Caray, Caray!

• The wine was bitter and David blamed Miguel for being distracted. Ramón told him he was there the entire time. Susan said that the wine must have been deliberately contaminated. David then thought that Miguel had been slacking off. Because of this everything would be lost. Susan said she would bring the wine to the lab to check it for clues, David told the others to get rid of the bad wine, and Luciana and Miguel offered to help Susan. David was in panic mode that this would do no good. He fired Miguel.
  
  
• Sonia took her nasty piece of gossip to Lillian. This gave her the excuse she needed to get Luciana fired and banished. She asked whether David was in the bodega, but Sonia said the time wasn't right. There was a lot of shouting about something being wrong with the wine. Juan hadn't given her the details about that. Lillian was willing to wait.
• Luciana pointed out that a wine doesn't become bitter by itself. She said that somebody must have done something. David told the men to move out the wine while he went to talk to Juan. He then told Miguel to pack his things and go to the office for his severance pay.
• Lillian tried to taunt Marta about Luciana's alleged impropriety the evening before of having Miguel in her room and that this had been reported to David. Marta told her to mind her own business. “You must be proud of your daughter. She's just like you.” “Of course I'm proud of my daughter and not because she's like me. But because she took her place when she got here.” “The only thing you want is a man to resolve everything. Just as you once went after my husband. I will not permit that.” Another threat later Marta answered her with “You can say and do what you want but with all respect to your husband's memory, the only mistake he made was to marry you.” That shut Lillian's mouth for the moment. [High five, Marta!]
• Luciana suggested they buy up grapes from neighboring vineyards. Susan thought that would be very expensive. She also didn't think David would do it didn't want to rile him up. She also wasn't sure of the quality of the grapes. Luciana tried to persuade her on the grounds that she would know what type was needed. Miguel considered it worth the risk and said he would check the equipment. Susan was siphoning liquid into test tubes as they spoke. Miguel wasn't willing to take blame he didn't deserve, especially since this is his life's work. Lucicana followed him out of the fermentation facility.
• César arrived at David's office, having heard about the problem. David thought this was too late for a solution in addition to having to pay a large contract penalty. His solution was to fire Miguel over carelessness. He said that Miguel may have been a good worker once but since Luciana arrived he's been paying less attention to his responsibilities. César caught the tone of his voice and asked “Wait a minute. Are you angry over what happened over the wine or do you just not want him near Luciana?” [High, five, César!]
• That possibility wasn't lost on Miguel, who said so to Luciana. She wondered whether she was distracting him. He insisted he wasn't slacking off but she pointed out that not everyone saw it that way. He also didn't like David's objections to his relationship with Luciana. He also figured out what that was about.
• César tried to get David to admit to it, but David wasn't having it. César then retreated, telling him that if he doesn't give Miguel a chance to prove his innocence or still fired him he'd be making a very serious mistake. “César, I don't know what's happening.” “It's easy. You're falling in love with Luciana.” [César, why aren't you a shrink?]
• Miguel asked Carolos and León whether they had seen anyone unusual in the area. They both said no, but León remembered seeing Juan.
• David was sure that Luciana was in love with Miguel or why would they be together all the time? Juan's arrival pushed him to a different line of thought. There was a $20K fine pending. Juan said that selling the property would be the only way to pay the fine and the debts. The other bank account was empty. “And the buyer is waiting. We won't get the same price as before. Why not pay off the debts and start a new life?” César watched with a suspicious eye.
• A little later Miguel saw Juan in the fermentation plant and mentioned that he had been seen there before the latest tasting of the wine. Susan had determined that the wine had been contaminated with succinic acid. Juan tried to blow him off and told him to get out.
• Marta thanked Fernanda for apologizing to Luciana [WTF??] saying that she hoped they two would get along better in future. Fernanda said something about the two of them being very different, but this ended peacefully. For the moment.
• Miguel went to the bar, followed by León. He swore to prove his innocence, especially since Luciana had just arrived. Then began drinking.
• As if David's day couldn't get any worse, Marta had Perla come into his office to rat out Luciana's alleged tryst with Miguel and how this bothered her and Carito. David said that Miguel no longer worked there. Lillian – por supuesto – then brought up that Luciana should also be terminated. David said he would do what he must, then asked them to leave him alone. He was less than happy when he sat down.
• Carlos was moving the boxes to help Susan but César's arrival ruined his good mood. Susan declined a lunch invitation because she wasn't up to it and César left, which pleased Carlos. [She should not have smiled back at him.]
• Luciana walked right into David's office to another admonishment about knocking first [We get it that nobody knocks on novela doors, but we've heard this too many times]. She started talking about buying up second-harvest grapes, but he said there was no money for that. He told her it wasn't her problem and to leave him alone. “Yes, it is my problem because I work here!” This led to the issue of Miguel's presence in her room and she told him the reason. He asked why she hadn't told him before and she said she had no reason to bother him with it. If he was willing to listen to gossip she wasn't and said she'd talk to him when it was about work.
• Miguel got very smashed, so León paid the bartender and led him out. They got back some time after dark. Miguel poured himself a frosty glass of some lemon and mint water and drank it down and stumbled to the couch. Carito arrived right on cue, showing concern. He seemed to fall for it. She declared her feelings for him and moved in for the kiss, which he seemed to be participating in. [Miguel, you need to stock up on garlic and holy water if you're going to be around her much longer.] She pushed him onto the couch, but he caught himself and slid away. León saved him from a worse fate by arriving at that moment. Carito covered up by saying that she was about to make coffee. León began persuading Miguel to get to bed.
• Juan talked with the buyer, reminding him of his commission for the sale. Perla entered silently, closing the door behind herself. She was, however, stupid enough to yell “You want to sell the vineyard?” “How much did you listen to?” he asked. He wasn't sure he could trust her after that. She had hoped to be his secretary by this time and not remain a servant. A few more dodges later he told her they'd go away once he had the money. He then backed her down onto the desk. She promised not to tell anyone. He was holding her face in a way that would make a vampire's flesh crawl. [I'll bet a bottle of merlot that these two have never boinked in an actual bed.] She got up and left the office.
• Carito went up to Luciana's room to boast of receiving a kiss from Miguel. Luciana didn't care about this, just that her sleep was being interrupted. When Perla followed her in Luciana got up out of the bed, telling Carito “I hope you'll be very happy and have a log of kids” before leaving the room.
• Luciana went into the guys' room to talk to Miguel, who had long since passed out. She told León what this was about, finally concluding that Carito made this up to annoy her. Finally she wished her brother good night and left. León went back to bed. [These two rooms look rather childish, don't you think?]
• Miguel went down to breakfast with a hangover. Carito smirked as she heard Luciana tell him “We have to talk.” Still no immediate solution.
• Juan showed a bunch of documents to David as further proof he needed to sell. Finally David told him to contact the buyer; he's willing to meet with him. Juan smirked as he backed out through the door.
• Susan showed the lab results to Luciana and both agreed that this had been done deliberately. They both knew that Miguel suspected Juan. He wanted to resolve this before leaving. Susan left the report with Luciana and exited to do something else. Luciana then asked Miguel whether he had actually kissed Carito. He seemed embarrassed. He had come home drunk. She had charged up to his room to find out. He took this to mean she was jealous. She said she was, a little, but mostly angry when people do things specifically to vex her. He was happy as he left to talk to David.
• Lillian congratulated Juan on what he did to the wine, and he boasted that David would be meeting with the buyer. She reminded him that her silence was going to be expensive. He told her not to worry; she would get a good percentage. [Are we sure he will pay her anything?] She said she could then stop pretending to care about this family and finally be free of Marta. [Vitch!]
• Marta was out shopping when she realized a pair of immigration police were watching her, then following her. As they stopped her Gutiérrez arrived and told her they were his men and he told them to help her. He offered her a lift back and she accepted. [Is he really attracted to her or is he getting off on the fact that he had deported her husband and daughter?]
• Juan brought the financial reports he wanted David to see and Miguel walked in with the lab report. He then presented the idea for buying up grapes to deliver a table wine at a better price. David said this would not be a short-term solution but seemed willing to listen. Juan demanded that Miguel leave, as he had been dismissed. After he left Juan told David that by listening to a lowly employee he will lose his authority over them. [What does he know about management?] David told him “Of course not. I know what I'm doing.”
• The buyer showed up and talked with David, who was holding out for a better offer. Right after he left Luciana arrived and told David he couldn't sell. She didn't like the idea of selling at the first problem and she also felt the employees had the right to know.
• Miguel got back to the employees' quarters where Carito was waiting. She was roundly disappointed when he apologized for what she thought happened. She was also upset at the prospect of his departure. “We could see each other in town!” she said, but he backed off, saying she should forget him. She ran upstairs crying like a child just as Luciana arrived to tell him they had to find a way to buy the grapes or the whole place would go to hell.
• Sonia was alone in an upstairs room singing as she stared at a photo of David. Lillian entered in a good mood until she noticed that Sonia was lingering over the photo. She told her that they needed to be stricter with the employees now that hard times were coming. She handed back the photo and left. Sonia stared at it as she put it back in place. [She is just as pathetic as Carito.]
• Ramón was worried as he had driven Marta into town and she apparently disappeared. Miguel and Luciana arrived to ask whether Ramón, Carlos, and León would help them raise money to buy up grapes. They agreed.
• Marta arrived and Lillian demanded to know where she was. She grinned at her as Gutierrez brought her shopping bags. The look on Viper Major's face was priceless as Marta thanked the officer and he said to call him if she needed him. As Marta walked away Lillian almost freaked. “What the hell were you doing with her?” “To be honest, darling, you never decided to have something formal with me,” he said, “so I can do whatever I want. Excuse me.” He then left, not waiting around for any of her abuse.
• Miguel entered David's study to tell him that he and Luciana were working on a solution for the problem and he asked to be re-employed if temporarily. David asked whether this was a real solution or was it that he didn't want to be separated from Luciana.

Labels: vino

Permalink posted by Urban Anthropologist @ 11:00 PM