Caray, Caray!

We left Chisca on the point of an overdose and Miguel looking at Adela, as if to question her loyalty, after finding the bugged pen at the end of last night's episode.

Today we start with Valentin trying to wake Chisca up. But rather than try to revive her when she is unresponsive, or take any emergency action, he gets dressed and bails! What a coward!! I can think of other more appropriate words, but not sure how G rated this needs to be.  Jorge sees Valentin leave the pool house and finds Chisca unconscious and immediately tries to help. He calls Angel to come for Chisca. I am unsure why he calls Angel first and not just an ambulance.


In Miami, Adela is on the defensive, in shock and swearing that she never left her purse unattended. With a simple statement Miguel alleviates her fears. “I  trust you.” But he warns her that others will try to get close to her with the intention of finding out about him. She promises to pay more attention. Then he gets into the reason he brought her to Miami. He wants her to pressure the driver for the test run so that he will run the course putting the most possible wear on the tires. As Miguel said yesterday, right before the spy pen interrupted their conversation, he needs the Novotech tire test to fail. He tells us what it was that he put on the tires yesterday. An organic solvent that will cause the tires to break down quickly. Adela is upset that this was the only reason Miguel brought her to Miami. As we have seen in previous scenes, the undercurrent between Miguel and Adela is strong and Miguel is purposely keeping his distance. As he told Valentin, messing with Adela would be dangerous to him. But it is obvious by the fact that she storms off when finding out the truth about why he brought her that she is quickly becoming unhappy with the situation.  Miguel chases after her and seems confused as to why she is upset. She clarifies that she likes to be told things upfront. She thought he had brought her to Miami for her, not for a “mission.” After clarifying why she is upset, Miguel looks even more confused than before. Adela tells him she won’t help him.

In Mexico City, Chisca is getting taken out of the house on a stretcher. Jorge is trying to help and Angel is telling him to let them do their work. Jorge insists on going with Chisca in the ambulance.

In the hospital Angel still tries to stop Jorge from following but Jorge goes in always. They are working on Chisca and talking to her asking her her name, she is moving, but not responding.

At an outdoor restaurant Miguel keeps his meeting with IRS agent Toledo, who Miguel immediately recognizes as Ulises Murat from his friends yacht the last time he was in Miami. When Toledo tries to explain his reasoning for spying, Miguel won’t even let him speak. Toledo isn’t as good at faking his identity as he thinks, or Miguel is just more observant and less gullible than the rest of the world, because he immediately sees right through his facade and asks him his real name. Toledo denies everything and Miguel ends the meeting then and there, telling Toledo that when he wants to be truthful they can talk. Toledo tries to save the meeting but Miguel leaves.

Toledo arrives at his offices and Jeremias asks him how it went. Toledo is frustrated and says that Miguel doesn’t know who he is messing with. Jeremias says that he knew the idea of the microphone pen was a bad idea. Toledo doesn’t want to hear it. Then says they need to bug the phone. Jeremais warns that Miguel will see it coming after the microphone. Toledo says he wants to but the phone of the lawyer. The one from the boat,  Edgar Sanchez Morris.

Miguel is out running while he is on the phone with his office back in CDMX, they are discussing the plan, although at this point we don’t know what the plan is exactly beyond just wanting the tires to fail the test. My supposition here is that Miguel wants the test to fail so that the stock price will drop, he will buy stocks and then when Novotech proves the tires can do what they say, the prices will go up and Miguel will make tons of money.

The next scene has a man opening  the door of what looks to be a hotel room, and three men enter. The man who opened the door is identified as Vladimir Arcov, and Engineer of Novotech. It should be noted, that everyone is speaking Russian. Also, I am pretty sure that the man who entered is one of the Russian mob guys in cahoots with Miguel. They hand Arcov a tablet on which he sees his daughter, begging him to do what they ask or they will kill her. He tells the thugs, they are going to regret messing with him and he asks what they want.  We don’t see his answer to this, except that we can assume it has to do with the test.

Back in CDMX, Rosario is cleaning up the mess left by the pool by Chisca and Valentin. Peligros walks in asking for Chisca. Rosario says she is confessing or at least he hopes so. He asks for Jorge and Rosario says he has no idea. Peligros sees the mess and seems to make more of it than did Rosario and starts to try to make calls. Rosario asks Peligros if he should be scared. No answer.

Miguel walks into his hotel room and the viewers are given a nice view of his stripping down for a shower. But while he showers, Adela is laid out on her bed reliving the conversation she and Miguel had over breakfast when he asked her if she was sure she wanted to keep working for him.  Touching his hand and what that meant to her. She seems to have made up her mind about something and gets up.

Back in Miguels room we hear a knock on the door and Miguel opens the door to Adela dressed  in only a towel. Despite his state of undress, she asks to come in and he lets her into the room. I am interested in his psyche in this moment. Because I think that Adela has made it clear enough that she is interested in him to some extent and he has said plainly that he is interested in her. So obviously, he should have retired to the bathroom and at least put some pants on. However, I am sure the Rulli fans preferred the scene the way it played. Adela tells Miguel that she thinks she overreacted. Not by much, but still… She proceeds to tell him about her father being a mechanic and how his friend worked on race cars. Miguel explains that he knows all this, Adela looks surprised and asks him how he knows. Miguel reminds her that she told him everything the first night they met, over tacos. Adela chastises herself for being a “boca suelta” or loose mouth. Miguel apologizes for overstepping. That he should have talked to her first,  and promised to do so if he considered using her in a plan in the future. There was a cute moment when he starts to apologize and she won’t let him talk and he has to stop her so that he can speak. But at the end of it all, Adela agrees to go along with it, because she cannot refuse anything to do with race cars and asks him to tell her the plan. She also thanks him for such a “warm” welcome alluding to his intoweled (I know it’s not a word, but I think it suited the situation) state.

The next scene finds us watching a Isael Ramos (the right hand of the owner of Novotech) talking to three other men about racing the circuit. He tells them he wants them to run a good race but to keep the time above 1.5 minutes and he doesn’t want them to pass the Novotech car. The  men are identified as Paulo Canavalli, Ernst Geyne, and Sebastian Prado,   racecar drivers. They are not happy they are told to “throw” the race. Ernst asks if it is an order, and the man tells them to think of it as a favor in return for a very good financial compensation. All the while, a man is seeing the meeting from outside the door. He sees the men agree and shakes his head.

On a side note. I usually try to do my recaps as I watch the episode, instead of watching then recapping because I feel my responses to what is happening are more genuine. So when I speculate about something, I am doing so without having any prior knowledge. That being said, the first thing I began thinking here, is that the Russians and Miguel might be working different plans altogether, or that somehow, these seeming contrary plans are working to the same end.

Angel and Jorge are in the hospital talking in the hallway. Angel is asking Jorge who Chisca was with. Remember that the last time we saw Angel was seconds before Valentin knocked on Chisca’s door.  Jorge doesn’t give up any information. Says he got there and she was there on the floor and he called Angel. The doctor arrives and tells them that they pumped her stomach and that she is out of danger.  They are going to do blood tests, then Jorge goes in to see Chisca. Jorge tell her she scared him. Chisca, who seems very genuine, as opposed to her usual cynical self tells Jorge that she didn’t mean to scare him. Unfortunately, immediately after she asks for Valentin. Jorge tells her not to worry about him. I am sure he doesn’t want to tell her that the truth. But she asks…”why are you saying that.” And he tells her that Valentine went running like a coward. Chisca makes Jorge promise to not tell Angel or Miguel about Valentin, and not say anything about what happened, and that she just wants to go home. Jorge reluctantly agrees.

The doctor comes in and says that the blood work came back and that Chisca suffered from an overdose. (Really? Now way!!) He says that he won’t be able to discharge her from the hospital until they file a police report due to the substances found in her system. Chisca says she just wants to go home, and Jorge tells the doctor he wants to talk to him alone.   For only the second time this show, we see Jorge have some backbone, he becomes a man and not a weak, mumbling little boy. He offers the doctor money, and when he refuses, tells him that he has 15 minutes to make a good deal out of it, or it will be on his terms and they are leaving either way. This is one of the only times we see the Garza come out in Jorge. Although, I think that Adela kind of had his number when she accused him of pretending to not understand or get things, when it wasn’t convenient for him.

Miguel is on the phone with lawyer Edgar and apparently Toledo has gotten the wire tap. This guy is breaking more laws than he keeps. Miguel asks Edgar to hook him up with a car that is unnoticeable. Edgar agrees. Toledo says, we have him. Although, I am not sure what they think they have.

Angel and Jorge arrive back at the house with Chisca and Peligros is immediately questioning what happened. Angel tells him nothing…no big deal… they just got a little carried away. Said they drank too much. Peligros is taking that. The Garza’s are his responsibility. Chisca says Angel wasn’t there and that she just wants to rest. Peligros says that the next time the boss is away, he isn’t leaving them alone. Chisca is left alone and crying.

Howard Toledo is meeting with a cop, who insults his office. I am sure we are about to find out what he thinks he has. He tells the cop he needs his help. He tells him that Miguel is committing industrial sabotage, gives the cop the info where to find Miguel. The cop asks Toledo, what’s in it for him. Toledo says that once Miguel is behind bars, he can investigate his finances. I personally think that Miguel’s plan is deeper than them finding him doing something illegal with just a car. But we will see. I do like that the cop calls Miguel, Toledo’s new obsession. Because it is very true. Toledo is so desperate to get his “big fish” that he is breaking laws to get there. I imagine that he will have to pay a little before, or if he has any success in his plans.

Valentin is back in his hotel room talking to the maid. He asks a favor of the maid to call to see if Chisca is home. He spins a story for the maid, but we know that he wants to find out if Chisca came out of the situation he left her or not. Rosario answers and confirms that she is home and resting. Valentin gives the maid a tip for helping him.  He calls Piero, his Italian friend. He tells him that he is using Chisca to get to Miguel, to find out what business he has in the works and that he is going to use Chisca find out enough to take it all from him. She should have taken care of him when she had the chance. What a jerk of a friend. For being a good judge of character. Miguel seems to have a blind spot when it comes to Valentin. Or does he? We will see.

In Miami, the Russians come in and knock out one of the drivers. I can’t tell if it was one of the three we met earlier, or maybe the actual driver for Novotech. (Later in the episode we realize it was Sebastian Prado, Spanish Driver).

People are entering the racetrack and Paula is talking to the engineer, saying she is risking a lot with his product. He tells her its all good, don’t worry. Everyone is taking their seat to watch the race. Miguel included.  Adela isn’t with him, she is getting into a racing uniform and the thugs stripped the body  of the driver they knocked out. It looks like Adela is about to supplant one of the drivers.

Toledo and the cop, Ronnie show up at the racetrack. The security hasn’t seen anything suspicious and Toledo conveniently wanders into the bay. The guy we saw in the window earlier laughs ironically at Toledos comments that it is going to be a good race. He lets it slip that it won’t be a good race because the winner is obvious, Paul Parker, and that its just a show and not a real race, to make Novotech look good. This conflicts with what Toledo knows, so he tells the cop, something is going to happen,  but he has no idea what.

In the next scene we get a little clarification. The owner of Novotech, Paula Sandoval, introduces the drivers. It looks like Adela is driving in place of Sebastian Prado, one of the three drivers paid to loose to Novotech’s driver. The course is an obstacle course used to show the quality, speed, grip and most importantly the strength of the tires.

Valentin is back in his hotel room. He is setting something up. He tears his own shirt sleeve, pops all the buttons and then bangs his head into the wall, cutting open his eye. This guy is more than devious.

Ernst Geyne runs the course first. He has some issues, and completes the course in 1:45. Adela takes notes.

The second driver takes to the course Paulo Canavalli. He finishes in 2 minutes 8 seconds. During his run, Isael gets a call that  seems to concern the Paula, she gets up to see what is going on, with Miguel looking on all the while.

For the first time today, we see Jimena, she is at the office on the phone and she tells Trejo and Flaco that whoever she was on the phone with “will think about it.” They tell her that doesn’t mean anything, but she is sure that he will fall. Whoever he is. She sends a message and we see Miguel read the message “Novotech almost ready, Let’s hope Adela hits the mark”

The Spaniard Sebastian Prado aka “Adela” is about to take the course. She is about to start the race when we hear Miguel’s voice tell her that she needs to complete the course in faster than 1:30. Adela takes off and manages the course easily where others screwed up. Paula is freaking out that she is going to fast and that their driver won’t be able to win. Isael tells her to not worry and remember that their car is better. I might mention here that when the announcer first announced the drivers, he stated that all of the cars were exactly the same. Adela finishes the course in 1 minute 22 seconds.

Toledo and cop Ronnie are inspecting the locker room and bathroom  while the races are going on. Toledo finds blood on the floor of the bathroom.

Miguel is such a scoundrel, he tells the Paula, how great it was that the Spanish driver was so competitive because it will prove how efficient the Novotech tires are.

Parker, the Novotech driver takes off. The announcer starts off by saying that the driver something is happening, the tires are not providing stability and the driver is losing control of the car along with precious seconds. Then he says that the driver is trying to accelerate but the tires aren’t helping. Suddenly the tires catch fire. The race is over.

Paula Sandoval is chewing out the engineer who invented them. He is saying this shouldn’t be happening, she is saying that he sold her a patent that was supposed to raise her company to the top and now it is getting sunk.  Miguel has a smirk on his face the entire time.

Toledo and cop Ronnie find Prado, he tells them that some Russians knocked him out. The cop comes to the course trying to expose the fake driver. Adela senses the gig is up and takes off in the car. Toledo goes chasing her and Miguel takes off running. Toledo catches up to the car but it is empty.

At the Garza home in CDMX, we see the plan of Valentin play out. He claims that they must have gotten bad stuff because the last thing he remembers was being at the house and dancing with Chisca and then he found himself in the middle of the park in the middle of the day, beat up and robbed. He is trying to get the sympathy vote and claim he wasn’t in his right mind when he left her. Chisca seems to believe him.

Back at the shop, the engineer is running tests on the tires to see what happened. Everything is in order and normal. They suggest running the tests again. The cops say they can’t, they have to take in the tires for further analysis. The woman gets mad because the investors are all going to leave.

Toledo is circling the lot looking for something. Miguel and Adela are walking, smiling, her still in the drivers suit. Toledo sees them. Miguel spots Toledo and says, “Howard, they’re on to us.” Adela says “run,” and Toledo is fumbling with his phone as Miguel and Adela run across a bridge.

Wells that’s it for tonight episode. I guess we will see on Monday how Miguel and Adela get away from Toledo. I am also making the guess that the guy on the phone with Jimena was good ol’ Isael and that Miguel’s plan is to somehow buy the patent from Novotech or something of the sort, now that they have failed their test. The only loose cable that I have no idea about is why did they have to threaten the engineer? To say nothing was wrong with the tire? What do you all think? Have a great weekend and we will see you next week.

Esther

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