Caray, Caray!

Frida is feeling very sorry for herself. She whines to MA that her "friends" were just a bunch of traitors. Her pain is so great. (MA and Saul bite their tongues.) Nobody understands her, she says, except for MA. MA agrees to let her stay with him at the Menchacas'.

Leo and his mother check out the family home. He finds that the water, gas, and power have all been shut off. She finds a bottle of gin hidden in the library. She calls a few of her friends to sniff out the situation. She says she's in Italy, having a great time, and her friends tell her that the family's name is mud. She is mortified and humiliated. She'd rather die than grovel to them, she says. Her friends are vipers.

Leo says if he can just get the money for a plane ticket, he can go to Spain. Surely Macarena will put him up. AS reminds him that they can't even afford a ticket to Cuernavaca. "We're the nouveau-poor," Leo moans. They can't even sell the car - it's in MA's name.

To make matters worse, the police have come to the house and they are probably going to seize the car anyway. AS can't bear the prospect of being found trespassing by the police. Leo (who at least seems to have a couple of brain cells to rub together in a crisis) suggests sneaking out the service entrance. (Ooh! Symbolism of their rapid drop in status!)

MA, Frida, and Saul meet with the Menchacas and Tomas, their advocate. Supposedly all of Chuy's monthly payment receipts are irrelevant. It's as if they're supposed to pay a second time if they want to keep the property, Lupita protests in disbelief. She doesn't trust people of the RPs' "class."

Tomas says in that case, they have to move out. Nobody can live here.

Saul says the alternative is that they all can live there. Chuy clarifies, you (MA and Frida) can stay here until we can pay off the debt. The Menchacas confer privately.

Frida tells MA she's going to the kitchen and find for some organic food. Saul warns MA that this isn't going to be as easy as he thinks. MA says people are the same everywhere, and he'll have this family eating out of his hand in no time. Saul is skeptical.

Lupita tells her family that they're going to have to outsmart the RPs. They're lazy and soft, so all they have to do is make them miserable. Hound them until they move out on their own. Chuy doesn't like it, but he agrees it's better than violence!

AS and Leo are fleeing on foot. MA calls. Still haughty, AS assures him that they're just fine. Leo is hungry, but AS thinks they should reserve their remaining funds for something more important, like a taxi. Or gin.

Minerva is picking out her gown. She seems just a tiny bit sad about losing MA, but she's excited that she'll be the envy of everyone. The bridal shop employee remembers that their cards were declined just a week or two ago, but Minerva has a new one from Ahole now. "Alejo? But I thought you were marrying Miguel Angel." Oh, don't ask!

Min is worried about the wedding night. She told Alejo she's a virgin, but he'll know that isn't true. Her mother's suggestion: there are surgeons who can make her "like new."

Ahole tells Wilma to invite all the beautiful people, religious leaders, and media to the wedding. He asks why her voice is trembling. She says she's just overwhelmed with happiness for him.

Lupita's brother, I forget his name, finds Frida and MA in the kitchen and offers to run them a tab for anything they'd like to eat. They decline, and hit the street in search of food. They have 145 pesos, I think, between them. MA remembers being able to eat well at a Vietnamese place in London for very little money. Surely they can find something affordable here too.

A vendor comes by with a cart of sweet potatoes. Frida and MA turn up their noses at that and continue down the street, where they encounter a group of young men who look them up and down and up and down. "I say, good men, it is certainly a nice day in OUR neighborhood. May we pass? Thank you ever so much." Hoo boy.

Lupita goes to Carmelita and complains, she's going to have to look at MA's big stupid face every day. She seems quite heated at the thought. She wonders what her mother would have said about this whole situation. Carmela replies, "She would defend her family." They shed tears at the thought and/or the sliced onions.

Nepo and Wendy receive some bad news. The place where they were going to have his niece's quinceanera is no longer available. The roof collapsed. Hmmm, they will need a new venue.

Frida and MA find a whole row of street vendors with a variety of delicious porky lunches. MA doesn't like the looks of it. Frida scolds him for being so bourgeois, but she won't eat any of this stuff either: "I'm a vegetarian." Next: brains (sesos). NO to those too. Some kind of creepy little shellfish? "It's not exactly shrimp cocktail," he complains. Hot dogs? "Oh hell no," is Frida's reply. They conclude that they're better off eating at the Menchacas' on credit.

Nepo goes to the restaurant and insists that Lupe take 3500 pesos (I think that was the amount) for the restaurant to do his niece's party. She hesitates, but Nepo lays out the money and says, "business is business." Lupita is excited - this will pay Emiliano's tuition!

But now the loan shark is at Lupita's elbow and he wants the money too! He reminds Lupita of the terms of the loan: If she's late with a payment, the interest rate goes UP. "Business is business!" Maybe they have some nice things in the house to give him and he'll deduct from their loan, he hints. (No, it doesn't sound as though he's propositioning her for favors - he's only interested in cash or goods.) Lupita says she doesn't have anything she can give him.

She leaves the room (I didn't catch why) and he takes it upon himself to sneak upstairs, where he sees all of the RPs' stuff. Lupita catches him. Again he offers a discount in exchange for goods, and it's starting to sound as though it might not be optional. Lupita says it's not hers to give.

MA interrupts. Sharky explains about the debt. MA offers him a couple of pricey but useless items.

Ana Sofia and Leo have spent their last pesos on a taxi to Ahole's. AS isn't optimistic, but Leo says they're still family and surely Ahole will give them asylum. (Insert madhouse joke here.) As they (well, Leo) lug their bags up the street to Ahole's house, they see Ahole and Min kissing, and Min's mom shouting about the happy novios.

Next time:
Lupita, if you're going to give this guy free peepshows, he's NEVER going to leave! Also: it's the police! Did the sweet-15 party get too wild? Or have the cops already picked up MA's trail?

Labels: pobres