Caray, Caray!

Alt. titles:
A Fall from Grace
Grace Under Pressure
Lil and Grace
The Many Faces of Grace (thanks RC)

Juan says to Lilian, "your daughter Lisa didn't die in an accident like everyone thinks. Graciela killed her!" Graciela slowly turns to face her mother.

Lil asks Juan to clarify. Juan explains that he saw Grace coming back from the river after killing Lisa. Grace lamely tries to deny it, but by now she's so nervous she sounds like a chipmunk and has no credibility at all.

Juan reminds Lil of the time Grace abruptly went back to Spain, and the time she agreed to a pact for the three of them, and has always done whatever Juan told her to do, including defending Juan when David was going to fire him, and getting out of the way when Juan wanted to buy Los Olivos. She always helped Juan in exchange for his silence. Grace calls Juan a liar, but Juan continues calmly, "you never let me down until now!"


"You are un maldito!" is Grace's shrill retort. Juan says that he's just giving her what she deserves. "You don't know how much I HATE YOU!!!!!" she screams. "I told you not to mess with me," Juan replies smugly. "You took Perla away from me, so I'm going to take David away from you and cancel your wedding! Now we're even."

And Juan takes off. Grace tries to follow him, with windmilling arms and squeaking protests, but Lilian hauls her back, gets in her face, and demands: "Look at me. Tell me the truth. Tell me if you are guilty of the death of your sister."

Grace's eyes dart downward and to the side, as if looking for a good answer.

Fernanda comes into the house looking for her aunt. She's just in time to see Juan leaving. "Oh hi, Fer," he says. "Tell your father I said congratulations, please." And he's gone.

Fer calls for her father and tells him she just saw Juan. David tells her to forget about Grace for now and stick with Bobby. (I'm sure she will be an adequate bodyguard.)

Grace pulls away from her mother's grasp, averts her eyes, and says she had nothing to do with Lisa's death. She tries to convince Lil that Juan said all those things because he's crazy. But Lil realizes that there must be a reason why Grace did all those things, and why she's been so nervous these last few days. And she murdered a woman. How could she?

"I had no choice!" Grace screeches. She tries to collect herself and get back into poor-victim mode. She says, "Perla was threatening me -" But Lilian wants to know what Perla was threatening Grace with. What was so bad that Grace would take her life? "Tell me please, I beg you!"

Grace averts her eyes again and says she didn't do anything at all. Lilian grabs her head (like a basketball!) and shouts, "STOP LYING!" Grace screams in her shrillest voice yet, "Perla's death wasn't my fault! Neither was the death of your damned dead daughter!"


Stunned, Lilian says, "I don't believe you." "You've never believed me," Grace whines, gathering up her dress and heading for the door, murmuring about marrying David.

Lil hauls her back in again and says, "I'm not letting you go until you tell me everything." (Hmm. She might want to call down to the kitchen for some snacks.) Grace says again that she didn't do anything. Lil knocks her down with a backhand slap. "Crazy old woman," Grace squeaks, and then she makes the best face ever. (Which I couldn't quite capture. Too slow with the keyboard.)


Fernanda runs outside with her hair on fire, calling for Bobby. Her demeanor alarms Bobby and everyone else. She anxiously tells them that Juan is in the vineyard. A bunch of the guys run off to investigate. Cesar begins to join them, but Susan wants him to stay and help with the kids. Adolfo agrees to stay too. Cesar pulls out his phone to call the police.

David really is on it. He is chasing Juan down a grapey lane, his necktie flapping around inconveniently, and he is shouting that Juan has no escape.

Grace asks her mother, "why don't you believe me?" "Because your obsession with David has no limits, Grace. You were capable of trying to silence Juan by killing Perla, how could you?" Grace again refuses to meet her mother's eyes, and says only, "I wasn't going to let him get in the way of my wedding."

"What terror it gives me to imagine that what Juan said could be true," Lilian says. "Think what you want," Grace says with resignation. But Lil says, "no, Grace. I'm not going to live with this. Lisa was the best thing in my life. Tell me, please, I beg you, what did you do to her?" She grabs Grace by the shoulders. "If you don't tell me, you can't leave here."

Grace pulls away and says, "First Lisa robbed me of David, and after that she didn't deserve to be happy with him. Your daughter was a hypocrite. I was the one to like David first and then Lisa showed up and took him away from me just like everything she took from me in my life. The love of David, your affection. That damned daughter of yours didn't deserve anything."

Lilian yells at Grace to shut up. Grace said she had to do all of this because Lisa stole David from her. She deserved it all! Lil says, "unlike you, Lisa was a great woman. She was a good woman!" Grace shoves Lil back, and Lil flops onto the promiscuous sofa. "Always with your comparisons!" Grace shrieks. "You've always preferred Lisa over me! You never loved me as your daughter, only her. You always wished that I was like Lisa, right? WELL LOOK AT ME!! I am WITH her husband, WITH her children, and now, wow, in her house." Graciela looks blissful for a moment and says to herself, "all this you've gotten, Graciela, nobody - listen up - NOBODY helped me! YOU never helped me!" (Didn't Lil get her half a million dollars yesterday?) "That's why I had to get her out of my way, Mummy, with - with my own hands."

And with that, Grace has a look of profound relief.

I feel like singing!

Lil gets up from the couch and grabs Grace. "What are you saying?"

"Yes, I killed your damned daughter so I could be left with David because HE WAS ALWAYS MINE!"

Lilian is devastated.

Outside, Fernanda (who was told to stick with her brother) tells Bobby that she needs to find out how her aunt is. Bobby is afraid of Juan and doesn't want her to go. (He is probably thinking about those movies where one kid goes into the haunted house alone, and then a while later another kid goes in alone to look for him, and then the third kid goes in alone to look for the first two, and the fourth kid finally goes in and finds the first three hanging from meat hooks.) Fernanda says that Cesar and Soosan will look after him.

Cesar and Soosan are looking at Cesar's phone and gesturing. I hope they called the police and aren't still waiting for David to answer the phone! Bobby approaches them, and they sit down with him.

When we come back to the happy bride's dressing room, Lilian has her hands around Grace's neck. Grace easily shakes her off and says this is all Lil's fault for preferring Lisa. "Now all you have is me!" Grace laughs. Lil slaps her face. "I cannot let you come near that family again, do you understand? I won't have you near the children, ever." Grace says no one will stop her. She doesn't care what she has to do.

Lil swings Grace around by the arm and says, "forget about the kids. Nobody deserves someone like you." "Shut up!"

It is at this moment that Fernanda reaches the doorway. Unlike normal Earth houses, the Robles home muffles sound so efficiently that she has not heard a single word of this screechfest so far.

"I won't allow you to remain with him," Lil says, but Grace interrupts, "nobody will stop me and if I have to kill you, Ma, like I killed your damned daughter, I'll do it!"

Fernanda approaches Grace and asks, "what did you say? You killed my mom?" A familiar reflex kicks in for Grace; she puts on her sweet auntie mask and replies, "you misheard. I would never do anything like that."

But Fer wants an answer. Lil speaks up. "Yes. It was her, my dear." As the knowledge sinks in, Grace watches, either feeling remorse or just looking like she is.

Fernanda is going into one of her patented meltdowns. With her familiar whispery voice and dainty gestures, Grace tries to convince Fernanda that it's not true.

Lil: STOP LYING!
Fer: Why did you do it?
Grace: It was an accident!
Fer: Don't touch me! I don't want you near me, much less my father, ever! You are a manipulator and I am stupid for believing you.
Grace: My child, don't say that, I love you.
Fer: You don't know what love is.
Grace: YES I KNOW! I love you and your brother as if you were my own children.
Fer: You are nowhere near resembling my mom.
Grace: That's not true. I am BETTER than your mom.
Fer: Never! Don't you dare mention my mother. Forget about my father, because I will never let you near him.

Grace looks heartbroken. But Fernanda really is.

Ramon, Tano, and Leon chase David, who chases Juan. Juan's gone into la cava. David asks Ramon to talk to the police. Tano and Leon want to go with David, but he's not willing to risk their safety. "I'll take care of Juan!"

David agrees to let Tano and Leon cover the exits so that Juan will be trapped. However, David says, if Juan comes out before he does, please take good care of the kids.

Fernanda tries to leave the happy bridal dressing room. Grace begs her not to tell David. She insists that everything will be fine after the wedding. Fernanda counters with, "I hate you, Graciela! You used me all this time. I believed in you, I loved you. I told you many times that I didn't want to kill myself, and you made me believe that I did!" (How long has that one been rattling around inside her head?)

Lilian looks even more horrified than before.

Fernanda tells Grace, "you'll marry my dad over my dead body." Grace protests. Lil tells Fer to find her father. "He won't believe you!" Grace says. "You've done much damage," Lil says. "You will pay dearly for this," Fernanda adds on her way out the door.

"I won't let you go on harming my grandchildren because you're crazy," Lil says. "You're rotten to the core." Grace is really starting to fall apart. She won't let Lil steal her happiness the way Lisa did. "I hate you," she shrieks, sounding like a wild animal. She stumbles to the door, calling for Fernanda. This time, Lil lets her go. She looks like she's thinking.

David goes into la cava, no tie, shirt halfway unbuttoned, sleeves rolled up, yelling for Juan. Juan emerges from the shadows. They exchange pleasantries, then Juan points a gun at him. "You are a coward," David taunts. "And you are a traitor," Juan answers. He asks if David thought Juan would end up like his father. "Nothing you do would surprise me," David says, "especially after what you did to Perla."

Juan says Perla was the only thing he had, and the only thing David couldn't take away from him. "Then why did you kill her?" David asks. Juan says he didn't do it. He laughs maniacally - Jokerly - and says, "Graciela did it! And your beloved Lisa didn't fall in the river. Graciela killed her!" He laughs again, and this time he even looks like the Joker.



Grace runs down the hallway to the stairs, now pursued by Lilian. Grace is calling for Fernanda. Lil grabs her by the arm. Grace screams in her face, "LET GO OF ME!!!" "What you want to do is an abomination," Lil explains. "I will not permit it, because you don't deserve the happiness that you stole from your sister." Grace screeches like a peacock. "I don't care if I have to kill you too, mom, because I will do it. Let go of me!"

And Grace twists out of her mother's grasp, and as I watch and rewind and watch again, it looks as if Lilian's arms are extended because Grace pulled away, but it also kind of looks like Lil was pushing her. Maybe it's a little of both, but regardless, the beautiful bride tumbles down the next few steps, somehow successfully negotiates a quarter-turn, then continues the rest of the way downward to land head first, face up, at the very bottom.

Lil hurries down in her bare feet, gasping, "Graciela, Graciela" and whispers in her ear, "don't do this to me."


Fernanda rushes outside (these scenes seem to be out of order), her hair on fire again, screaming hysterically at Bobby that nothing's going to happen to him and everything will be fine. Cesar asks what's going on. She collects herself and says nothing, nothing, Bobby doesn't need to know about any of this! (Ugh, never plan a surprise party with her, because she is TERRIBLE at keeping secrets!) Bobby says he's getting worried. Fer wants her father, and she tells the other wedding guests not to let Grace come near Bobby. She is doing the meltdown thing again and crushing her poor little brother like a grape.

Juan tells David that Grace really did kill Lisa and has been paying for Juan's silence all this time. Juan held off the investigation so that Grace could leave. Then he was able to steal whatever he wanted. David doesn't believe it, but Juan reminds him how quickly Grace left. (Dave looks off to the side, remembering. Good job!) Grace and Lisa fought down by the river, and Juan saw Grace come back from there, and soon afterwards Lisa turned up dead. "Coincidence? You know it's all true, and you were going to marry her! Ahahahaha!!"

David calls Juan a desgraciado and moves towards him. Juan shoots him in the arm. Not bad for a beginner. David yowls. Juan mocks, "how does it feel to be losing everything and you can't do anything to go back to the past? How's it feel? Tell me!" And he punches David in the face, knocking him down, and then punches and punches and punches right into the commercial break.

David is still on the floor, spitting up blood, and Juan is laughing and saying how much he's enjoying this day. He beckons David to get up, then smacks him in the face with his knee. He pulls David up by the hair and sticks his thumb into David's wound. He steps back and raises the gun.

"Graciela was Lisa's killer, but I knew well that you'd go to bed with her. This is the best day of my life! You lost, David. Lisa should have been mine. If she had loved me, she would still be alive and all this could have been mine. You took her from me, David, but it's done. After I kill you, I'll go for your children and I'll go for Luciana and you don't know how much I'll enjoy her death, David."

With this, David morphs... into Batman. He knocks the gun out of Juan's hand and punches him in the face. "Don't touch my kids or Luciana!" Then he starts beating Juan up like a professional.

Grace is still lying head-down at the bottom of the stairs. Lil fusses over her. She gathers Grace into her arms - it's a little awkward, I can hear her shoes banging against the stairs as Lil moves her around - and then she sees a tiny bit of blood in Grace's ear. Grace doesn't respond. Lil realizes that she's dead. "I killed my daughter!" (Lilian, if it's any consolation, 1) she was already dead inside, and 2) she's not officially dead until you put a wooden stake through her heart - if you can find the shriveled thing.)

Lilian is distraught. She holds Graciela and calls her "Grace" and "Chiquita" and "m'iha" and sobs and wails. Because of the house's unique sound-muffling properties, no one outside can hear these terrible sounds echoing around the room. A framed photo of Lisa comes into focus.


David is sitting on top of Juan, punching him again and again and again. The police arrive and pull David and Juan apart. David yells that Juan has to pay for what he did. One of the cops kind of mirandizes him, but gets it out of order ("anything you say will and can be used against you") and forgets to tell him that he has the right to an attorney. But what the hell - he is an attorney. Juan says he's not finished with David yet. (Say, Juan? Esquire? You know you have the right to remain silent? You're doing it wrong.)

Tano and Leon think David should get treatment for his wound, but he's in a hurry to find Graciela.

At this point, aren't we all dying to know what's going on at VSB? No, me neither, but here we are. Luciana wants to talk to Miguel, but he's still mad at her. She's trying to apologize to him for hurting him with what she said. Mig says she said that because she feels it, but she says it was without thinking. She was angry because he was meddling in her life and in her decisions. She didn't realize that he was doing it to protect her, and she's sorry.

Miguel is offended that after knowing him all her life she'd think that he would do anything to hurt her. "I'm not like David." (Does he seriously think that's going to score him any points with her?) Everything he does in his life is to take care of her and protect her. (Poor Erika's ghost is saying, "EXCUSE ME?") He didn't let David in because he knew David would hurt her. "Am I wrong?"

Luci can't deny it. She says that she went to see David, and it got even worse. She realized that if David was going to marry Grace it was because he really is in love with her. It's not for his kids. "I was a fool, Miguel. Forgive me."

David comes back to the house, bellowing for Graciela. Everyone wants to know what's going on. He tells them he fought with Juan. Bobby and Fernanda are scared. David tells Bobby not to worry and everything will be okay, but the sight of him covered in blood doesn't reassure Bobby at all.

Fernanda tells David that Grace is in her room, but Fer wants to tell David something first. He doesn't have time to hear it. Fer will go with David. Bobby wants to come along to. David tells him to stay where he is.

Miguel wants to know what it will take to make Luciana happy. She says he doesn't need to do a thing. Luci feels that she is the one who has to do something. "What does that mean?" Mig asks. "That I'm determined to give myself the chance to be happy." Mig says, how, since you've realized that David is going on with his life without you? Mig wants to help her forget all the bad stuff David did to her. He just needs her to let him be by her side, near her and to decide to let herself love.

Luci says she needs time. She knows she'd never suffer with him, but she wants to be that woman for him, he doesn't deserve any less. He's sure it'll all work out once the pain passes. Luci says he's a great guy, and hopefully someday she'll be able to return his love!

Mig knows that day will arrive. She will feel so loved that she won't have any fear of giving him her heart.

In summary:
Luci says "hopefully someday." Miguel hears, "get the nursery ready posthaste."
Miguel says "we're gonna be soooo happy" and Luci hears "I'll never smother, pressure, or steamroll you."

They seal it with a hug.

As Fernanda and David cross the living room, Fer hurriedly tells her father that Grace killed Lisa and he can't marry her. He is in the middle of telling her that he knows, when they spot Lilian cradling Grace in her arms. She is too shocked to notice David's gory appearance (Fernanda is also smeared with blood at this point). "I couldn't let her marry you, David," she says. "Grace did much damage. She killed Lisa, and I had to kill her." Fernanda wails.


Outside, Booby is telling the grownups that he's scared. His father was covered with blood. (I bet they were hoping he wouldn't notice.) Susan and Cesar try to soothe him.

Fernanda points out that her aunt is dead. "I killed her," Lil adds. David asks Fernanda to leave, but Lil says, "forgive us for the harm we've done to you." She admits that she helped Grace marry him so that they could stay at the house. She didn't know what Grace had done to Lisa. Lil loved Lisa just as she loved Fernanda - but Fer doesn't believe it. David tells Fer to go to her brother.

"So it's true?" David asks Lilian. She confirms it. "Forgive me," she repeats.

Fernanda comes outside. Bobby wants an update. She tells him that Dad isn't getting married, and shouldn't have gotten involved with Grace. She's bad and she's done them a lot of harm. She told them some bald-faced lies. Nothing she told them was true, and she never loved them. "You have to be strong. I promise I'll never leave you and I'm your sister and we can get through this."

Bobby wants to know where his aunt is. Fernanda answers, "she won't be able to hurt us any more." Susan takes this cue to walk Bobby over to a chair. Fer confides to Cesar that Grace is dead and Grandma killed her. Cesar has Fer see after her brother, and he asks Sonia to send the guests home. Cesar says he'll call the police and then he'll call David. (Ah, good. He did it in the right order this time. Though I'll bet everyone there has a phone and they could have split up the work, I guess it's a bad idea if multiple people are talking about this where Bobby can hear.)

Uh-oh, Fernanda is going back into meltdown mode!

Lilian tells David she didn't know what Graciela had done, and she never should have supported her. "But you helped her manipulate me and my children," he accuses. "What kind of woman are you?" "The only thing I wanted was to belong. I wanted a family."

David says, "that's not true. You are just like Graciela. I don't understand how someone as good as Lisa could have been your daughter." Lil says that Lisa was the only good thing she had, and she lost her because of Grace. That's why I tried to correct the mistakes that I made." David says she can't remedy pain by causing more pain. "You just killed your own daughter."

"I only wanted to protect Fernanda, that's all I wanted," Lil says. (And Bobby can go hang.) "Yous are all I have left of Lisa." (She didn't say "yous," but I hate that we don't have a separate word for plural you.)

"You will never, ever see my children," David tells Lil. She nods. "Forgive me," she says again.

Back at Viñedo Santa Barbara, Luci and Miguel enter the MPR just as Marta gets off the phone. She has to go to Bodega de Los Angeles to be with the kids. She's not sure exactly what's going on, except that the... (she hesitates, as if searching for a euphemism, then gives up) ... the wedding was canceled.

"David didn't get married?" Luci asks. Marta tilts her head ever so slightly as she looks at Miguel, who looks very unhappy. Marta says there's been a tragedy. David is okay, but Graciela is dead. (Luci very politely refrains from jumping up and down.) That's all Marta knows. She's gotta go. Luci wants to go with her. Miguel doesn't like this idea! (I bet!) Luci says, "but David might need me!" Mig says that if David needs her, he'll find her. Marta tells her to stay here and she'll let them know when she finds out.

"Grace was like this because of me, but I was able to stop her before she could do any more harm," Lilian tells David. "I don't think she could," David says. "She had already robbed me of what I loved most in my life."

The police arrive. Lil tells them she killed her daughter. David tells them to take her away. She begs him for mercy. (I don't think the police can give her a pass for murder on David's say-so.) David says she didn't deserve to have been Lisa's mother, and he's not going to let her near them again. She begs the police not to take Grace away from her while she's still warm. And another "forgive me."

David says they lied to his face and were traitors. Lil says it wasn't her, it was all Grace. She manipulated all of them. "Yes, she was very good at that," David says. "Know why? Because she learned it from you. You will rot in prison where you deserve to be, far from us. You(s) destroyed my life and the lives of my children. Also the lives of Marta and Luciana. Because of you, they deported Marcos and broke up a family. I can't believe I trusted you and let my children be around you and Graciela when you were killers. Take her away!"

The police take Grace from Lil's arms and gently put her on the floor. Lil leans over to kiss her goodbye. She tells David she did it to protect her faaaamily. The police take her away.

Miguel asks Luci to sit down. They have a mutually dumb discussion as to whether she should go to David. He knows this has given her hope. She insists she's just worried about David. He tells her that if she wants to see David then do it, but don't forget how he's hurt her. And then he says she has to forget what David did to her and give herself the chance to be happy.

David stands aside from Grace's corpse and tells her she killed Lisa, her own sister. "What sadness it gives me, having been so wrong, having trusted in you, wasted so much time by your side. I lost the chance to fall in love and be happy, because of you. I can't believe I let you manipulate me this way, all this time you were abusing my children and me. I knew I would never be happy at your side, because I never loved you. My love, my heart belongs to Luciana."

Cesar bandages David up. (WHY is David still wearing that shirt? It's nasty. David should take off his shirt, dammit. I signed up to see a shirtless Gabriel Soto. This is totally wrong.) Cesar wants to take him to the hospital. David agrees, but first he wants to talk to Fernanda, who has been watching numbly from a couch. Cesar excuses himself.

Fernanda doesn't want Bobby to ever know about this. David is sorry Fer had to go through this. He would have given anything for her to have avoided this. But Fernanda says none of this was his fault. He was always good. She feels that it was her own fault that he got so close to Grace. She supported Grace in every way to get him closer to Grace and get rid of Luciana. Grace told them that Luci would steal his love and attention from them, and she believed all of it. She was a fool and she's sorry. She never believed that Luciana was bad, but Grace convinced her of it and made her feel wrong for being with Luci.

"That can't be," David says in disbelief. "Why didn't you tell me before?" Fernanda says she thought her aunt was telling the truth and that she loved Fer. And she swears that when she felt bad about seeing him with Luciana and she took those pills, she was just trying to feel better. She wasn't trying to take her own life. She would never do something like that.

David tells Fer to try not to blame herself. Fer says it was Grace and that doctor who wanted to convince her that she wasn't okay. Grace used her to get close to David, and Fernanda allowed it. She begs David's forgiveness.

Miguel and Luci are still "talking." Miguel is asking Luci to let David come for her, rather than go running off to him. Luci says she just wants to go to him to help him, just like she did for Miguel when Erika died.

That takes all of the wind out of Mig's sails. He relents. She promises that she'll always be there for him.

David tries to make Fernanda feel less guilty. He reminds her that Grace manipulated not only Fernanda, but everyone. Fernanda just wanted them to be a nice family. David says, "we are a nice family," and she shouldn't be sorry for honestly loving someone, nor for being a good person. "Fernanda, you have the heart of your mother."

Wait, we're stopping there? But we're not even halfway through the Mexican version!

Next time: Has the Joker had his last laugh? Find out Monday night, when Urban Anthropologist wraps this mess up in a bow! Tune in an hour earlier than usual and see it all with your own eyes!

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