Caray, Caray!

• Fernanda went into David's room but he didn't want to see her. She reminded him about asking him to allow Graciela to stay for a while, but he said no. Graciela tried to talk to him alone but he furiously told her he wanted to be left alone. She should have been afraid, but wasn't.
• Susan tried to call David concerning the condition of the grapes, but Juan pulled rank on her, saying he was in charge in the current absence of David's ability to take charge.
  
  
• Fernanda cried, asking Graciela not to leave. Graciela said if it were up to her she'd stay. Fernanda left the room, still crying. Lillian asked about this and Graciela told her that David wanted her to leave. Lillian thought that would be best, but Graciela said “I'd be a fool to pass up this opportunity.” Butter would not have melted in her mouth. [This has evil intent written all over it.]
• Marta and Marcos spoke over the phone. She felt unable to leave at that moment because of the grieving household, but Marcos told her to call Luciana, reminding her that Luciana is her daughter. Marta went on about Lillian and neither has the smallest inkling of why Lillian hated Marta as she did.
• Lillian went to Juan's office, concerned that the cooked books would come to light. She and Graciela didn't have a good relationship because Lisa had been her favorite. She pointed out that Graciela was impulsive and could rat them out on the slightest pretext. Juan said that David didn't have the head for any of this at the moment, proving that he isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. Lillian wanted to be sure. They agreed they would have to find a way to control her. [Lotsa luck.]
• Juan caught up with Graciela and told her that he spoke with Gutierrez about the murder. She didn't buy it. She reminded him of the fraud she overheard and he told her that fraud was a far lesser crime than murder.
• Miguel and León talked about the situation. There is an emergency about the crop but both wanted to go to see Luciana.
• Lillian sat at the head of the table with the children in their usual places. They weren't eating. Lillian might have tried to bully them into doing so except for the arrival of Graciela and her suitcase. Fernanda hugged her and begged her not to go. Bobby got up and said he was going to look for Marta. Juan arrived just as Graciela was leaving.
• In Querétaro Luciana and Marcos returned from her graduation. He wore a suit, white shirt, and tie. She was upset that her mother wasn't there when all the mothers of her classmates had been. [She needs to grow up.] She said she felt like she didn't matter to anyone. [Where have we heard this same old song before?]
• David went alone to a spot where Lisa used to go, near a statue of the Virgen. He crouched down and cried.
• Two years pass and he was back in the same spot, wearing the same black shirt. He still missed her. In the employees' dining hall Marta took out a photo of Luciana and Marcos taken on her graduation day. Miguel smiled at the sight of the picture. They haven't seen them in the last two years because Lillian made up any pretext to prevent them from visiting Marcos and Luciana.
• Lillian met with Gutierrez for the first time in a long time. He's now a lieutenant and she has been in charge of the hacienda. He has her number in that he knew she liked being in control. He reminded her that Marcos could reapply for a visa now that more than ten years had passed. She did not look pleased. He questioned her about the people he had busted at her request, as she had never explained anything. “Was that random?” he asked. She told him that she had wanted the entire family deported but it was just her bad luck that it was only the father and daughter. She said the man's wife was “a bad influence in my home” and she didn't want the father and daughter returning and “ruining everything.” She told him she didn't want them back in the country. He told her he couldn't do anything because if the government gave him a visa, he could come back as a visitor. She told him she would then have to find someone else to help her and warned him that if Marcos decided to re-open the case against him he could lose everything. She got up and left. He looked like he was thinking about this.
• Luciana had a surprise for her father, who sat down slowly clutching his left shoulder. She had applied for him to re-enter the US. He wanted her to come with him although she was reluctant. He made the point that she needed to resolve her issues with Marta. He finally persuaded her.
• Miguel gave Marta a plane ticket, which surprised her. She asked if he would accompany her but he said he needed to continue the work he had been doing since his last promotion. Sonia entered demanding what they were doing in the employees' dining hall when she should have been in the house and he should be in the fields. [She sounds like a world-class control freak while dressing like a geeky slob.] She shoved a chart in Marta's face before walking out. She apparently is Lillian's right hand and Miguel compared the situation to being in prison. Marta tore up the chart,saying she will be there when the children need her.
• David lit some candles on an altar of photos of Lisa. Marta told him that the children were ready to accompany him to the cemetery. He didn't want them to come there with him. She also told him that the day before had been Bobby's birthday and there had been no parties, not even a cake. He told her to make one and indicated he had no desire to celebrate anything. She requested a few days off so she could visit Mexico and he told her to talk to Juan. She left him alone with the grief that had obviously swallowed him whole when Lisa died. He picked up a photo and said “Nobody understands that the only important thing was to be with you.”
• León and Susan talked about the lack of progress on the wine David had planned. Both seem to express some frustration over David's lack of interest in his original project.
• Cesar arrived and was concerned at David's condition. “This is too long to be living with depression,” he told him. He tried to open the drapes but David would not allow him, saying that his children had Marta to take care of him and nobody needed him. Cesar backed off for the moment.
• Marta and Miguel walked through the garden talking about Lillian. Marta was looking forward to getting away for a few days. Bobby didn't want her to go because his father paid no attention to him. She tried to assure him she would only be gone for a few days. He cried that he had no friends and nobody paid attention to him (with particular mention of David and Fernanda). Miguel tried to get Bobby to realize that Marta missed her daughter but the boy continued to cry until Lillian arrived just in time to tell Marta that no way was she permitted to leave. What if she decided not to return? Who could replace her? Bobby clung to Marta, not wanting to be left there with his grandmother. Miguel got sufficiently annoyed to protest but Lillian shut him down.
• Fernanda seemed to be flirting with Carlos. [This girl needs major supervision or a convent school yesterday.]
• Carita asked León if he was going to Mexico with his mother. Of course, because he can't wait to see his sister, whom Carita noted was always being talked about by Miguel and León. “They were novios,” he told her. “Well, when they were kids.” Carita rolled her eyes. She later flirted with Miguel.
• Lillian tried to get David to back her plan to keep Marta from visiting Mexico, but it didn't work. When David walked out of the office she told Juan he better hope that David doesn't agree to it.
• Lillian talked to Marta and went on the offensive. The very offensive. She kept insisting that Marta was disrespectful, deceptive, and ambitious. [This is definite gaslighting.] She is still insisting that there was something between her husband and Marta, which Marta continued to deny. Lillian threatens to fire her because the children don't need her anymore. She further insults her by saying “I was going to give you permission to go but since you've been insolent you can't.” [Karma is a bigger bitch than you are, Lillian.]
• Juan tried to get David to look at some documents regarding the wine, but he was not interested. [Someone please fill in the blanks here; I was having technical difficulties.]
• Luciana arrived home to find Marcos on the floor, obviously in the midst of a cardiac episode.
• Marta explained to León about Lillian's refusal to let her take the trip. She picked up the phone to call Luciana, who did not answer.
• Marcos – now lying on the couch – told Luciana she needed to go back to California to reunite with her mother and brother. She called again about the ambulance that had not yet arrived.
• Fernanda tried on a pair of earrings that had belonged to Lisa only to have David yell at her about it. The kids haven't been allowed in his room and are not permitted to touch Lisa's things. This argument is bad enough for Fernanda to say that she wished he were gone instead of her mother. This shocked him enough to pay attention. The kids called him out on his withdrawal and his rejection of them. He tried to explain but Fernanda wouldn't have it and left. Bobby reproached his father and also left his room.
• Marcos died on the couch. Luciana cried. She closed his eyes and went on about his promise that they would return to the US together. She now felt alone.

Labels: vino

Permalink posted by Urban Anthropologist @ 10:51 PM