Caray, Caray!

Bertie’s plan to have Franco back in the matrimonial bed backfires. He’ll be sleeping in Nat’s room until she gets back, then he’ll occupy the guest room (although Pops may still be in it). He collects his glasses and some books and departs, leaving Berta in her black and white night clothes, surrounded by all her doo-dads.

Franco is not quite ready to sh*t, shower and shave, but he makes Nat’s bed and climbs back on it to read some more. Nat returns. She tells Franco how incredible the weekend was, as Franco teases her. She’s happy, but, there is a but. She’s afraid her happiness won’t last. She’s afraid that what Paolo feels for her will evaporate. Franco tries to quell her doubts. Nothing is forever, she claims, look what happened to him and her mother. He concedes that things between himself and Berta are not very good, but it’s not the same. She’s told to fight for what she feels. Franco says Pao is a great guy. Nat agrees with him, but…never mind she keeps quiet.

BroBreakfast
Dante, Manuel and Pao are gathered around the table breaking their fast. Pao shares how everything went great. With Nat he doesn’t feel any pressure. It’s easy to forget everything when he’s with her, but the only thing he’ll not forget is the bastard who put him in the wheelchair. He imagines the person happily going on with his life, no longer thinking about what he’d done. While he provides the voice over, we see Nat sad and crying alone in bed.

The guys go their separate ways, Dante and Pao to rehab while Manuel checks his calls. One must have been Katia. He calls her and she’s there in a flash. She’d waited in the hallway until she saw the two guys leave. She wants to tell Manny what Julian told her. Manny doesn’t put any money down on Jule’s truthiness. Because Pao doesn’t believe Katia, she wants Manny’s help. She doesn’t think Pao’s lawyer knows anything about what Nat is hiding nor Julian’s revelation. So, she calls Franco’s cell phone. Conveniently left in plain sight, but within Berta’s reach, she answers the call when the cell rings. (BTW, she’s dressed in b&w again, all day long.)

Katia runs her mouth, not knowing who was on the other end. Franco wanders back in and thought she was answering one of his calls. She says not to worry, it wasn’t his little amiga. He tells her again, he doesn’t like that. Berta, with the open line still in her hand, lies and tells Franco she called Ingrid to let her know when it would be convenient to come visit. Her phone was upstairs getting charged and now, be a dear and go get her cell phone and her meds. He wouldn’t want her to go without her meds, right? She turns back to her caller and identifies herself as Franco’s wife. Katia gulps and recovers when Berta tells her she’s mighty interested in what she has to say. They plan to meet and talk in a public place, face to face.

The first thing Berta wants to know when they are seated in a big open-air restaurant is whether Katia has any proof of this thing that was supposed to have involved her daughter and who told her this story. Katia replies no proof, just adding up 2+2 and it was Julian; does she know Julian? Berta says of course she knows Julian well, but she knows her daughter even better. Besides, her husband is a famous criminal lawyer and he’d never let anyone even in his own family commit a crime and knowingly get away with it. She’s sure Jules made it all up in retaliation for Natalia leaving him and taking up with a guy in a wheelchair. She thinks somehow Jules learned she was part of Paolo’s past and used her. To top it off, her daughter was in NY when the accident occurred.

“Hormones in Tennis Shoes” (Thank you, Susanlynn)
Gabe is still behaving like the underage teenager he really is. As they walk together, Alba tries to drill some sense into him regarding his relationship with Julieta. She has him put himself in Pedro’s shoes. That doesn’t work. She philosophizes that he’s still so very young and so hormonal he doesn’t really know yet what love is and life isn’t over just because this crush is over. He continues to insist that what he and Julieta had was true love.

Julian’s Hormones are Raging, But He’s Not Wearing Tennis Shoes
The guy is trying to get a quickie behind closed doors in his office with Ingrid. She has other things on her mind—how to teach two birds with one flying lesson. She learned Gabe was going out with a much older woman. Jules counters with a so what, so is he. Ingrid doesn’t appreciate the comparison, but it doesn’t deter her from her reason for being there. She knows where the woman works and here’s what they could do. Julian apparently gets his quickie and she gets legal assistance.

Julieta Has to go Home and File for Unemployment Compensation
Gabe watches as Juli puts a box of her personal office things in her car. She tells him she was fired. She works as a marketing specialist for products for children. The company didn’t want her or the scandal that it could cause. She also tells him it was his mother that filed a complaint against her for child abuse. (This sounds more like delinquency of a minor, but I’m not a lawyer. I’ll leave it to Franco, if he has time.) In any case she never wants to see Gabe again, nor should he ever come near her again. With that she takes off, maybe never to be seen again.

Bertie Loses No Time
After her talk with Katia, Bertie heads straight for the bufete to speak to Julian. Tizzy intercepts her to say Jules isn’t available and she ignores him, telling Olga that she will wait in her husband’s office. Tizzy follows her in, although she really didn’t want him to. She tells him he makes her stomach turn. He’s only causing her trouble. She’s having enough trouble with that hussy going after her husband. Tizzy wants to know what the problem is, let him have her and Bertie stay with him. He moves in and gets her into an unwanted clinch, just as Alba brings Franco his morning (it must be closer to noon by now) coffee. How delightful. Alba has more ammunition for her wicked tongue. Franco arrives. He’s all serious and takes Tizzy aside, warning Berta—no more trouble.

Franco is pissed that Tizzy asked Olga to get him the file on Alba. Tizzy claims he was just trying to get up to speed on all the firm’s cases. Franco points out that he’s only supposed to be handling Mauro’s cases and to lay off his. Tizzy guesses that the woman who brought him coffee is Alba. Tizzy needles him.  She’s definitely a knock-out and he might go after her. Franco is doing a slow burn. Tizzy brags that he’s always had a way with widows and married women. Franco tells him to keep his hands off Alba or else. Is there something personal going on? What would Franco rather have him do: sniff around after his wife or this client of his. Tizzy continues, Franco should know better than anyone that a lawyer can’t get mixed up with a client personally and the ethical thing to do is to hand her case over to someone else in the firm, like himself. Mauro would approve.

While the two rams are butting heads, the two ewes are having their own head-butts. Ooops, the AAAA painting is unhung, but not destroyed. (Berta must not have brought a knife.) Julian interrupts and Franco returns at the same time. Berta goes with Julian, leaving Alba and Franco with a little alone time. He guesses they were arguing. Alba says, au contraire, my friend. She reminds him that not too long ago, he told her he was fighting for her freedom. Well, she’s going to wait until he gets his. After some touchy-feely, he asks her to bring him something sweet to go with the coffee—just so he can see her again.

Ingrid Has Not Left the Building
She stops Alba in the hallway. She “pretends” she doesn’t know why Gabe is so down in the dumps. He won’t talk to her and she’s sure it’s something big. She invites Alba to stop by the house that evening, said the spider to the fly. The bait is Gabe.

Know When to Hold ‘Em
It turns out Bertie is holding a winning hand. Julian Denies he ever said anything to anyone about their little “arrangement,” let alone someone he doesn’t even know. Berta tells him to FIX things with this Katia and see to it her “nennie’s” name in not mixed up in it. Or else, she’ll tell Franco that for some time she has suspected Julian of causing that H&R accident with Paolo. Jules can’t believe that would fly. She reminds him that he told Franco and herself at the same time that he was driving Nat’s car and ran over a doggie. That’s why the car needed repairs. Nat was with him and from that day forward he started and continued to threaten her to keep quiet. At that precise moment Pao comes in to deliver some accounts and wonders if they were talking about him. Berta says yes, she was just telling Julian what a great couple he and Nat made—and by the way it’s good manners to knock before entering, regardless of being in a wheelchair. She leaves. Pao has the opportunity to lord it over Julian, remarking that not only is he happy with Natalia, she’s very happy with him.

Yawn
Nat and Pao chat together that evening about how happy they make each other. He’s twirling something between his fingers. He’s talking about how different it is being with Nat. No pressure, but he wants her to know how he’d like to wake up every day with her. Nat wonders if this is a proposal. He holds up the paperclip ring he made and she squeeeees and accepts. He puts the ring on her finger. All that’s left to do, says Nat is to ask for her hand in marriage—if he dares. Not only does he dare, he picks the following night to do it. After that, he’ll never let her go. (When Karma hears that, she’ll go into action to make sure it doesn’t happen.)

Wash, Rinse, Wash, Wash
Predictably, Gabe lights into his mama the moment he sees her about filing the accusation. Alba Denies it was she. Gabe says it had to be Alba because she was the only one who knew about the incident Pedro caught them in (except for big-eared Ingrid, of course). He won’t listen to anything she’s saying and yells at her to get out. She slaps him for talking about her that way. (Oh, noes, his nose starts to bleed before he gets slapped, but that’s ok.) Alba leaves very hurt. Ingrid can hardly contain her glee.

In the Wink of an Eye
Alba is back in her little cuartucho at the coffee shop. Franco arrives to console her. She’s so upset she agrees to let him spend the night with her. He steps out to call Bertie that he’s working late and may not even come home that night. Bertie’s wheels turn, but there’s no meltdown. Franco and Alba share a hug. Franco steps out again to go fix Alba a nice cup of coffee. Some slinky black shoes and floral gown is framed, sidling in. The camera pans up. It’s not Alba approaching, ready to seduce Franco. Franco doesn’t need seducing. The camera comes to rest on Berta. Unbeknownst to Franco, Berta waits while Franco and Alba share the coffee, flirt and hug some more. Berta walks in. My, my, my, what have we here? So this is how my husband works late. They both get up startled and before they can say Pinocchio, Berta pulls a gun and waves it towards them. (Why is there a gun in their house with a bi-polar wench drifting about?)

She cackles. She intends to use it on herself, pointing at her temple. Her mother always said, if things get impossible, it’s time to step aside. However, she’s just thought of another option. While Franco is begging her to put the gun down and Alba saying there’s nothing going on, she points the gun at them again. Directing her query at Franco, she asks, who would he be more heartbroken to lose, her or that hussy. Franco is still trying to protect Alba, even though she steps around next to him, while still trying to get Berta to listen to reason. Ha! Since she claims to be crazier than a June bug in May, who is it going to be, Franco. She makes him choose. She’s waiting. She begins counting 5 – 4 – 3 time is wasting. Who will it be, Franco, her or me.

Franco steps in front of Alba and faces Berta. He tells Berta to go ahead and kill herself!

WOW! What a way to end a Friday episode. It doesn’t feel like a cliffhanger. Something tells me the real cliffhanger comes on Monday.

Must See TV.