Tuesday, February 16, 2016
El Hotel de los Secretos #16, 2/15/16 Monday: Truth and Consequences
They go to to the local Walgreen's. Jacinto waits outside, and Garrido watches Jacinto. Mati and Isabel go inside with the doctor. Isabel slips out the back to go to the police station; Mati strikes up a contentious and mostly one-sided conversation with the pharmacist.
At the police station, Ayala is telling Julio that he'd make a good detective when Isabela bursts in and demands the truth. "Are you a fugitive from justice?"
Julio replies, "don't be so quick to judge me. It's more complicated than it looks."
Ayala interjects that truth is subjective. One can be a fugitive without being a criminal. Julio should explain, but this is not the place - it's best if Julio and Isa aren't seen together here. "I know the perfect place," Isabel says.
At the pharmacy, Mati lectures the pharmacist about who-knows-what (I didn't catch any of it, but she was quite excited about it). Dr. Laz leaves her there and tells Jacinto they're going to the cantina. Garrido trails behind, looking a little confused that Isabel is nowhere to be seen.
Isabel and Julio go to... I think this the carpentry place where Pascual's family used to have their shop. It's all cleared out now, with no sign of life. Isabel is telling Julio that this place was all decked out before. He notices her bruise and is upset that she took such a chance. "But I did it for you!" she declares.
At the hotel, Angela tells the staff that Benjamin's gone away, and Andres is in charge. There's a sarcastic comment from one guy; Natalia jumps to Andre's defense. A maid congratulates Belen, but Belen is dismissive: "that just means more work."
Andres meets with Diego to ask for a salary increase. He's getting married, after all, and his pay isn't going to be enough. Diego angrily mocks Andres for getting ideas "reading" and replies that this hotel needs men who aren't above honest work; they don't need stupid anarchistic propaganda. "Let's pretend this never happened," he advises Andres.
Julio apologizes to Isabel for the way he's treated her recently. "I don't need your apologies," she says generously. Julio proceeds to tell "the whole truth," and we see it in a flashback:
It looks like a mining community. Julio's mom is teaching a roomful of adults how to read. They're working on words that begin with the letter "M" and one of them is "mine" (or maybe it was "mineral"). Julio interrupts the class with a letter from Cristina. Mom looks sad: Cristina has gotten a job at the Grand Hotel, and in a few years she'll have saved up enough to go to Europe.
A man shows up, yelling. "The gringos are shooting!" There's a dispute over pay. Stuff is on fire everywhere. Julio dodges bullets to look for Papa. He finds him in an industrial building which, like everything else, is on fire. One of the gringos threatens Julio with a gun, but is shot dead - by Papa, who has defended Julio with his very last breath. Papa dies while Julio is arrested. Julio is dragged away as Papa's body is surrounded by flames.
In an upstairs hallway, Andres promises Belen he'll find a way to get more money. "Don't call me 'Chatita,'" is all an irritated Belen can reply. Sofia comes out of her room and scolds Andres for being out of uniform. After Andres takes off, Sofia tells Belen that it's time to clean up Diego's bedroom - right now.
In the pueblo, Garrido intently watches Jacinto, who is only waiting outside the cantina. Inside, the Doctor is seeing to Violeta, who's doing much better now. Ew, I think Meli is trying to flirt with him! The Doctor takes Meli aside.
Violeta stands on the bed to wave out the window at Jacinto. Jacinto sees her, but turns away.
The Doctor gives Meli some money for Violeta's care. He wants her to eat well, and not work. Meli is confused by his generosity. The doctor answers, "when or if the time comes, we'll talk."
Sofi snoops in Diego's outer room while Belen cleans the bedroom. Belen notices; Sofi closes the bedroom door "so you won't be distracted." Belen peeps through the door as Sofi rifles through all of Diego's drawers and shelves.
Sofi gives up the search and tries to play it cool as she makes her way through the lobby - where she runs into Elisa, who breaks the ice with an explanation for her treachery: "someday you'll understand that when you're protecting the future of your child, ANY strategy is acceptable." Sofi doesn't get much chance to react to that, though, when a clerk informs them that Alfredo took off on a train a couple of hours ago. (Yes! Alfraidy ran away, bravely ran away...) Both women are stunned.
Elisa goes to her room and gushes to Victoria: "At last my Alfredo is manning up." (I guess she assumes he took the job in the city, which he probably did, but we don't know that for sure yet. He could be on his way to join he French Foreign Legion for all we know.)
Julio concludes his story (which included no mention of a brothel) to Isabel: "Now no one knows me better than you do." Isa thanks him for telling the truth. Now she has some truth of her own to tell him. She shows him the two cameos. "One was for me, and the other was for Diego's lover - Cristina."
"I'm gonna KILL him!" Julio explodes. Isa tries to calm him. "Diego will pay," she promises. They leave the carpentry house, hand-in-hand.
Dr. Lazaro and Jacinto wander around the market. "In many ways, this pueblo reminds me of Spain," the doctor says. Jacinto is distracted. The doctor tells him that the pregnant girl is fine. "What do I care?" the boy replies. Garrido continues to follow at an indiscreet distance.
Ayala receives another telegram. There's been another death! That's three deaths, three full moons. He wants to sent telegrams to all the neighboring police stations.
The doctor retrieves Mati from the now-traumatized pharmacist. The doctor is getting a little worried that Isabel hasn't come back yet.
Isabel is walking ahead of Julio. Behind her, Julio repeatedly reaches for her, then pulls back. Finally he pulls out his harmonica and plays. Loudly. She is charmed.
It's dark. Teresa sips tea and Felipe whines that he wants brandy. She informs him of his upcoming nuptials. He doesn't take the news well, but she tells him it's time he faced the consequences of his actions. (Again.) Felipe protests: the girl's father is very rude. He didn't even knock. "If she winds up pregnant, no door will hide it," Teresa snaps. "I'm going to throw the wedding of your dreams," she promises her nervous son. "Now go get your brandy!"
Isabel finally takes her leave of Julio. She repeats, "trust me, Diego will pay!"
At the hotel, Garrido is apologetic. Enraged, Diego throws him out. Belen arrives and he greets her like the plague: "What the hell do you want?" She tells him about the strange incident with Sofia. She looked through all of his stuff but didn't find anything. Diego rubs Belen's belly and says "thanks for the info." He adds that what Belen's looking for, she can find in his bedroom - not his office. He marches her to the office door and nuzzles her neck before kicking her out.
Back in the village, Isabel gets Jacinto and co. to leave without her. Jacinto is very nervous about this plan. Isabel assures the gang that the detective will drive her home.
Angela finds a glum Andres in the hallway and tries to talk to him about his bad day. He doesn't want to discuss it with her.
Diego meets with Teresa to complain that Sofi was snooping through her stuff. "Well, what do you expect - you just threw her husband out into the street," Teresa exclaims. She gives another lecture about consequences. Diego is unmoved: she doesn't know his secrets, but he knows hers! He has the advantage, so she'd better get her family in order.
Julio finds Andres outside. Andres bums a cigarette and, much like Isabel a few weeks ago, is quickly revealed as a nonsmoker. Julio tries to get Andres to talk.
Andres: It's the same problem as usual.
Julio: Belen.
Andres: What? No! I mean my mother. Why does everyone think Belen is my problem?
Julio points out that Angela supports Andres in everything he does. Andres reluctantly agrees. Julio shares his own frustration: he's tired of depending on other people.
In Isabel's room, Mati models one of Isa's gowns in the mirror when a maid knocks to ask if Isa wants anything. Mati jumps into bed, turns out the light, and pulls the covers over her head. She pretends to be exhausted, unwilling to come to the door, and just wanting to sleep.
Diego passes In the hallway. The maid tells him that Isa's in her room, but shouldn't be disturbed as she's sleeping. After the maid leaves, Diego uses his key and lets himself in. He stands there like a creep while Mati pulls the covers around her.
Meanwhile, back at the village police station, Ayala is showing Dagoberto a "radius" on the map when Isabel bursts in for the second time that day. "The Grand Hotel is the hiding place of a killer - and his name is Diego Montejo!"
Next time: Sofi gets an eyeful, and begs mom to kick Diego out for being a pig.
Labels: hotel
I am telling you! This is funnier than DIRTY GRANDPA!
Pablo: I didn't see DIRTY GRANDPA, but this is darned funny. Teresa is always lecturing people about consequences. It seems to me that it's just a matter of time before her own consequences catch up with her. We still don't know her secret(s), but she's been letting people blackmail her for a long time.
If she thinks the blackmail IS the consequence, then she hasn't been exposed to enough fiction. The problem with blackmail, at last in fiction, is that it's only an intermediate consequence. The truth always comes out and then there's more hell to pay.
I don't know if it's too soon to jump the shark, but those memories of mama teacher and papa killed by the gringos, for me are not more than fillers to complete the 40 minutes plus commercials. Do we really need the backstory?
Pablo, sure agree on Diego. He has become quite bold. Cannot wait until Ayala appears on the scene again with some pointed questions for him.
I liked the flashback. For me, it helped round out Julio's character as well as his sister's. I also liked that Isabel insisted on staying on her own to talk to Ayala.
I'm not sure Diego was planning on being a voyeur. I think the reason he went into Isabel's room was to see if she was really there. I think he's been waiting for her to come home from the pharmacy and he was surprised when the maid said she was in her room.
"Julio concludes his story (which included no mention of a brothel)"
"indiscreet distance"
"Alfraidy ran away"
Diego lost his subtlety with Teresa
I welcome the backstory
Well I suspect, with Julio's omission he was a boytoy, we'll deal with that later
So, I wonder when the good Doc will call in all these favors?
Exciting as sneaking about is for Isabel, when it's over, what will she do for entertainment?
I also enjoyed the back story on Julio, Chris and their family. Helps me understand them more. And now we know there is a mom waiting who must be worried sick about her two kids. Julio's story does not conflict with what he told Ayala. Now we know how he got into the hands of the Federales and accused of murder before he escaped them and hid in a brothel.
Just for clarification, the new murder isn't new. It happened 3 months ago in a nearby town. Now Ayala is investigating back to see if any other murders match the MO and if there is a pattern with the locations.
She said that Mexico has more prostitues than Partis so the odds are pretty bad for married women. I am sure your husband is not honest, told the woman custome, who ran away horrified!
I also noticed, but ignored, an inane exchange between Dagoberto and Ayala, I think about the name "Serapio," during the telegram scene.
And thank you Vivi for explaining about the telegram and the third (or actually, third ago) murder. I thought it was "new" as in "new to Ayala."
Will there be (or have been) a fourth (or four months ago) murder? What the hell is going on Puebla?
And why can't Diego find a competent henchman??
Anyway, Dagoberto was making fun of the name Serapio because he thinks it does't suits him. What name does, anyway, if parents dont have a crystal ball to see how the person will be when they grow up, but well, Ayala told him it was both the name of a very miracolus saint and his grandpa, so beat that, Daggy boy! Besides, that was the name Bugs Bunny had in Mexico too... Serapio el conejo de la suerte.
The exchange between Teresa and Diego was interesting. I was leaning more towards his hold over her (getting her approval to become the manager and Isabel's husband) being about secrets they shared. But now it seems like it's just straight up blackmail on his part to keep quiet about HER secrets. We know she will throw any of her kids under the bus in a heartbeat, of it means keeping her scandal-free and ahead of everyone else (position and wealth). We've seen her do it with all three of her kids.
And I see Lazaro as a good guy too, totally. I don't know what he's up to or why he's there, but he is going out of his way to avoid needless damage to others. Now it could still turn out that he's really evil, I suppose, but we've seen nothing to support that.
Throwing Garrido off Isabel's trail was a bit beyond the call of duty for an ordinary doctor minding his own business, though. It suggests that he really is being cautious about Diego, yes?
The Quaint Chemist's Shop (Walgreens):
Was Mati trying to buy a condoms for herself? If the hotel has an epidemic of STDs, do we expect to see Belen & Dee Eggo with STDs? I commend telenovelas for the realism that Hollywood seems to lack, namely that sex leads to pregnancy, but usually it does not lead to STDs. The Original of Victoria (Ruffo & Ochmann) had a promiscuous woman die of AIDS. But they took that out in the remake.
Shud we interpret that the Pharmacist lied about not stocking condoms as an immoral product? Ha, I guess Mati had nothing better to do than to strike up her argument -- or she planning to fornicate at the hotel? With whom would she develop a relationship?
Interestingly the casus belli for Julio was evil Americans using Nazi-styled pistols to kill workers on strike. Was this a tad of Mexican anti-Americanism or is it faithful history?
"He notices her bruise and is upset"
I thought she was trying to get him to touch her neck. However I suppose it is possible that they will have a romance como Dios manda, waiting for marriage before canoodling -- doubtful in a telenovela though.
Didn't Andres reproach De Eggo: "My salary is sposed to be 2 pesos a week, but you deduct 20 centavos from it"?
Do you really think that Meli-Malicious will spend any of the doctor's money on Violeta? I can see her buying marijuana with it.
I thought Al Fraido had gone off on a train to please his mother, gone to take up that civil service job. But was it to go somewhere else, not where his mama wanted? Al Fraido is no Dagwood Bumstead, trying to join the French Foreign Legion when all is a disaster in his life, being kicked out of the recruiting center: "Come back when you're 20 years younger."
The full moon murders thus far are a tangent plot with no connection to the rest of it -- how will this connect?
As to Mother Teresa being blackmailed by De Eggo with knowledge of her skeletons in the closet, isn't that what got Cristina killed? De Eggo is on thin ice.
I thought that Mati was intentionally playing the role of Isa Bell to fool people into thinking Isa Bell was not out fooling around.
IMHO, De Eggo was having erotic intentions on Isa Bell, with the common idea in telenovelas that fornication is OK & to be expected when you beez engaged. It will be a hoot if he gets in bed with Mati. Enrique Torres has used this ploy, in Muneca Brava the (wrong) woman in bed turned out to be a visiting nun! who screamed when the protag slipped into what he thought was fair-game girl bed.
Now I am wondering where this telenovela is supposed to be taking place. The original Gran Hotel was made in Spain. I took it from the letter that Cristina was writing from Europe & needing money to return to Mexico per that letter. If so, then the Gran Hotel we are seeing would be in Spain, not Mexico. Have we been told what country the Hotel is in? Could it be Spain?
Diego is so creepy sometimes. I was hoping he would try to get close to Mati in the bed and she would punch him in the face...
I like the way Julio and Isabel are working their way toward each other slowly, but I wish he would put the harmonica away. It's actually intrusive. I guess I should be glad Isabel likes it!
Teresa wont kill Diego because she needshim, so much that she tolerates his mistakes over and over again.
And speaking of Chapultepec, there was am incident against USA where the gringos were defeated, 1840s, if I remember correctly...
Plus, the murders are keeping Ayala near the hotel for now, and Ayala is teaching stuff to Dagoberto. It'll be handy if Ayala is around when all the hotel's secrets come to light - and if he's not around, maybe Dagoberto will have learned how to do his job by then.
I will go out on a limb with a wild guess: Sophia!
The supposed murder of Cristina apparently doesn't fit the modus operandi of the full-moon murderer.
I really enjoyed the flashback myself as it rather cemented for me, as Enoch and Vivi pointed out, the true historical back drop to this time period. Since this is imagined to take place 1910's, that being the period of the localized civil wars and period of the Diaz to presidency, the possible links to who is siding with whom may lead to a definite play in our story. How very Russian. Dostoeyevsky would be proud.
Silver mines were a particular hotbed of still prevalent outside ownership--either Spain or even the US. the uprisings were mainly to try and nationalize much of the land and industries. so it would make sense for Julio to be sympathetic to the workers, while we may have Diego on the take with the type of investors that were in ownership of the best lands and businesses. The foreign speaking shooters would be the merceraries hired by the landowners and wealthy businessmen to take down the rebels. I can see Diego in league with that group who if this is early in the struggle were still holding strong.
That smile on Alfredo's face. He's up to something and I don't think it's going to the capital to take that job. But in this show...who knows.
I dislike Belen more and more with every episode. Wish Andres wasn't so blind to her. Frankly, I don't quite get the attraction, unless he likes her "free spirit".
Can't help but think the doc's comment about "reminds me of Spain" is a clue. Ok. everything's a clue, but that seemed to stick out as one of those to file away for future reference.
Teresa's dark secret-- I'm going to take a stab and say she offed the hubby.
Daisynjay
1) The girl Ayala just found out about, killed three full moons ago. We know nothing about her.
2) Girl recently found in the river, killed two full moons ago. Thought to be Cris at first, because that's when Cris disappeared. We know nothing about her.
3) Ximena, killed 1 full moon ago and dumped in the dry well. Local prostitute, killed with knife from the hotel, Felipe was her customer.
Cris is still just missing at this point.
I was thinking before that the doctor might be ingratiating himself with the Alarcons for evil reasons. Then he went to see Violeta and acted genuinely concerned. I'm going to put him in the good guy category. I also think--like others have mentioned before--that he may have been doctoring Cris and decided to come to the hotel to see what is going on. Cris may also have knowledge regarding the murders.
I'm confused about the carpentry place. When we first saw it, it looked like it was out in the country yet Julio and Isa were able to go there and back to town. Granted Isa was gone for awhile. I'm wondering where it's located in relation to the town/hotel.
I always thought that Julio was more than a peasant because Isa thought he was the son of a rich man at the beginning of the TN so he couldn't have had a "lower class" accent.
This TN is spoiling me. It's up there with Amor Bravio as being the best I've seen. Don't know how I'll go back to the business as usual TN.
Nanette
The knife is really our only clue to the murders, and it's not a very good clue. So right now it's hard for me to get excited about trying to figure out who the killer is. Until we have more information, we're really just throwing names around.
But someone did say, a couple of weeks ago, that Jimena (the first victim we knew about) looked like Cristina. And the corpse last week fit Cristina's "general description," insofar as they could tell what that victim looked like at all, she having been dead for so long. But it looks like the killer likes to kill women of a particular physical appearance.
I don't remember if the said last week's victim was a prostitute, but if so, the fact that Cristina was doing business with the cantina guy means that she might have been mistaken for a prostitute herself. (And if this is about prostitutes, we're going to end up back at the brothel with Julio's old girlfriend, aren't we?)
Regardless of the prostitution angle, we seem to have a serial killer who goes for women who kinda look like Cristina in the moonlight. Possibly the killer went for Cristina too, and she just barely escaped with her life. Perhaps Diego had nothing to do with her disappearance at all - but was sweating over Pascual's blackmail because he knew there were things that made him look guilty.
I don't know if any of this brings us closer to a motive or a suspect. I don't think it does. But it does give us a few things to look out for if more victims turn up.
2 possibilities:
1) I misunderstood C's letter & Cristina had been saving to go to Europe. But how does that fit into the story, & one wonders if a young girl would plan to go to Europe alone?
2) The script writer goofed in adapting a telenovela made in Spain to a Mexican situation.
As to the possibility of De Eggo getting into bed with Mati, I recall that Enrique Torres used that ploy (wrong person in bed) in at least 3 of his telenovelas (Perla Negra, Muneca Brava, & Amarte Asi). The nun in MB was the funniest. In Amarte Asi it was the butler in male protag's bed (Mauricio Ochmann), who was sneaking out from the mansion & wanted his blond evil novia to think he telling the truth on telling her he was tired & wanted to go to sleep -- he actually snuck out to get with Margarita the cinderella in the story. Evil novia, Carla Peterson, still had ganas for Mauricio & snuck into his bed to discover David the butler there, faking to be Mauricio.
Vivi: thanks.
Have been meaning to comment about how, even though she enters into all the capers Isa is involved with, I feel sorry for Matilde. She's come to visit her friend who can't seem to manage to spend any quality time with her. And when she does spend time with her, she's mooning over Julio.
Not only do the other murders not seem to have any connection to the hotel (or Teresa), except for Jimena and the gold knife; we don't even know if Cristina's disappearance is connected to the hotel. It sure looks that way, and it suits Teresa to have her gone; but there are countless ways to run into trouble around that place. And I'm skeptical that Teresa would have given Diego or anyone the green light to actually kill someone. That's not her style. Consequences, you know. It'd be more like Teresa to discredit Cristina in some way so that no one would believe anything she said. Or pay her off to disappear on her own (to Europe, perhaps).
Vivi's thoughts on a traveling killer make sense to me. We've met precious few of the hotel's guests so far, and are there are any recent employees besides Julio? I don't think there are.
Maybe Garrido has a secret night life that we don't know about. (He has to be good at SOMETHING, right?)
Anyhoo--we now know there is another girl, all seem to be similiar in looks, hard to tell details by the light of a full moon, but at least can pick up a person away from town or the hotel. But to be enticed away from the residence, they would have to either KNOW the murderer or it would be someone they would be willing to meet up with, or had business with.
Vivi, I can see Teresa needing a male around to help her gain her ill-gotten gains. During this period, I don't see a woman being able to orchestrate or be more powerful than she appears as the figure-head of a hotel. She has no respect for her daughter's education, feeling it is so much bother and more important to be home, married and guarantee an inheritance. Even as a woman, she believes a man is the means to her ends. Diego is her willing accomplice, but I think she's realizing she may have created a monster.
Ok...here's me again reaching. Doc talks of familiarity of Spain, and Cristina wanted to save money to go to Europe. Now, I love me my doctor, so did Cristina know the doctor and he had encouraged her travels or possible desire to leave for an education. She didn't show up, or contact him, and so he came to find her? He keeps talking he has secrets too. Could he even know what happened to Cristina, or knows where she is, but he's keeping that secret until the truth of what is going around that hotel comes out...told you. Me again playing Hercule Poirot.
Daisynjay
Not sure what syphilis has to do with the murders, but the other two victims have not been confirmed to be prostitutes at this point.
"Since the earlier murdered girls were found further away, and the last murder victim found close to the hotel and killed by a hotel knife, it could be that the murderer was traveling TO the hotel and killing girls along the way (just for kicks). Maybe he's IN the hotel right now, among the guests"
YOU ARE POINTING TO LAZARO! Is he a Jack the Ripper doc?
If the murderer is someone who was traveling TO the hotel, Elise and her henchie are on the list, no? Who knows what their motivations would be, but what are anyone else's?
If Ayala is pretending to follow Teresa's orders, I'm sure it is only to make things easier for himself and because so far he hasn't seen a good reason to interview any of the guests. I think he does what he wants and he certainly isn't going to not investigate just because she said not to. She may see herself as an authority figure, but I'm sure he doesn't. Not above anything involving a criminal investigation, anyway.
Ayala and Dagoberto were marking up a map at the end of the episode last night, so we should soon see if there's an interesting geographic pattern.
So far the doc seems like he's a good guy, but there are so many unanswered questions surrounding him that I could see him turn out to be bad. But usually something slips that makes us question if he is really a good guy, and so far nothing has slipped. So I'm betting on him being aboveboard.
I think anyone in the hotel could get the key to the knife cabinet; it would just take more scheming for some than for others. Every holder of a key has to sleep sometimes. Things can be "borrowed" without permission.
To complicate things a bit, the person who originally took the knife might not even be the murderer.
Oh! Oh! Oh! I just thought of something.
Cristina was supposedly assisting (knowingly or not) in the theft of shipments to the hotel. If one of those shipments happened to be a set of gold knives, there could be an entire set (of six?) gold knives in... uh... Cantina Guy's possession, which opens the door to anyone who would steal from him. Or he could have resold the knives to someone else.
That expands the list of suspects quite a bit, and also means the hotel staff/guests aren't necessarily involved at all.
As long as he doesn't get Matilde. I like her, but if she was suppossed to pretend to be Isabel asleep in the bed, then why wear her jammies? Not like anyone could see it, which is a shame because those pajamas are nicer than anything I'll ever own.
Kelly
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