—that’s what married husband/wife household help are formally called in the US. The wife does the housekeeping stuff, while the husband does the porter/landscaping/maintenance man stuff—meets her. Eugenia asks Lucha if Aranza is home and Eugenia then remembers that Aranza is at a basketball practice. This brain cell overload leads to a severe headache, which Eugenia once again ignores and decides to just cure with rest. Major digression ahead. (Can I just say that I really dislike this setup of Eugenia’s death. She’s a young, fit woman of childbearing age. Why is she taking anti-coagulants any way, even as we know that Prima Sonia is giving Genia the special telenovela pill of death of unknown provenance. It’s just such a specious way to kill of a young healthy woman.)

As she lies down, the headache of death really goes into full swing. She’s coming home to ya, Elizabeth! Eugenia’s headache becomes so torturous she rises from bed and summarily drops to the floor head first, apparently lifeless.

At Tita’s, a Love Connection

Isabel and Tita pull up to Tita’s place and are greeted by Tita’s housekeeper. We find out that Tita is the new redecoration client Isabel and her best friend Gabriela were raving about before finding out they were being robbed blind. Tita’s housekeeper, shod in a breezy aquamarine blue top and white skirt—Tita makes sure her help looks fierce!—happily (she knows Tita is a good boss) tells Gaby and Isa that Tita is busy at the moment but she will gladly take the samples to her boss to review while Isa and Gaby wait for Tita. While Gabriela is waiting in the living room—where Isabel is, no one knows, Bruno walks by the living room spots Gabriela and the mutual love-at-first-sight-eyes, and subtle romantic music—I appreciate that Univision/Televisa—commences. Gaby flirts up a storm as Bruno roughly says “Who are you?” and Gaby says “You don’t live in Mexico, you aren’t Mexican? Everyone knows who Gabriela San Roman is.” Breaking the ice with this joke, Gabriela clarifies, “I’m here to remodel Tita’s house.” Bruno, still impactada googly eyes in love, says “Discúlpame tú por haber sido tan áspero.” (Pardon me for having been so rude—literally, rough) Googly-eyes and nervous laughter commences as Bruno tells Gaby welcome to her home.

Sonia’s Got Secrets
A priest and someone named Cuca discuss a little girl that was baptized Maria Elena whom Cuca says is Sonia’s daughter. Apparently Sonia visits the house where the nina is to see someone named Don Hilberto but ignores Maria Elena despite Cuca insisting she gets to know her daughter. The priest says there’s nothing he and Cuca can do about Sonia’s neglect of Maria Elena because we’re not even sure the little girl we baptized as Maria Elena is Sonia’s daughter.

The priest flashes back to seeing woman with her hair and face sloppily covered with a red scarf—we see some of this woman’s blonde hair—running and dropping a basket in her hand right in front of him. It’s a bassinet with a baby. Of course, the priest picks up the baby. Cuca breaks the priest’s reverie by insisting that Maria Elena is Sonia’s. This baby was delivered to the church the same day Sonia stopped walking around with a pregnant belly. But we’re not sure, the priestinsists. I know it, padre, Cuca says. I feel it in my blood. (I never knew the telenovela call of the blood disease afflicted people who weren’t related to the person they were alleging is blood related to someone). We cut to a sweet-faced, adorable about eight year old Maria Elena, who’s more indigena/mestiza looking than blonde like Sonia, with other girls in their school uniforms making a bed. The school matron supervising the bed making isn’t pleased with Maria Elena’s bed making skills and rips up the bed telling Mari E that she will make the bed over and over until it’s perfect. But to my eye, Mari E’s bed making skills are better than mine and ninety percent of the people in the world.

Mean Girl/Cutie Pie Aranza Discovers Her Mama

Aranza returns to her sweet, obedient personable self as she gets home and is greeted by Lucha and Gabino. “Where’s my mom?” she sweetly asks. Oh she’s feeling a little bad, says Gabino. Lucha comes on the scene and tells Arazna says dinner is ready but first she has to wash her hands and change her clothes. Aranza says, “Oh no, I have to see dear old mom first.” You’d never know an hour ago she called her mother everything but a child of God to her friends. In any event Aranza runs to her parents’ bedroom and sees her unconscious mother on the floor. She’s shrieking, wondering why her mother won’t answer her. The shrieking alerts Lucha and Gabino in the kitchen and they run to Arazna’s aid. We cut to Art Dad at the construction site working hard supervising the work; he apparently overhears, but ignores Arazna’s screams. (I’m very confused by this. Their house is by the construction site and they can hear, over the audible construction noise, Arazna’s screams? I’m emphasizing this because it’s not as if Art Dad was the only one who heard Arazna’s screams, like it was intuition, but someone beside him did too and ignored it.)
Lucha, Gabino and Arazna start slapping Eugenia to wake up until Gabino tells Lucha to call Art Dad. He also puts a pillow under Eugenia’s head and continues, along with Arazna, to try to wake up Eugenia. Another digression: Why do they always do this in tns? Someone collapses and instead of immediately calling the emergency services or a personal doctor, they call a family member who then tells the housekeeping staff who discovers the body to call the ambulance or that they’ll call the ambulance. The help can’t know the emergency services number or what? Anywho, because of the vital minutes lost calling Art Dad instead of the Dr or ambulance, Eugenia remains unconscious, risking brain death. Lucha finally calls the Dr who makes sure to ask if they tried to revive Genia with alcohol under the nose. They did—they had the bottle to prove it.

Gaby Continues to Make Sense While Isa Continues to Bury Her Head in the Sand

At Casa Arte Gaby gently asks Isabel if it’s wise of her and Fernando to go ahead and buy a big million-dollar house while the authorities are investigating the fraud. Isa with her bug-eyes freaks out telling Gaby to mind her business because the house she’s looking to buy is a wise purchase because it’s the inheritance she and Fernando will leave for their children. Gaby gives Isa (and Viewerville) her, “I tried to knock some sense into this girl, but oh well” look.

Smarmy and Slimy Fernando shows up at the end of this with his forked tongue filled with compliments for Isabel. She’s the most beautiful woman in the world; no, the universe! Fernando calls Gaby, chaparrita—squirt or sport—as he and Isabel leave their house built on lies. Gaby exclaims after they leave, and we can agree, “I hate that guy!”

Abuela Meanie Rides Again

Abuela Meanie fusses at Andrea and Esteban for being inconsiderate, rude, taking advantage of her charity and being such a hassle they must be waiting for her to die so they can get her house. Andrea says Abuela Meanie shouldn’t talk like this in front of Esteban but her rant continues…>>>FF

The House Built on Lies

Fernando and Isabel are in a lawyer’s office with their IDs spread out for him to copy and give them papers to sign to buy their house. The house sellers are their too and look like a real loving couple. Isabel asks the lawyer’s name again, It’s Licenciado Cuadros, ma’am, at your service. The lawyer is obviously shady as he gives Fernando a knowing look as if they are perpetuating a scam. As Isabel gushes about Fernando getting her her dream house, Licenciado Cuadros says it’s all due to her loving husband. Isabel thanks her good fortune—oh girl, you’ll be paying a fortune for what your loving husband has done. As they’re celebrating buying their new house with a drink at a bar—Fernando says Isa’s house, Isa says “our house,” a photographer surreptiously snaps Fer and Isa as they liplock.

Gaby meets a friend, Edgar, and tells him she suspects Fernando, who Edgar also doesn’t like, is fraudulently saying he’s buying Isa’s dream house. Edgar agrees to look into the public property records to see if Fer is on the up-and-up with the house purchase. Thanks Gaby says, I need to know this is for real, because if it’s not, it’ll be a gut punch to Isabel.

We cut to Fer and Isabel and Isa gets a call from Mauricio saying they have the bank tapes showing who robbed her. The next morning Fernando is in bed while Isa is dressed for a doctor’s appointment to a fertility specialist. Fernando pretends to agree with Isa doing this and calls her guapa, but after Isa leaves, the louse complains that Isa insists on getting pregnant and he’s not pleased with that and he wonders what the doctor will say is Isa’s issue.

Eugenia Finally Gets to a Hospital, or These Things Happen

Hours later—the moon was out—they finally take Eugenia to a hospital and
Dr. Carranza the personal doctor runs tests and finds out Eugenia had a stroke. As he’s explaining this to Arturo, Arturo can’t believe it. “How is this possible if Eugenia always took her medication? She knew they were vital.” Dr. Carranza says “Yes, Eugenia was disciplined, but these things happen. Her heart rhythm may have been off. Maybe the medication dosage wasn’t strong enough.” “Tell me my wife will get better,” Art pleads. “I can’t promise you that says,” Dr. Carranza, “but I’ll tell you if anything changes.” When Dr. Carranza goes to exam Eugenia she’s doing worse. Her heart rate and blood pressure drops and she’s apparently brain dead. With the slow long beep of the vitals monitor we cut to a sleeping Aranza who sees her mother before her in her bedroom in white. They drink tea together. Eugenia tells Aranza that she loves her, always will, and her father will take care of you. We cut back to the hospital and they get Genia’s vitals up, but Carranza isn’t sure Genia will ever wake up.

Cuca’s Digging for the Truth, But Doesn’t Want Anyone to See Her Shovel

We see that Cuca is a housekeeper for Sonia’s step-dad Don Hilberto (?). Don Hilberto asks if Sonia came to visit. Cuca says she doesn’t know, but Hilberto says that Sonia only ever comes by when she wants money. Puede ser (Could be), says Cuca. What’s more important to Cuca is asking Don Hilberto if she can visit the children’s home nearby. “Why are you so interested in those children?” Hilberto asks accusingly. Cuca talks fast and emphasizes that those children don’t have parents and we have to give such kids a bit of love and care. Hilberto says Cuca can go at dinner time to visit.


Andrea’s Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day

Long-suffering Andrea suffers another body-blow when her neighbor shows her as she’s walking home with her boys a newspaper headline with a picture showing—the one the photographer secretly got in the bar—La exitosa diseñadora Isabel López Cerdon con su esposa Fernando Cordova (Noted designer Isabel Lopez Cerdon with her husband Fernando Córdova.) Cara de completamente impactada y triste de Andrea.

First Encounter

Isabel is at the hospital leaving the fertility specialist and wonders out loud why she can’t get pregnant. She gets on the elevator and she shares the ride with Arturo, who barely notices Isa since Eugenia’s brain death is on his mind. Isa though, definitely notices her handsome elevator mate, and then the elevator gets stuck. Isa is horrified, but Arturo doesn’t even look up and says “Don’t worry. These things are safe.”

Avances

Aranza returns to “I hate mom” mode while speaking with her friends saying it may be better if Eugenia never wakes up. Sonia rejoices with crazy eyes that Arturo will be hers. Isabel says cries repeated “No puedo ser” as she watches the surveillance tape showing who robbed her. Arturo cries at Eugenia bedside asking her to help him make the right decision.

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