Caray, Caray!

...because revenge is a dish best served cold, and she's the entree.

Eva finally tells Sofía that they're really mother and daughter. Gabi stands in the background for a while, then walks away mumbling that she's not going to hang around listening to stupid chatter. They ignore her completely. She goes up to the balcony and watches with an evil smirk as they cry and hug.

The Padre is praying. He gives thanks, and adds, "as for Gabriela, your will be done." (I am sure God was just waiting for that green light from the padre!)

Gabriela polishes off another glass of brandy and worries what will happen to her.

Sofía and Eva bond over having their daughters taken away soon after birth. Eva always felt awful when Gabi was unkind to Sofía and felt united to her in some way. Sofía felt it too.

The Reyes brothers and Fermin want Feo arrested. Comisario Muttonchops says he needs proof. Juan replies that they've got plenty of proof, but they have to catch him first! Oscar tells Muttonchops to close all entrances to town - watch the train station and roads. Muttonchops agrees to this and tells his guys to do it. Whew. Good thing he had Juan and Oscar there to tell him how these things are done. He asks Fermin if he isn't going to go back on his word when it's time to turn Fernando in. Fermin says no - he came back so that Feo would pay for his crimes. Franco says they just want justice.

Feo is napping in the graveyard's toolshed. He wakes with a start when a scythe is returned to its rack. He looks up just in time to see someone come in. No, it's not the Reaper - he wears finer clothes. This guy is the groundskeeper. He's missing an eye. His face is deeply scarred, as if he got caught in one of Gabi's trademark conflagrations.

Eva tells Sofía she found out about the switcheroo from Juan. He didn't want her to tell Sofía right away for fear that it would destroy her world. (Are you kidding me? It would MAKE her world!) But Eva felt the time had come. She had to confront Gabi as Sofía's mother and defend her. They talk for a long, long time about how awesome it is that they're mother and daughter. Sofía forgives Eva (remember, Eva thinks she's awful for "letting" this happen) and accepts her as her mother.

Lots and lots more mush about how much Gabi sucks as a mom and how great Eva is, and it was all very sad before but now they're together and happy, oh I was afraid you'd reject me and be ashamed of me like Ruth was, what no never, etc. etc. etc. This goes on FOREVER. Don't get me wrong, it's nice and all, but we get the idea. Meanwhile, a swarm of little gnats pesters them as they talk and cry.

Feo gives the groundskeeper a thick roll of bills and says there's plenty more where those came from if he lets Feo hide out there and doesn't tell anyone. The groundskeeper agrees with a creepy smile. "Whatever you say, patrón."

The Reyes brothers are sitting around in the kitchen. Prompted, I guess, by Fermin's revelation on Friday that Feo killed Rosario, Franco is reminiscing sadly about her. Juan encourages him to cry it out. He and Oscar give him some privacy. (I was thinking it seemed like he wanted to talk. He could have found some other room to cry in if he wanted to.) Instead of remembering their fleeting happy moments together, Franco remembers Rosario's stage show in a lovely video montage. "Then, and only then, you will cry," she sings. Franco has a good cry.

Sofía is going to talk to Gabi. Eva offers to go with, afraid Sofía will be hurt again. Sofía's not worried. Now that she knows there are no ties binding her and Gabi, nothing will stop them from talking like they've never talked before. Eva gives her a blessing.

Sofía confronts Gabi and asks why she didn't tell her the truth. Gabi admits she found out only a short time ago herself. She never liked Sofía, but never figured it was because Sofía wasn't her own.

Sofi asks, why did Gabi let her stay at the hacienda even when she know she wasn't her daughter? Gabi replies that she just couldn't allow Sofi and Eva be happy together. Eva betrayed Gabi with her husband, and Sofía was the fruit of that betrayal. The best way to get revenge on Eva was to let her suffer on Sofía's account. Sofía expresses her pain of being rejected, mistreated, and unable to gain Gabi's love, meanwhile Gabi enjoyed making her cry and ruining her life.

Gabi says she didn't give her life, but she cared for her, fed her, and educated her, and Sofi owes her respect. Sofi says love and respect are earned, not requested. "You, ma'am" (she almost calls her "Mama," but catches herself in time), "the only thing you've earned is my CONTEMPT."

"We're paying with the same currency, because ever since you were born I began to lose. That's why I hate you. I began to lose my youth, my hopes, the attention of my family, the love of Bernardo. Even without being my daughter, you took everything away from me. Thus, without doing any more, without any right, you me me lose. The loser has always been me. That's why I hate you and all you love - my father, your sisters, my husband, I hate them all because of you. And if now you think I'm going to ask your pardon, you're very mistaken."

"You don't need to ask my pardon, because I've already forgiven you, though I'll never forget. Never! Tell me now, Gabriela Acevedo, will you be able to forgive yourself, forgive all the evil you've done to me?"

"You're no one to judge me."

"It's true, I'm no one to you. But I can say that all the bad you've done to me, all the bad you've caused, you will pay for it by being left ALONE."

Now it's Gabi's turn to cry. Ha-ha!

Rigo gets his test results from the doctor. His tumor hasn't grown, he won't need an operation, but he will need to keep getting treatments. Yay! He's definitely not going to die, perhaps!

Sofía and Jimena are at the clinic, helping Sarita get ready to leave. She has evidently shared her Mommy news with her sisters; they reassure her that they're still her sisters through their father. They'll be sisters foreverty-ever! Eva shows up with the brothers. Sofía lets Juan know that the Mommy cat is out of the bag. They are all super-happy. Then buzzkills Franco and Oscar say that Feo is the one who killed Rosario. Eva reminisces about what a great not-daughter (naughter?) she was. Juan promises justice.

Gabi wanders around in her dark house with a candelabra. Is she looking for Vincent Price? Fearing arrest, she packs a bag full of money. She considers Feo's proposal to bury her alive, and decides she'd rather die a thousand times than go to jail. She ties her coat with determination.

The Padre gives a special Mass for Sofía and Eva. Afterwards, everyone dances outside.

Feo goes outside. He's surprised to see a full-color "Se Busca" ("Wanted") poster with his photo on it. (This was the best photo the cops could get their hands on? Just half his face, the rest in shadow?) There's a bounty, er, reward of 500,000 pesos, which is about US$34,500. He tears it down and thought-bubbles that the whole town will be hunting for him.

Juan stops the festivities to formally ask Eva for Sofía's hand. Eva agrees. Sofía kisses him, or perhaps his chin-strap. Oscar and Franco ask for Jimena and Sarita's hands too. They're not Eva's to give, but she does anyway.

When the moon's been full for months, what can you do to signal that something extra-freaky's going to happen? You have to make it even more blindingly bright.

Feo sneaks into the hacienda and tells Gabi there's a price on his head. She tells him to take the money. He says it's tempting, but they can't leave. First he has to get his revenge on the Reyes. He's going to teach them what Fernando Escandón is capable of!

Fermin has just finished teaching a crowd of people what Fernando Escandón is capable of. They disapprove. "And to assist him in these misdeeds, Gabriela Acevedo protected him! This woman, whom we all know was excommunicated, has dedicated herself to protecting evil!" The angry mob agrees that she must pay. They'll bring her to justice! They arm themselves with torches. (I don't see any pitchforks. Too bad. That would have been a nice touch.)

A lone man in black follows behind the rest of the crowd as they approach Frankenstein Castle.

Gabi is alone now, still wearing her coat. Well, not totally alone - she's got Brandy! An open Bible catches her eye. She gasps and knocks it off the table. She does the same with a cross, but neglects the rosary on the wall. She opens the suitcase and buries her face in the money. She puts a cloak on over her coat.

The lights get all blinky and crazy, then go out. The ghost of Bernardo turns the light back on and taunts her about her guilty conscience while a choir blares. The gang of angry ruffians is getting closer to the house; someone is carrying a sturdy rope with a noose.

Gabi sobs and tells Bernardo he has no right - he should be burning in hell! She'll pray that he burns there for centuries. He asks if she thinks her prayers are worth anything, since she's the personification of wickedness and depravity. She tells him to shut up and go away; he doesn't exist. He says he's in her conscience, which won't leave her in peace.

Fatima passes by the door with a stack of clean towels and hears Gabi crying that she has a clear conscience; she's always behaved honestly with all of them. Gabi accuses him of cheating with Libia. That's when her torment began. Even in death he doesn't leave her alone. GET OUT!!!

Fatima peeks inside and sees Gabi alone on the floor. She concludes that Gabi's lost her marbles.

Bernardo tells Gabi that because he's in her conscience, as long as she's alive he'll be with her.

One of the works comes in, warning Fatima that the people of the town are on their way to hang Gabi. Fatima passes the word to Gabi, but she is still reacting to Bernardo and yelling at him.

Meanwhile, the sisters assure Sofía that she's still their sister, which should actually go without saying since they still have the same father and also because they already discussed this at the clinic. They also say that she's still welcome at their house. She doesn't think their mother will want to see her again. Jimena says in that case, they'll all live at Grandpa's cottage. Sarita points out that it's their father's house and he willed it all to Sofía anyway. Sofi doesn't want it, but they're excited about the triple-wedding and they want to be together. She'll never leave them, even if Gabi opposes it.

Gabi wanders outside; I'm not sure if she's even aware of the mob at first. A terrific pain seizes her chest, and she falls to the ground. She struggles to her feet, and now she's definitely aware of the mob. She tries to get away, but she can barely walk. Finally she works up a good run, but since the crowd is about five feet behind her at this point, she doesn't get very far.

The Reaper paces patiently in the foreground as they catch up with her.

As usual, she demands that they leave her alone, and insists that she did nothing. Fermin accuses her of harboring Feo, who has been identified as Pad Tad's intended killer (I'm not sure how they knew about this). Some of the guys throw the rope over a stout branch. Gabi wails in despair as they place the noose around her neck.

Why the blue recap? Because I'm sad. After more than two and a half years of recapping, I have to stop... at least for a while. For reasons that don't exactly need to be a secret but I don't really want to discuss, I need to downgrade to basic cable for a while. Comcast doesn't include Univision in basic service for my city, even though it's a Boston station. (I can still watch YouTube, but my connection is really slow and it's pretty miserable to watch anything on the computer for more than a few minutes at a time.)

When I eventually get Univision back, unfortunately, I may not have enough flexibility in my work schedule to handle a late night (getting up at 5 or earlier for a long commute). So it might be quite some time before I can recap again.

I cannot tell you all how much I have enjoyed recapping, and how much I appreciate all the fun, support, and camaraderie I've found here. I'll do my best to keep up with MEPS via the recaps here so I don't totally miss out on everything!

Mexico airdate: 24 y 27 de octubre

Labels: Fuego

Capítulos 198 & 199

By the light of the inevitable and eternally full moon of Mexiloon, Fernando is nourishing Gabriela’s ever-increasing sense of paranoia by trying to talk her into allowing herself to be buried alive in order to make everybody think she’s dead so they can blow this taco stand and avoid being caught by their enemies (the ones that Feo hasn’t successfully offed yet). (Query 1: How does he plan to make the doctor think she’s stopped breathing and essentially reached room temperature, not to mention pull off the ruse long enough to have the wake, the mass and the burial? Query 2: Wouldn’t it just be easier to fake suicide?) He says he would dig her up immediately afterwards himself and they would head for parts unknown with the money she’s put together from the sale of the hacienda and what’s in her personal accounts.

Gabi’s survival instinct kicks in re: her childhood fears, and she refuses to go along with the hare-brained idea. She won’t discuss it any further because it’s freaking her out. (Speaking of freaky, what’s with Feo’s 3-day old stubble and the filthy clothes again? He sneaks in and out of that bungalow and their bedroom continually and can’t take the time to clean up or shave in between failed murder attempts? Phew! Forget smelling salts. The stench from all that b.o. and the halitosis should have brought Sarita to her senses way before Franco found her!) Fer tells Gabi he’s got to go back to retrieve something they took from him, and to just think about the idea then leaves.

At the clinic Franco learns Sarita’s fine and just needs to sleep it off. The others show up at Sarita’s bedside chattering up a storm and ask where Franco found her. He explains she was knocked out in the cottage with her shirt ripped open. They wonder who could have attacked her and if she was left untouched. No, it seems she was fine. He croons her awake and she immediately claims –ta-dah!!--that Fernando Escandon is A-L-I-I-I-V-E! Caritas impactadas all ‘round.

Gabi gets back to her office and begins to lose it. She’s started talking to herself again, but what’s worse is now she’s answering, too. Gabi keeps repeating aloud that she cannot allow herself to be buried alive and Fernando has got to be told no-go.

In town at the little clinic, nobody actually believes that Fernando is alive and they tell Sarita that the knock on her noggin has got her all confused, but she is certain it was him she saw. Juan asks if she got a good look at him and she says no, because things were still fuzzy, but she knows it was him. Everyone argues with her that it’s impossible because he was blown to bits in the truck explosion. Slowfia comments to Juan that Fer cannot possibly still be alive. (Why are we not surprised?) He pulls Sofia aside and confides to her that he has his suspicions about it being Fernando but can’t explain till later. Juan then goes back to the group and asks Franco if he saw or noticed anything suspicious at the bungalow, but Franco admits that when Sarita came to and started groaning his first thought was to get her to a doctor. Besides, he adds, Padre Tadeo insisted that whoever he might find there he was specifically to ignore him.

Fer, in the meantime, returns to the sacristy (Padre Tadeo’s little office in the church) and starts rummaging around in various hidy-holes for his money as Nabor walks in on him.

At the Double R (Hacienda de los Robles-Reyes) meanwhile, Hortensia walks in on Rigo and Eugenia and overhears their talking about his tumor. He admits to her that it’s returned. The three of them tearfully console one another and determine to leave it all up to Divine Providence.

Back at the sacristy, Nabor accuses Fernando and screams that apart from lying about his death to everyone he’s now pillaging around in the sacristy and defiling it by trying to steal whatever’s valuable. Fer yells back that he’s only taking the stuff to make up for the money of his that they found and took from him. Nabor is surprised to find out that what he found in the bag was Fernando’s and says he’s glad he doesn’t have it to give back to him now; that Padre Tadeo has it. Fer tries to leave with his knapsack full of valuables (okay, so maybe it's a pillow case he stole off somebody's clothesline) and Nabor makes the mistake of trying to stop him and gets beaten up and kicked in the mouth for his troubles.

Outside Rigo prays to a shrine of the virgencita and asks that since he’s resigned to going with her would she protect his loved ones. He goes inside to the sacristy and finds Fer beating up on Nabor, screaming at him to tell him where the priest put his money. Nabor yells at Rigo to high-tail it for the Reyes’s and tell them that Fernando is really alive. Rigo runs out. Feo runs out right after.

Back at the clinic, Juan tells Sofia that she and her sisters are going to have to move to the Double R with them before things get any worse around there. She refuses to leave Mama alone in the hacienda because she’s so sick. Jimena tells her that normally she’d understand but the three of them are in danger and more so now that somebody attacked Sarita. Juan says they cannot be expected to protect them otherwise, especially if they have no idea who their enemy is. Sarita asks him if he believes her about Feo being alive. He says he does and that he’s always suspected that the creep faked his death.

Oscar disagrees and says they saw him blown to bits inside his truck, but Juan says he remembers he told Oscar when he shot that bullet through the window that the person in there didn’t move. As far as he’s concerned, Fernando put somebody else in there to take his place to make them believe he was really dead. Franco agrees with Juan. Just then Rigo comes running into the room and yells excitedly that he just saw Fernando Escandon alive in the sacristy. The men all run to the church to find him. Sarita asks Sofia if it could be true that Fer was the one who attacked her.

Fernando ends up in the graveyard looking for a place to hide for the night. (With all the ghouls there, I’m sure he’s in the company of fiends…er …friends.)

Back at the little clinic Sofia begs Sarita to tell her that Fer didn’t do anything to her. Sarita is crying at the mere thought that Fer would attack her like that.

Juan and his brothers find Nabor all bloodied and beaten in the sacristy. Nabor informs them that Fer just left and took all the valuables from the church. They run out to search for him and nary a peep about telling Comisario Muttonchops.

Back in her office at the Double E (Hacienda de las Elizondo y del Escandon a Escondidas) Gabi nurses another brandy and wonders where her beloved Feo has gone and what it was he had to get back. She’s mad at life now that everything is going sour and everybody seems to be against her. (Same ol’, same ol’ yada yada.) She’d love to run away but being buried alive won’t be part of the plan if she does. Feo’s just got to understand.

At the clinic Sofia and Jimena are trying to comfort Sarita. Sarita says that she remembers now that there was somebody else there in the bungalow with her and Fer. She can’t remember who, but the voice was familiar. She says she doesn’t think the attack was meant for her, either. It seemed that it was a trap set for somebody else. Sofia is impactada because she suddenly remembers that Mama made a big deal about insisting Sofia should stop everything to go over to the bungalow immediately to see what she could find out about what might have happened to Root. She tells her sisters that she thinks the trap was set for her. Sarita and Jimena are surprised to hear that Mama and Fer would have collaborated together to attack Sofia. (¡Qué horrible!)

That night Quintina goes out to dinner at some fancy restaurant in Puebla City with her new bidnez associate and his wife. We get a PSA from the Mexican Government about how the average rube should order their meat in “polite society” and what a finger bowl is. The guy and his wife laugh at Quintina’s supposed wit and they laugh and chuckle amongst themselves as she endearingly (not) flicks water at them from her finger bowl. (¡Qué encantadora! Yes. Charming. Apparently, you are allowed to splash water from the finger bowls at the table like a bunch of kindergarteners as long as you remember to order your food with your pinkies properly poised. FF>>)

We beam back to Cd. Serdán where Juan, Franco, and Oscar have apparently found Pad Tad in his office and they’re complaining about the padre knowing all along that Fernando was alive. According to the priest, it’s enough for him that if not in this life, then in the Afterlife, Fer will suffer in sulfured surroundings. Juan is frustrated that the priest never bothered to tell them…er…warn them, but the priest can’t quite get them to understand that he couldn’t break his vows, especially when after he tried to, God brought him back to life. Juan can’t reconcile Tadeo’s having left them all like that at the mercy of a total sociopath. “Baloney! My brothers and I saved your life, Padre!” The priest insists that he couldn’t be disrespectful to the virgencita, etc., etc. Oscar gets angry now. “Despite innocent lives?” Padre Tadeo yells back self-righteously some mumbo jumbo that yes, when words aren’t as appropriate as silence, it’s better to keep quiet.

Pad Tad calms back down a few seconds later and says anyway, he’s not the one to give them the answers they require; there’s someone else that they should be asking, not him. Juan says he knows who, but as for him, he’s not sure he can ever believe Tadeo again. They storm out of the church in disgust leaving Pad Tad yammering on about his only being the servant of God and a soldier of Christ (and Viewerville agreeing with the Reyes’s that when it comes to helping them fight E-e-evil, he’s been every bit as useless as a three-dollar bill or, shall we say, teats on a bull).

Meanwhile, Feo stumbles into the cemetery’s tool shed to spend the night. He can’t stand the place. He was born for greater things. Anyway, he thinks about all the people that he’s killed and that many of them are buried there.

Sofia tells her sisters that what happened to Sarita could have been a trap for her. She is convinced that Fer’s always wanted to get back at her since she’d always despised and spurned him. She tells them then how Mama had specifically sent her to the cottage to find out what had happened to Root and if it hadn’t been for Rosendo coming to get her to help check on Mr. Ed, she’d have been the one in the bungalow instead of Sarita. So, apparently, Fernando must have mistaken Sarita for her. Jimena still finds it hard to believe that Mama, as harsh and demanding as she might be, would actually have tried to have somebody off one of her own daughters.

Back at the Double E, Tio V.O., Juan and his brothers confront Gabi with what they’ve learned and now suspect. “You knew that Fernando Escandon was still alive and you hid him in the bungalow!” She denies all and insists Feo’s dead and that they’re trying to drive her crazy by bringing him back up to her now. Oscar tells her to stop lying. “Not only did you know he was really alive, but you helped him set a trap to attack one of your daughters!” She insists that she cannot understand how they could dare accuse her of something so vile. Vicente says they know she wants to confuse the issue, but this time she’s not going to succeed. None of them believes her.

Juan says they know that she and Fer put on a show for them all, but they’re not idiots. (Pardon me while I swallow a snicker and try unsuccessfully not to choke on that ill-timed sip of my copa.) He reminds her that they aren’t forgetting that their sister spent her last few hours in this damned hacienda, either. Gabi becomes bug-eyed impactada. “Yes, we know that she came here to Bernardo Elizondo’s funeral wake, and that you treated her like crap! Like crap! (That's a loose translation but go with me here.) Because of it, she raced out of here eating herself up with rage and sadness! Fernando Escandon raced out to follow her, to kill her, and kill her he did! He killed her! I will only say one thing to you: we know he is alive and we are going to get pay-back! A life for a life!” Gabi screams back at him that if that’s the way it is, he should just go ahead and kill her right then and there. "So, get even and kill me!"

Juan warns her not to tempt him. Gabi’s on a roll, though. “--And then you will kill Sofia from the pain of killing her mother!” Juan shoves it right back at Gabi. “Her mother? Are you referring to Eva? Because YOU certainly aren’t her mother! Eva is her mother and it’s only because I love and respect her that I haven’t told her. I am warning you: soon enough Justice is going to catch up to you --and we are going to make sure of that ourselves!” Gabi plays the anger card again and screams at them to get out of her house because they’re driving her crazy. Oscar sneers, “Ha! You’re already crazy.” He turns to the others and says, “Let’s go.” Juan looks her dead in the eye and warns her again as he turns to leave, “Very soon!” Now Gabi starts mumbling over and over (as the director hits us over the head with the symbolism) and she backs herself into one of the corners of her, now, very confining little office. "Fernando was right! They’re closing in on us! They’re closing in on us!”

After dinner, Quintina and her quasi-Chippendale wanna-be’s shake their pantied patooties in a private show for the new business associate and his wife. (Creepy. Very creepy –and really ba-a-a-d choreography…. FF>>)

The Reyes’s return home. Juan’s bugged that Feo hasn’t shown up anywhere yet. Franco wonders if he could have split, but Juan says no way since the leech is stuck like glue to Gabriela Elizondo because she’s his gravy-train. Besides, he says, Feo’s not going to give up his main objective which is to kill them all. They decide it’s best to get the women and bring them back to the hacienda right away and so they head back into town for them.

Back at the ghoul-shed, Feo swears he’ll make sure that neither the Reyes’ nor Sofia will be able to live happily ever after.

Franco is again watching over Sarita who is now sound asleep in hopes of recovering from the knock to her noggin. Totally ignoring the fact that the love of his life is in definite need of some major recovery Z-z’s, Franco is so moved by his love that the urge to sing overcomes him. He belts out another ballad, complete with magical elf orchestral accompaniment. Thankfully, the drugs the doc gave Sarita are damned good ones, and she manages to sleep through the ruckous this time. (Viewerville is not so fortunate, but it has learned to appreciate modern technology and that eighth wonder of the world, the FF>> button.)

Morning once again returns to Cd. Serdán and Gabi shows up bright and early at the church to throw off suspicions about her and Fer plotting to do in her daughters. Padre Tadeo doesn’t believe that she really is concerned at all about Sarita. She shouts back at him that of course she is, as much as she would be for her other daughter, Jimena. Tadeo says it wouldn’t seem so from the way she treats them. He adds that he cannot understand how she continues to prefer Fernando to them. She tries shouting him down and insists that Fer is dead, but he interrupts her before she can finish her sentence. “He’s alive! Alive!” She stops in mid-scream. “--Enough already! Everything has its limits and mine were reached quite a while ago!”

Padre Tadeo then angrily reminds Gabi that she’s been excommunicated and wonders what she’s doing there in the house of God. She doesn’t answer so he reminds her that he’s obliged to beg her to repent. She won’t and howls at him that he’s never to set foot in her house again and says that she’ll do likewise. She storms out and heads over to the clinic to see Sarita.

A few minutes later Gabi enters the clinic, dressed in her black leather trench coat like a Nazi SS officer, as the music’s crescendo reminiscently rises like something out of some B&W ‘50’s Z-rated horror flick. (Viewerville eagerly waits to see if the cross on the wall behind her spins around like a compass and ends upside down ala The Exorcist. --I think pea soup sales just took a dive in Méjico). She stands there looking at Sarita and can’t understand why she doesn’t feel a thing for her daughters. Gabi then sits down on the bed and tries to wake her. Sarita opens her eyes and remembers Fer and Mama’s conversation in the bungalow and Mama begging, “Don’t go, Fernando!” Sarita blurts out, “It was you with Fernando in the bungalow the night I was attacked! It was you! It was your voice! It was you!” Gabi keeps denying it and screams in frustration that Sarita is a wicked, mean daughter, but Sarita won’t stop insisting it was her. Gabi gives up and races out of the clinic, leaving poor Sarita heartbroken. “It was her….” Sarita whimpers.

A while later Sarita tells Jimena what happened during Mama’s visit. Jimena is tearfully impactada and says it’s difficult to believe that of Mama but then, she also knows her sister doesn’t lie about things, either. They’re both heartbroken because, as Sarita acknowledges, the ugly truth is that Mama really doesn’t love any of them at all.

At the same time, the Reyes’s are galloping along one of the back-roads into town when they spy Fermin walking along in the same direction. They surround him and force him to stop. Juan starts in on him. “Just where are YOU going, you devil? Are you planning on fooling Padre Tadeo again?” Fermin says no, just the reverse. It’s true he was a coward, but no longer. He’s going back to give his statement and to give up all the goodies on Fer. He’s telling the authorities about the murders Fer committed and will admit he kept mum about them all, beginning with the murders of Right-armando and Rosario. The brothers are share-a-stare impactado.

Sofia now pays a visit to Padre Tadeo at the church and tells him that she suspects what happened to Sarita was meant for her, and that Mama and Fernando were in cahoots together in planning it. He tells her that the time has come for her to demand The Truth.

A bit later, Gabi is coming down the back stairs of the Double E and thinking to herself that with the money from the sale of the hacienda and what she has in her personal account she and Fer can live well and far, far away from the long arm of the law. She’s lost in thought when Sofia shows up and confronts her. Sofia says she wants to know exactly what happened in the bungalow the other night. Gabi, her usual snippy self, says Fernando attacked Sarita and that’s all there is to know. Sofia says, au contraire ma mère (in Spanish, of course). Fer attacked Sarita by mistake and the one he really wanted to hurt was her; that the worst of it is that Mama agreed to it. Gabi tries to deflect again. “Are you accusing ME?” Sofia says yes, and what’s more, they even wanted to hurt her, maybe even to kill her!

Gabi plays the incredulously insulted mother card. “How could you say something like that? You, my very own daughter! –Oh, but now I understand everything! It was you who put those crazy ideas into Sarita’s head and forced her to accuse me! YOU are the one who has preached to your sisters, not the other way around and, as always, the rotten apple spoils the barrel.” Slowfia denies it sweetly, and continues to eat her favorite: humble pie. Mama launches into another tirade ASAP. “Of course it’s true and you and your sisters agreed to single me out and undoubtedly would enjoy seeing me die behind bars!”

Gabi starts to walk away but Sofia isn’t quite finished yet. “Enough with the emotional blackmail, all ready! I didn’t say a thing to Sarita. I came here to say that you were the one who sent me straight to the bungalow. If it weren’t for Rosendo, I am sure that Fernando would have killed me!” Gabi changes tactics and starts with the crocodile tears. “Where do you get this foolishness? The only reason I sent you is because you insisted on finding out what happened to Root! How was I supposed to know that Fernando was alive and hiding out there in the bungalow?” (Damn! I’ve got the pattern down pat in ten months. Slowfia’s lived with this b!tch for two decades and she still can’t see past this pile of maternal bull-puckey.) Gabi starts to walk off again, and again Sofia stops her. “I just came from speaking to Padre Tadeo. He told me it’s time to demand The Truth, Mama. That’s precisely what I’ve come for. Why do you hate me so much and why would you rather become a murderer-- in order to see me killed off?”

Gabi lets fly with another signature lollapalooza slap and nearly knocks Sofia over. She screams about how utterly wicked she is. (Sofia checks to see if her teeth are all still there.) “How could you speak to your mother that way???” Sofia makes the mistake of actually trying to smart back. “It’s YOU who’s forgotten that I am your daughter.” Gabi whips around and raises her arm for round two. Eva steps out of nowhere to get in between the two of them and takes the blow for Sofia at the last instant. Eva then takes the back of her hand and whaps Gabriela a good one on the jaw, not once, but twice --just for good measure. “Don’t you dare! Don’t touch my daughter again! Don’t. Touch. My. Daughter. Again!”

Slowfia, the eternally confused, cannot understand the meaning of what she just heard. “Eva! What are you saying?” “—The truth, the truth that I should have told you as soon as I learned it. Come on. I’m going to tell you. Let’s go.” Gabi tries to stop them. “Eva, shut up!” Eva refuses. “NO! Never again will I ‘shut up’! I want everyone to know, beginning with my daughter.” To Slowfia: “Sofia, you are not this…this … woman’s daughter. (Telenovela rules forbid Eva from actually using cuss words.) You are my daughter. You are the daughter I’ve been looking for my whole life long. Yes, you are my daughter, my real daughter. My really, real daughter!” Sofia is knock-me-over-with-a-feather-impactada and can only stare as Eva’s words ricochet around in her brain. “Yes, you are my daughter, my real daughter. My really, real daughter!”

Labels: Fuego

Permalink posted by Jardinera654 @ 1:55 PM 86 comments

News: Stupidvision changed the “fin” date back to the 20th, as of the commercial I saw tonight.

Not sure what part of this was from last night – I didn’t see it and it wasn’t mentioned by Nickster. Tio and Juan are in the kitchen and Tio tells Juan he’s going to ask Maria Esperanza to marry him, but he wants to know how Juan asked Sofia. Juan reminisces. Ruth and Eva are worried about Root – she’s been missing too long. Sofia says they should go to the cabana and look around, maybe they’ll find something. Gabi overhears them talking. Feo is in the cabana and goes to hide when he hears Sofia and Eva coming in. Feo’s hiding behind the counter in the kitchen with his gun ready. They find the dagger. Eva thinks the dagger might be Darth Uribe’s and that Darth tried to kill Paddy Taddy. Gaby comes strolling in and tells Eva and Sofia to get out. Sofia wants to take the dagger to Officer Mutton Chops, because maybe it was the dagger used to try to kill Pad Tad, but Gabi won’t allow her to take it. Eva says Gabi is protecting a murderer.

Rigo tries to talk to Juan, but Juan’s mad because he thinks Rigo left them for dead in the cave. Rigo fesses up to fainting and says it’s possible the tumor is back. Rigo cries, and Juan hugs him.

Gabi says Darth is dead it can’t be his dagger. Two men come in and Gabi tells them to take Eva away. Eva says it’s not fair to put Sofia in this position, she’s leaving on her own. Sofia leaves with Eva.

The boys are talking in the kitchen about setting a date for their weddings.

Rigo is crying and talking to his son. Rigo asks G-d why this is happening to him now, when he has everything. Eugenia comes in and tells him he’s lying, he’s going to leave her just like her father did. She walks out.

Que milagro, it’s a partially full moon. Feo and Gabi are in Gabi’s room, she tells him Sofia found the dagger and she’s sure Feo used it to try to kill Pad Tad. Gabi says now she wants Feo to kill Sofia – she gets in her way, or she’s an obstacle (“me estorba”).

Juan and Sofia are talking in Sofia’s room. She’s told him about the dagger and they’re trying to figure it all out. Juan changes the subject to tell Sofia that the brothers have decided that they should have a triple wedding – Sofia is thrilled. They kiss.

Oscar and Jimena are in bed with their red satin pillow – he’s given her the engagement ring back. They’re muy feliz together. He puts the ring on her – more kissing. Shirtless Oscar has actually put on red devil horns to wear in bed. Now I know who buys the silly men’s thong underwear with the elephant trunk in the front that’s supposed to be funny.


The Frederick’s of Hollywood de Ciudad Serdan must be doing really well. Recession? What recession?

Oscar and Sarita are talking about getting married and how they were already married to each other once before because she was drunk. She kicks him in the leg again. He pretends to be really hurt, but he’s got an engagement ring for her too. Frederick’s must be right next to Zales at the mall in the pueblo. Anyway, Sarita is thrilled.

The hacienda is rockin’ again, so please don’t come knockin’ – all three couples are getting’ busy, and all three engagement rings sparkle and glow.

Later on Juan tells Eva about the triple wedding. Eva says she wants to make Sofia’s wedding dress. So far Sofia has had two now – the one that Juan bought her, and the two piece she was going to wear the last time. After she’s finally married, Sofia is going to open up a David’s Bridal right next door to Zales and Frederick’s. Juan is happy that Eva finally believes Sofia is her daughter. She says now she has no doubt. Before, with Rosario and Root, it was because she was just so desperate to find her daughter that she believed what Crabi told her. But this time it’s different, she feels it in her heart. Juan calls her his mother-in-law and they hug.

Sofia and Gabi are talking. Sofia wants to know why Gabi isn’t interested in figuring out what’s happened to Root. Gabi tells Sofia that like all of her daughters, Root was a traitor also. Gabi doesn’t care if Root is dead or alive. Sofia says her mother never stops surprising her – Sofia leaves. Gabi says she doesn’t care if Sofia dies just like Root. Gabi makes Joan Crawford look like Carol Brady.

Rigo is in the doc’s office in Puebla with Juan waiting for the results. The tumor is back. Doc says not to lose faith, they have treatment options. Juan tells him he can count on him and his brothers for everything.

Quintina is in town with her motorcycle. She asks a cute young guy if he wants a ride. He says no, but wants to know where he can find a woman named Quintina. She says she’s Quintina. He tells her he wants to take her out to dinner to the finest restaurant in Puebla. She’s ridiculously flattered.

Sofia is telling Pad Tad about the dagger she and Eva found in the cabana. The gang’s all there – the sisters, the brothers. Pad has a flashback to the night he was stabbed. They tell Pad they think Ricardo Uribe tried to kill him. Pad knows it was Feo so he changes the subject to talk about the three couple’s first “platica matrimonial” – marriage discussions. I suppose it’s like the classes you have to take here in the US if you want to get married in the Catholic church.

Up in Crab’s room, she and Feo are discussing the pending weddings. Gabi won’t allow the weddings to take place. Feo’s planning a trap for Sofia in the cabana to kill her.

Quintina is in the restaurant with her cute boy. He wants to be her business partner, but she wants to talk about them getting married. His wife walks in and he kisses her. Quintina tells him he’s a traitor. He explains he wants to be her business partner in the stripper show. Quintina is embarrassed.

Crabs tells Sofia she thinks Sofia’s right – they should try to find out what happened to Root. Sofia says yes, but she can’t right now. Crabs lays on the big guilt trip that everything always comes before her. Sofia says fine (of course). Rosendo comes running in to tell Sofia that her father’s horse is sick and he could die. Gabi is thrilled that Sofia’s time to die will come soon.

Sarita comes slinking up to the cabana door and thinks she’s heard a strange noise. She hesitates before going in.

Eugenia the drama queen is taking the baby and leaving Rigo. But he finally tells her about fainting and that the tumor is back. She cries and holds him.

Sarita goes into the cabana to look around. As she passes through a doorway she’s hit over the head. She’s unconscious on the floor, bleeding. At first Feo thinks he’s hit Sofia, but then realizes it’s Sarita. He actually says, “Estupida Sarita!” Once again, as Paula said, “Curses! Foiled Again!” Now when was the last (or the first!) time we saw Sofia wear jeans – never!! He can’t believe Sarita screwed up his plan to kill Sofia. He grabs a heavy candlestick to give her a final whack over the head with, but then stops and realizes he needs to think the situation through. He’s even more pissed off when he realizes Sarita is still alive.

Juan, Oscar, Jimena and Franco are waiting in Pad Tad’s office to have their first “platica matrimonial”. Sofia comes rushing in and apologizes for being late and explains about her father’s horse being sick. Jimena asks for Sarita, Sofia thought she was with them and didn’t see her back at the house. Franco says he’ll worry until they find out where she is. Also, it’s pretty hard to have a platica matrimonial with yourself. They decide to go look for Sarita. Pad looks worried.

Back in Crab’s office she’s talking with Feo who I thought was supposed to be in hiding. He’s explained to Gabs how he confused Sarita for Sofia. She says it’s Sarita’s fault anyway, what the heck was she doing in the cabana. He tries to play nice guy and says he didn’t want to hurt her daughter. She tells him not to worry about it, and again, that it was Sarita’s own fault for being where she wasn’t supposed to be. She says the only thing that really bothers her is that their plan to kill Sofia got screwed up. She only hopes that the hit over the head doesn’t leave Sarita hurt, because then she’ll become an obstacle for them. Feo says he would have thought that she’d feel a bit more for her daughter, wasn’t Sarita her favorite? Gabi says the only favorite she has now is herself! The only thing she cares about now is her happiness and her future. Feo says he’s by her side, what does Gabi want him to do? Gabs says put Sarita in her room, and when she wakes up they’ll tell her she had an accident and that they found her in the cabana. Who is “they”? Feo’s dead to the rest of the world, right?

Quintina tells the Maria sisters that Arturo only wants to be her business partner, and that she’ll never get married. Blah, blah – they give her their statues of San Antonio (Patron Saint of Spinsters, I’m sure.), who will help her.

Back at the cabana, Gabi and Feo are moving Sarita’s body, but have to be careful not to let anyone see them. Sarita starts to wake up and is mumbling something, but says Feo’s name. Feo hits her and knocks her out again. Gabi looks on. How can a mother actually watch her own daughter get hit like that!

Sofia and Jimena get back to the house and are looking for Sarita. At the cabana Feo and Crabs are nervous about Sarita remembering what happened – when she woke up she may have seen Feo. He tells her Sarita said his name. She’s sure Sarita won’t keep quiet. Feo says Sarita will turn Crabs in also. He offers to disappear from Crabs life forever so that he won’t cause her any problems. But she says no, he’s her happiness. They can’t let anything get in the way of their happiness. She tells Feo that like her, he’s not afraid of G-d, and that if they’re going to be condemned for eternity it may as well be for something worth it. He says, so you want me to kill Sarita? She doesn’t answer him and just walks out of the cabana. Even Feo looks shocked and thrilled that Gabi could be so cold-blooded, and that he gets to kill again. I actually think he may be starting to fall in love with Crabs for real!

Jimena and Sofia come down the stairs and run into Crabs. They tell her they can’t find Sarita. She tells them not to make a big deal out of it (“no hagan una tormenta de un vaso de agua” – don’t make a rainstorm out of a glass of water”). She asks if they’ve checked the store – they say yes, she’s not there. Gabs says she’s sure they’ll hear news of her soon and walks up the steps. The girls are shocked.

Full moon again! Obviously the whole day has passed, it’s nighttime and Franco comes in and tells the boys and Tio Elf that he can’t find Sarita anywhere. Franco is really worried, but the boys reassure him that she’ll be fine.

At the cabana, Feo, is caressing Sarita’s body with the dagger. He leans over her and tells her she was always his favorite.

PadTad is praying, he’s sure that Feo has done something to Sarita. He recalls his conversation with Sofia about the dagger she found in the cabana. The door of Pad’s office opens all by itself! Pad thinks, the cabana!

Back at said cabana, Feo is unbuttoning Sarita’s blouse – and telling her before he sends her off to the “other world” he’s sure she’s going to enjoy this as much as he will. He’s practically a necrophiliac!

Franco has arrived at Pad’s office – Pad has called for him. Franco asks if he knows anything about Sarita and Pad says yes, he think he knows where she is but before he tells him, he wants Franco to promise that he won’t do anything to compromise himself. Paddy is talking in “can’t tell what I heard in the confessional” code and Franco doesn’t understand. Pad says just go save Sarita, but be careful, and don’t do anything else if you encounter the person who you might encounter. Huh? Franco says he doesn’t care about anything but finding Sarita.

OMG, I can’t tell if Feo is in pain, or if he’s “finished”. I think I just threw up in my mouth. He feels inside his shirt and his hand is full of blood – his bullet wound is bleeding. He slaps Sarita across the face again hard. [Why is it her fault?] He gets up off of Sarita and says he’s got to take care of his wound or it’ll become infected again. He picks up the dagger and looks like he’s ready to kill her when he hears Franco calling for Sarita. Feo runs to hide and Franco busts in and sees Sarita with her shirt open, lying on her back over the coffee table. He runs to her and covers her up. He tries to wake her. Then he goes looking to see who else is there. Feo is waiting behind a door with the gun pointed – the door slowly opens, but Sarita starts to wake up and Franco goes back to her. Franco carries her out of the cabana. Curses! Foiled again, Feo!

Happily Gabi sits in her office thinking Feo must have carried out her instructions by now. She goes to the window and sees Fernando. She goes outside and Feo has told her what happened with Sarita and that he really needs to leave town this time. She says no, he only needs to hide out for a while. He tells her it’s too risky if he stays, and that maybe it should be the end for them both. She’s confused. He wants her to play dead too, but first she should sell everything without the girls knowing and then once she’s “dead” they can take the money and go far away. He says the girls can even bury her – she can pretend to be dead. She totally freaks out at the thought of being buried alive and screams no, she’ll never do it. He tells her to think about it, nothing will happen to her. He says it’s their only way out; she needs to think about it.


Franco has taken Sarita to the doctor’s office and the doctor says aside from the two hits she’s taken to the head, she’ll be fine. Now they just have to wait until she wakes up. Franco is staying the night to take care of her. Franco tells the sleeping Sarita he loves her. The rest of the clan comes barging into the dispensario. Franco explains what happened, and that Pad Tad told him to go to the cabana. He explains how he found her with half her clothes off and unconscious from the hit over her head. Juan says he suspects who might have done it.

Gabi is pacing in the office thinking over Feo’s proposed plan to be buried alive. [Note to Gabi: Time to buy the book “Bad Men and the Women Who Love Them: How To Leave a Co-Dependent Relationship with a Necrophiliac Serial Killer”.

Franco thinks his off-key singing will bring Sarita back to life and he’s right! She wakes up. The clan comes barging in again; they all want to know what happened. She says she’s alive and that Feo is alive too! Everybody is impactada!

Labels: Fuego

I just got home from a dinner with the Governor, and I’m tired and I don’t care about this—sorry, this is all you get. By the bye, none of this makes sense to me, and I’m trying to do my art history flash cards at the same time, so…good night and good luck.

OMFG What the hell happened to this show? It seems like everyone else who was sub-standardly normal on this show took a bunch of recreational drugs and the rest is just a big headache and a really bad morning. What the hell is going on with ultra Minnie Mouse and Quinti the trick-turner overseer? They just discovered you could use voice synthesizers for something other than Franco’s “Ave Maria” serenades.

Fernie has visited the sacred cave of Libia’s flower. Apparently he talks to rocks, too. He goes to check out the dimensions for the perfect Reyes Tomb. Brothers and sisters should always be together, so I’ll burry you all together. Eat rock, flower.

Gabi is all like, no one ever loved me, and so no one else can be loved. That’s why the girls must stay home and not go out for sodas. Silly girls, did you actually think you were married adults?

Back at the cave of Libia’s flower, Fernie is struggling to water his pet rocks. He pours lighter fluid on the flowers and lights a match. Libia’s tomb is burning, but does she care?

Gabi lies awake missing her ex-husband and sometimes lover. When she was young and in her prime, she used to do it all the time, but now that she is old and gray, she does it every other day.

Ah! Explosion at the cave. Reflection time: do we enter burning caves in search of someone or something that has been dead for years? Do we explore the deepest part of said cave while the flames are burning behind us? Your local fire chief wouldn’t recommend it…

Well, how would you like to dream about your passionate lover and wake up to his sweating countenance and slimy hand on your mouth? Such is Gabi’s life. It pretty much sucks when you get used even in your dreams. As it turns out, Fernie never died, and only pretended to die to kill the Reyes, like all those other times. Funny that he can hold a gun to so many guys’ heads, but feels the urge to lure the Reyes gang into a cave. Does anyone else see the hilarity in this regression to nature? You see, the Reyes are bona fide barbarian Neanderthals—straight off the boat—so now their environment fits their personas. It’s the missing link in the Nature vs. Nurture controversy. Now, I can only hope that they eat Libia, then each other. It would be the perfect ending to one drugged-out ride.

All dressed up and no place to go. Just like the beginning of our tragic epic. It’s the circle of life, people. Mommy dearest has locked the girlies in their rooms and now all that’s left is a bunch of Judy Blume books and glitter nail polish. Jimena calls the purple sleeping bag!

So, Fernie’s into the whole “nurse” routine. Well, Gabi licks his wounds and he lies on the bed. I doubt he will perform to her dream-inspired standards, though he does have the sweat thing going on. Now Gabi says that she can’t live if Sofia or anyone else is happy. Ok, Mrs. Grumpy pants, we’ll all be self-loathing, bi-polar, marginalized housewives to facilitate your end-of-day happiness.

On another note, does anyone think that Juan/E.Y. bleaches his death, because the guy smokes like a chimney and drinks like a fish, and his teeth are whiter than pearls. Anyway, Juan finds a small rock that opens to the real world and he sees a dog—or maybe that’s a man—what’s the diff.; “all men are dogs!” Then he sees Oscar playing dead, but we’ve all seen enough of this show and others to know that that would never happen. Case in point as he coughs and opens his eyes. It’s all gonna be a-okay and we’re right on schedule for the sextuplet wedding. Yes, Sofia will have sextuplets at that juncture; Jimena and Sarita will follow suit later because David’s Bridal was running low on maternity gowns at the Puebla Outpost.

Everyone on this show who is supposed to be dead is really only sleeping, and then they go to the dispensary to be treated by the healing powers of Paddy.

I’ve always found that the minor actors are always much more passionate and slightly convincing in a cruise ship/high school play sort of way. Like the humble but young couple who have illusions of becoming the next Juan-Sofia couple. The one girl is all like, “where were you, who were you doing?” And he’s just trying to tell everyone about Juan entering a burning cave to find his dead sister’s living flower. By the way, did he ever find, or leave with, what he wanted? No. So it was just a case of wasted effort and tantalizing death for the hopeful viewer.

Now Juan is all confused, and of course, he goes to the person who always makes things better—PaddyTaddy. “Evil is all around us, have hope, God loves you.” “Thank you, Padre.” You know, these people don’t need to be saved from evil; they need to be saved from themselves. All the praying and pleading to faded statues has clearly not helped, maybe it’s time to turn to things like basic emergency prevention and proper response.

Here’s a good question: “who could have tried to kill you?” Well, lets see, there are only eight people left alive on this show, and there are six of you on team stupid # 1. I know adding is beyond your comprehension, but by virtue of who is standing next to you, it would have to be someone from team frigid bitch. Of course, as PadTad explains, Gabi is bad because she rejects God. So, she’s bad by choice. Clearly, he doesn’t understand that people on this show have no power whatsoever over themselves, and are merely victims of their biological gene pool/toxic living conditions. Well, it wasn’t the first time Gabi told him to leave her house and never come back…and it won’t be the last…though, I’ve been wrong before…

And we end tonight with Sofia, Eva, and Fernie all in Root’s apartment. They find a bloody dart stabbed into the coffee table and Fernie has his gun in hand. Death is insinuated, but impossible for our plot.

Absolutely nothing happened in this episode, like every other one, and you should probably just not even read this recap.

Labels: Fuego

The title comes from February 6 on my new Spanish phrase a day calendar. It may come in handy, just fill in repleta de ...... with what ever alarming teeming is going on in your life. Right now on FELS, el aqua está repleta de cadáveres. Now that we have the official murder ledger so ably kept by Ibarramedia, the official list of what Mutton Chops doesn't know presented by Dorado Dave and the funerals yet to be held list given to us by Doris, thanks to all for these invaluable lists.
Below is my tribute to the beloved guapo, Coyote who slipped from our screens while I was away in Mexico. I had so hoped he would grace our evenings until the end, but it was not to be. So I give you my next door neighbor, a young coyote who comes by to visit looking for a delicious lunch of luscious quail, but I digress -

Coyote, we hardly knew ya'



Now back to tonight's story and my penultimate recap of FELS. The thrilling threesome recreate their romp in the hay while the fake Feo burns in his big black truck and again we get to see the bishop excommunicate the shocked Gabi while PaddyTad does a jig of joy on the side. Juan once again identifies the vigincita medal that was on LIbia the night of her death, thus confirming suspicions that the wicked Feo is behind this too. Then Gabi finds out Feo is dead, Feo hides in the cave and plots. Gabi's heart wins over the girls again, such blind devotion. Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on.....

Gabi comes down the stairs again but doesn't collapse at the news of Feonando's supposed demise. She waxes into blaming the Reyes for Feo's death and then blames Libia for provoking so much unhappiness in her life. The sappy sisters rush to reassure her but she doesn't want anyone with her, they should leave her alone. The girls hold hands then hold their respective sombreroed Reyes. It looked like a dance step rehearsed well.

We begin the new action with the ridiculous soiree of the chocolate and churros that the Maria's provide and the victims Tio Alvin (I mean Vicente) and Nabor... endure, ahhh, the high cost of chocolate.

Juan in his inimitable fashion tells Sofia she is worrying about her mother who isn't her mother and as he stutters and garbles his words, it is hard to believe he says nothing but he does confuse Sofia. Above all she loves her mother because she is .... Juan tells her she is a good daughter and a good woman. They hug.

Feo cries in the grave site of Libia in the eternal flame light maintained by the brothers or does the magic flower also supply eternal torches, when he hears voices and it isn't any of his victims like Rosario. Feo recedes while the Reyes come in with fresh torches and the medal of the virgin. They tell Lidia her death is sort of avenged her killer has paid with his own life. Clearly they are sorry they couldn't throttle someone.

Sofia yells for Mama over and over and breaks into Gabi's bedroom to see a nervous Eva who shirks each time she hears Mama.
The Chocolate scene gets sillier each moment. Tio Alvin decides to sing a song but it is "No me Casere" I will not marry. Oh well, lots of silly giggles, at least he is singing to them their standards aren't so high.
The Elizondo sisters mount a search party for Mama who has been missing too long maybe 5 minutes, maybe six? Does anyone bother to check the brandy bottle level?

And just as Juan is ready to offer fresh hot bread to the grave mound, he spots the manly foot print and realizes the grave must have been sullied by Feo. The boys fan out waving their torches, After not finding him, they cross the smoky cavern and Juan sees or senses the fetid Feo who is sweating like a pig with gangrene. The happy search is halted by Rosendo who comes rushing to the cave entrance to get them to aid in the new search for the missing brandied Gabriela. She meanwhile wanders in a garden with funereal flower arrangements around and a newly heaped grave site, is she in the graveyard or .... and there is Feo who wounded and all found her first as he lurks again in the bushes while she says she was his love his.... She would give anything to see him return again. she lays across the grave mound while the black crow perches on her shoulder in certain views. Or is this the raven ready to croak, "nevermore!" Feo looks on as if he knows just what she can give to see him again.
Suddenly, Mama is being led into her sumptuous bedroom by the three girls, she grabs at a nearby brandy snifter but the girls beg her not to drink more. Instead they want to give her her heart medicine. Is this a good idea to mix with the obvious quantities of brandy? Gabi, repeats, Fernando, where are you. The girls oh so wisely decide that all three of them better stay with her every minute of this entire night. Sofia pulls rank and insists on the first shift or is it the whole night. She stays with her still in her long lovely leather coat and hugs her sot of a not-mom. She simpers that, It hurts her to see her mother so, she only wants her to be well, to go on into the future, to be strong.

Meanwhile Feo is slumping on Libia's grave saying at least Gabi really loves him, he heard her say it. It is the fault of all the others that they have been pulled apart and vanquished by the others. Textbook Psych 101, I'm okay but they are bad....He snivels about revenge but the gangrene is gaining. Do the viewers wonder with me why does Libia's grave always look freshly lain. I don't want to think about what this might really mean.

The boys and uncle are praying that Libia pardon them that they have not gotten justice for her yet but they are not giving up. The brotherhood of bread decides to be happy forget their sad times and Quintina pursues Oscar around the bread table until she gets a kiss, lots of bright hearts come out of her head.She swoons again as she gets a kiss from Tio V. Pablito gallantly decides to pick up Tia from the floor as she rested after her kiss with tio Alvin, errr Vicente. Pablito the sincere one says he will be her principe azul, prince charming.

Mama Gabi doesn't want to see Sofia, tells her to get out. Don't touch me, I don't want you near me, channeling Root no doubt. Sofia can't believe her girlish charms won't warm her mom but Gabi says, I hate you, Over and over. Eva walks in and says tell her for once and all Gabi why you hate her and treat her so badly. Tell her the truth, but no we have to switch to a scene with horses and fools.

Juan rides off, Feo shoots from the bushes at a line of sitting ducks, I mean ranch hands and brothers, but hits Rigo instead, great, it only knocks him silly and no one worries about other shots from the bushes while they brush him off.
Paddy Tad counts his blessings and thanks God while he looks like he is ready to settle in for a long nap in the confessional, but not so fast, PTad, your favorite confessor climbs in to the other side, can't you just smell the rot of the cigar butt....

Eva questions, why are you insisting on being quiet? (empeñarse en callar). Gabi raises up and says are you going to let this woman mistreat me when I am at death's door? Sofia simpers, Eva persists and Gabi spews venom about how she hated Sofia because she did such bad things to her. Eva wants Gabi to tell the truth. Even though Gabi keeps up the insults to Sofia, Sofia yells at Eva to leave her poor little mother alone. Then Gabi begins to blame Eva for bad mothering to have a child with her own husband then abandon the child and not take care of her. How could Eva be so heartless She dedicated herself to right the situation. Suggesting that she was so saintly in taking Eva's neglected child from her. Finally Gabi brings it to a vote, Sofia can choose Eva or her. It is going to be Slowfia's fault either way.

Back with the organ music in minor chords of doom, But PadTad can't avoid hearing that Feo was foiled in bombing in his latest attempt to off the Reyes brothers. Feo reminds him that confessions are secret forever. PadTad falls out of the confessional clutching his chest and scattering demons from this mind.

Gabi snaps, go with her and forget about me. You have to choose, It's my last word, her or me? Eva takes the other part and says don't suffer for my part. Don't cry I would never make you make a choice between Gabi and me or to sacrifice yourself. It is useless to demand the truth from you again, she sneers at Gabi. She is sure God will end her suffering soon. She leaves, Sofia runs after Eva while Gabi grabs her self and moans loudly, Sofia runs back in and comforts this worthless wretch. Gabi thanks her for at least not abandoning her . But then shifts right back into wanting to make all suffer for her sake.
Finally some hugs. Franco appears in Sarita's bedroom. She feels it is her fault that her mother is suffering so. Franco says it is not her fault , it hurts him to see her suffering so, don't cry my love.

Oscar says he loves J and together they can conquer whatever adversity. She returns that he makes her so happy.
Sofia describes the disgusting scene with her mother and Eva and how Gabi demanded a choice but Eva sacrifice for her and said don't make a choice . Wasn't it Solomon who demanded the two competing mothers cut a baby in half to end the dispute. The real mother said no give him to the other but save hin, thus revealing her real motherly love. Juan can't spit out the truth either but then at least we are treated to a triptych of kissing Elizondos and Reyes.

Then the evil mother in the looking glass thinks about how hot Feo was and longs for his..... She sits down and has a serious talk with the mirror: Finally I am finished with lament and the humiliations. I will carry my pain and sadness alone deep in my heart. Yeah right, fat chance Mommy Dearest. But if I can't be happy in love NO one else can either. Ah, the true Gabriela speaks from the core of her evil heart.

Feo is in the cave, then suddenly dreaming Gabi sees him in her bed as he clamps a hand over her mouth before she can get a scream out. Back in the cave, good golly miss Molly, the cave is angry, the cave is caving is the cave going to crush the brothers? Is this another bomb set by our frisky Feo? It doesn't look good.

I have to protest here, I have been a devoted recapper and I feel really really cheated that I didn't get any deaths to report tonight. No es justo, no es justo. The villains are nasty and unrepenting right into the credits roll.

Labels: Fuego

Yep, Gabi's kicked out of church for reals. She slinks out of the church, mortified by the parishioners' shocked stares. The Padre prays for forgiveness for failing to save her soul.

The doctor gets the bullet out of Feo and seems to be writing him a prescription when Feo knocks him out and leaves.

At the Robles Reyes hacienda, Rigo thinks it would be cute if his little baby boy fell in love with Juan's little girls. Quintina smacks him. Pablito thinks it would be neat to be in-laws. Quintina smacks him too. There's more small talk of this nature and I have to get up early tomorrow, so please forgive me for skipping some.

Saul comes in, looking for Juan. He wants to say thanks and bye - he's moving out. Pablito doesn't understand. Quintina explains that the guy's had enough of Hortensia's nagging. The others try to talk Saul out of it (Rigo specifically mentions making up after a fight as one of the pleasures of marriage). Rigo and Eugenia make out and Quintina says "hey, don't count money in front of poor people!" Heh. Hortensia asks Saul to reconsider. Rigo says she'll have to promise stop scolding. Saul gives in. Whew, thank goodness that's resolved. Now we can have a happy ending.

Feo stumbles into the cave with Libia's crypt and has happy flashbacks to her death.

One of the gossip sisters tells Juan and Sofía about the scene at church. Juan covers his mouth, stifling laughter at the news of Gabi's excommunication.

Gabi goes home from church, thinking to herself that she made Feo leave her and now she's alone, she has nobody now, not even God. Feo watches from afar and thought-bubbles that Gabi won't be able to bear being alone.

Nabor is cleaning up when he knocks over the St. Francis statue and the pedestal it's on, revealing Feo's Big Bag o' Swag hidden inside the pedestal. He gapes at the cash, ignores a big envelope, and opens the little box without hesitation. Aforementioned gossip sister shows up and admires the necklace. She invites him over for churros and chocolate tonight with her sister and Tio Vicente. She promises that it will be "very intimate." He refuses to commit!

Fatima and Rosendo apologize to Gabi and say they don't know where Ruth is and haven't seen her in a few days. Maybe she left. Gabi wonders if she ran away with Feo.

Dr. Montes reports Feo's assault to the authorities. That's right - he goes straight to the Padre. (Evidently, he too has given up on the comisario.) After he treated Feo, Feo knocked him out and took off. If he's not careful, his wound will go gangrene.

With atypically impeccable timing, Juan shows up with his brothers and explains that Gabi shot Feo.

With even more coincidentally perfect timing, Nabor shows up with Feo's bag of goodies. The brothers recognize it immediately. The Padre sends the doctor and Nabor out. Juan is eager to see what's in the box. Oscar doesn't recognize the necklace, but Juan certainly does. He refreshes their memory - "our mother's necklace, I gave it to Libia for protection." (It didn't work!) He has a flashback of giving the necklace to her. She says she gives thanks to the Virgencita every day because Juan has been like her father and mother. He's the best brother in the world!

The guys realize that there's only one way the necklace could have ended up in Feo's safe. The Padre has a flashback to Feo's "confession" of killing her. The guys are all fired up for justice. The Padre protests, but nobody's in the mood to listen.

Gabi sulks by the pool with her "daughters" and her best girl, Brandy. Her daughters try to get her to cheer up and fight, but Gabi grumbles that everyone has betrayed her, including them. (Gabi's lines.) The girls deny. (Girls' lines.) She claims that the Reyes don't know how to love. They know only vengeance and attacks. They'll rot in hell. More Sofía's lines. Gabi takes off in disgust.

Feo goes to church, hoping to grab his money and go away. He pauses before the statue, takes off his hat and crosses himself, and looks for his bag. It's gone. He won't be able to go!

The Reyes Brothers get their guns ready for another formal declaration of vengeance. They all talk to the camera, so you know they mean business.

The girls think all the stress on their mother can't be good for her health, but they can't get through to her. If only she had listened to Sofía, none of this would have happened. Jimena says Gabi had it coming to her. Sofi says it was Feo too. She confides that Juan thinks Feo is the one who raped her. Sarita seems particularly upset. Sofía indicates that she's a strong woman now and he can't hurt her any more, but he's also messed with their mother and it's all his fault. Sooner or later he'll pay for all he's done.

The brothers visit their sister's tomb and bring her up to date. They swear vengeance again and leave. Feo comes out of hiding again and says "let's see who hunts whom... I'll swear too!" He purposely steps on her grave on his way out.

Quintina takes her guys on the road. Like, literally the actual road. The dusty trail. A pickup truck on a country road. For a fee, ladies can have their pictures taken with a couple of guys. It's one of those things with a life-size cartoonish picture of a swimsuit model, and then there's a hole where her face would be, so you stick your face there, presto you're a swimsuit model. Life's too short to recap this foolishness in greater detail.

The guys ride around looking for news of Feo's whereabouts.

Feo sees a guy in town who's about the same size as him. He muses that this guy can help him with his plan.

Eva tells the Padre that she was happy when Ruth agreed to be her daughter and run off together, but then Juan swore that Sofía is actually her daughter. She found her crying and she said that Feo raped her. (All the Padre can say to this is "have faith and more faith.") Eva says she has faith, but she's still afraid. And she's also worried about Ruth. If something happened to her, she's sure it was Feo's fault.

The guy Feo noticed in town is now dead in Libia's tomb. Feo says he was damned just by crossing his path.

I feel I should mention that the moon is full.

The brothers visit the sisters at the hacienda and report that Feo killed their Libia. It's going to be a long night. Hugs, kisses, blessings, "be careful." The guys gallop away. Eva comes out and tells the girls that nothing bad will happen. Sarita tells her the guys will kill Feo. Jimena says she doesn't wish any harm to anyone, but Feo's got to pay for what he's done. "He deserves the worst of punishments!" Eva agrees, but urges them to calm down. Sofía says how great Eva is and gives her a kiss. Eva thought-bubbles happily that Sofía's her daughter, no matter what Gabi says.

When the guys said it was going to be a long night, clearly they meant a different night, because it's already morning. Feo has rigged a time bomb out of a kitchen timer, some duct tape, and way more circuitry than should be needed for a bomb. He leaves it in his truck with the dead guy in the driver's seat. Then he makes a big scene in front of Rigo and the other workers, thought-bubbling that he's setting a trap. Rigo sends a guy to the house to tell Juan. Feo takes off on his horse.

Meanwhile, the guys tell Quintina they couldn't find any trace of him last night; Juan yells at Franco for hoping he took off for good.

Gabi, drunk and distraught, looks at old photos of men who never loved her: JJ Robles, Bernardo, Ricardo, and Feo. One by one, she hears the latter three say (in her mind): I don't love you, and I will never love you. (JJ's picture doesn't say anything) Not one of the men in her life ever loved her, she reminds herself. Time for another drink. She tears up the photos and throws them on the desk, but don't worry; those photos looked surprisingly fresh. I'm sure she can crank out another batch on the inkjet printer tomorrow.

A field hand warns the guys that Feo was trespassing. They ride out to investigate. Rigo says he lost sight of Feo for a moment, but there's his truck! Feo hides in some bushes and gloats in anticipation, "they fell into my trap."

Gabi continues to sob at her desk about the pain of loneliness. She takes out her gun and wishes she didn't have a heart so she couldn't feel. She pulls the hammer back and slowly turns the gun on herself. Unfortunately, she's interrupted by the girls. "Go away or I'll shoot. You never loved me. Now you can stop pretending." They beg her not to do it.

Juan and Franco cautiously approach the truck while Oscar stays behind to cover them because he can't run yet. They vaguely see a hat through the windshield, but there's glare from the sky and they can't make out his face. He's not moving at all. On Juan's signal, Oscar shoots at the middle of the windshield. The man in the hat doesn't move. Juan smells a rat and tells the guys to get back. As they do, the truck blows up. (Feo responds with a comically exaggerated "shucks! foiled again!" gesture of defeat.)

Gabi seems earnest in her desire to be dead. Sofía tries to talk her out of it. (They've had similar conversations before, just without the gun.) Gabi finally puts the gun down, sobbing. Jimena and Sofía escort crazy Crabi to bed. Sarita lags behind, contemplating the gun thoughtfully.

The brothers watch the flaming truck and conclude that Feo has killed himself to escape justice. Juan is frustrated that Feo and Ricardo didn't have to pay for their crimes. Franco points out that if Juan hadn't thought so quickly, they all would have been killed. Juan thinks it seems like Feo set them a trap so they'd die with him.

Feo gloats to himself that now that they've given him up for dead, he can attack them without anyone ever suspecting him.

Eva meets with Soledad at the convent. They have a long, repetitious conversation in which they conclude that Gabi is a liar and that Sofía is definitely Eva's daughter, based on how Eva was always nice to Sofía and Gabi never was. That's all the proof Eva needs.

The brothers tell the sisters about Feo trying to lure them out to his truck, which then blew up but they didn't get hurt and only Feo died. Then the sisters tell the brothers about Gabi being in a bad state. Gabi shows up with a big fresh-squeezed brandy, and I keep thinking maybe she'll take another tumble, but she doesn't. Juan tells her that Feo is bien muerto, blown to bits. Gabi numbly mumbles that this can't be true. Franco says Feo blew up his truck with himself inside. Gabi gets all upset, and we fade out with a dim vision of Feo floating over her left shoulder.

Mexico airdate: 15 de octubre

Labels: Fuego

Resumen del capítulo 192

First a bit of repetitious review:

At the Double E (Hacienda de las Elizondo y del escoria* ese, Escandón) Root gets the tables turned on her when she tries to goad Gabi into telling Sofia the truth about their relationship. Instead, Gabi outs Root for being the one who put the poisoned snake in her little girl’s bed.

Meanwhile, across the way at Ruh-Roh Central, the Double R (Hacienda de los Robles-Reyes), Juan’s in the kitchen telling his brothers he suspects they’re pretty near their sister’s murderer when dear, ditzy Eva runs in to tell them she’s leaving town with Root who has finally accepted her and turned over a new leaf. They can’t let Eva do something that bone-headed, especially since they now know Root is really Crabiela’s daughter. Juan takes pity on Eva and tells her the truth that Root is Crabi’s daughter and that Sofia is actually her daughter instead.
==========

When the news about Sofia finally sinks in, Eva is all happy-happy, joy-joy because she realizes that she never really lost her baby daughter at all. It was Sofia and, by the grace of Dios, she was with her all along. Of course, the first thing she wants to do is run off to tell Sofia the Big News but Juan and the bro’s hold her back. Juan explains that the padre wants them to wait till after he’s fully recovered and can arrange it properly. Eva says since she’s waited this long she figures she can wait a little bit longer. (Viewerville thinks we’ve all waited way too long as it is). She says she’s going to the church to thank the diosito instead and promises to keep mum.

Back across the way at the Double E, Sofia is screaming at Root to tell her the truth about the business with the snakes in her daughter’s bed. Tearfully Root begs for forgiveness and says she was out of her mind with envy. She didn’t know what she was doing. Rather than slap the sh!t out of the deserving slut, our saint-in-waiting, Sofia, listens to Root’s sad story about having always been envious of Sofia’s lucky life, her doting daddy and her sappy sisters. (Hmm. Nary a mention of the malicious matriarch in this confession?) She says Sofia will soon learn something that will change her life forever and if Sofia will just forgive her she promises she’ll never interfere with her or her family or Juan again. Saintly Sofia replies that it’s up to God to forgive her and she truly hopes he’ll give her the peace that she’s missed all her life long. Root hugs Sofia, who can’t quite manage to hug back, and looks like she’s afraid of catching cooties from her childhood frenemy.

In town, Padre Tadeo comes into the chapel to find Eva tearfully praying to the diosito. She explains that she’s crying tears of joy because Juan just told her that Sofia was her daughter, and that it was to keep her from leaving town with Root otherwise. He says no problemo and that they did the sensible thing. She promises to keep quiet about it like he asked (and so we now can wait another two weeks while this crappy storyline drags on). Eva tells the padre that she believes Root is not really rotten to the core; Raqui and Rico just raised her in a home without love. She’s certain she can get Root back on the right track with a little TLC.

Back in her bungalow boudoir, though, Root is readying things for another nookie-night with ‘Nando. After knocking back a glass of tinto, she takes out the (curiously clean) dagger and sensually rubs it between her bazoombas and over her mouth before hiding it under the pillow. (Ok. Ok. We’ll adjust our beanies here in Viewerville and pretend that Uni’s crack continuity crew didn’t really screw things up. –So… how many times now has Root smeared Feo’s fingerprints with her own, not to mention wiped the supposedly bloody thing across her mouth? I mean, that blade was in somebody’s guts just a few days ago! Blech!) In the meantime, Feo is up at the main house adjusting his (blood-red) shirt and tie and wondering to himself about the surprise Root’s got planned for him later that evening.

In the kitchen of the Double R, the Reyes’s have decided to plan a party to celebrate the night that Eva finally tells Sofia the truth about their relationship. Quintina walks in and tells them she’s excited for Eva over the news that Sofia turns out to be her daughter. Juan says likewise, that he’s just itching (“me quema las habas” – “the beans are burning me”) for Sofia to get the news. Quintina mentions that everybody’s ready to get married these days, even the Gossip Sisters. Oscar and Franco wonder who’d be crazy enough to be reeled in by those two but Quintina assures them that for every woman there’s a man (“nunca falta un roto para un descosido”, literally, there’s a patch for every tear). Anyway, they’ve set their sights on Tío and Nabor she says, as the two old maids are home flipping a coin to see who goes after Vicente and who goes after Nabor. (Yeah, I should know. Gettin' old's a b!tch, but hey. This is pathetic. FF>> Puh-leese!)

Upstairs in his room, Gabi watches Fer finish getting dressed and asks him where he’s going. He lies and says he’s got an appointment to talk over the sale of the harvest with Don Adolfo, but her antennae are up. She asks if he’s really going to see Don Adolfo. He tells her not to start with him again. He bluffs and offers to take her along. She declines and self-medicates with another gulp of her brandy. He tells her not to drink a lot and promises to come back early.

Across the hall Sofia tells her sisters about her latest run-in with Root. They all agree on how thankful they are that they had Daddy and Eva to rely on while they grew up. (Again, no mention of Mama.)

Feo arrives at the bungalow and Root has one last ride on the wild side. Feo finds the knife under his pillow while she is re-filling her glass of tinto. While he’s supposedly “lost in her charms” with her riding topside, she searches with her hand for the knife under his pillow but can’t find it. Just as they’re reaching the pinnacle of Passion Peak he stabs her in the gut. He pulls out the bloody blade and coldly shows it to her. “Is this what you were looking for?” She looks at him and it and then falls onto his chest, lifeless.

The next morning at breakfast Hortensia starts henpecking her hubby again. This time Saul has had enough and tells her he’s leaving and walks out on her. Hortensia begs Rigo to go after him but Rigo won’t and says he warned her. Quintina clucks and says this makes the fourth husband she’s run off now. Hortensia yells back that she wouldn’t know sh!t from Shinola, considering Quintina’s never even had a man. The two start punching away at each other till Hortensia bangs Quintina over the head with a frying pan and walks away in disgust. (Did I miss something funny here, or was this a bit too low-brow for a self-respecting high-brow?)

At the same time Eva is over at the bungalow looking for Root who is nowhere to be found, either inside or out. She has Root’s letter in her hand.

A while later back in town, Quintina is peddling more “pan”. It’s the beefcake special: buy the bread and she lets you make biscuits with the beef-cake. (Hubby says he’s more interested in where Quintina finds her fashionable eye-wear.)

Eva heads over to the main house. She runs into Crabi-Gabi outside and doesn’t lose the chance to rub her nose in the fact she now knows who her really, real daughter is and that it’s Sofia. C-G tries to put her off and still pushes the Big Lie that Root is her daughter, but Eva insists she knows Gabi is lying to her like always. Root is Gabi’s and Sofia is hers, period.

While Juan is baking the next batch of bread he just happens to notice Fer’s bottle of ether, and the dirty rag that came with it, that he has conveniently left sitting out on the counter next to his baking paraphernalia. He picks up the bottle and wonders what in the world Fernando would have it stored in his safe for since it’s not gold (i.e., jewelry?) or cash and since he’s not a doctor.

Back outside the main house at the Double E, Gabi is still trying to shovel sh!t at Eva but Eva just tells her to talk to the hand ‘cause the face ain’t listenin’. Gabi tries to run her off the property and not to think she can hide behind Sofia because Sofia just signed her over the hacienda again and it’s hers! Eva is like, who cares? Sofia certainly doesn’t because she’s not a material girl and, BTW, Eva is never going to forgive Gabi for the witchy way she treated Sofia all the while she was growing up. Gabi says well, have it her way. Sofia deserves Eva for a mother because she’s just as stupid as Eva is. So Eva hauls off and slaps the smirk off Gabi’s face. (Damn! Talk about a shot heard ‘round the world! Viewerville gets out of its chair to cheer.) Gabi actually sees stars for a second or three. Eva tells Gabi not to insult Sofia again. (Ok. Gotta admit a little hair-pulling here would have been nice, but who’s kvetching?) Unwittingly, Eva flaps the hand with Root’s letter in it at Gabi for emphasis. Gabi grabs the letter from her and asks what it is. Eva explains it was for Gabi in case anything bad happened to Root. Gabi says she’s keeping it since it was addressed to her anyway.

Upstairs, Feo has snuck back into the bedroom after apparently ditching Root’s body somewhere and he notices the file Gabi left on the bedside table. He noses through it and sees the document giving Gabi ownership of the hacienda again, so he decides he’s got to get Gabi to name him her heir as soon as possible now.

However, Root had another surprise for Fer in mind. Downstairs in her office, Gabi starts reading the letter she took from Eva:

“Dear Mama: If you’re reading this it’s because unfortunately my plans haven’t turned out as I’d hoped. So, as the sole act of my love for you, I want to confess to you that in fact you’re husband, Fernando, was my lover. Fernando and I were lovers and we enjoyed enormously having deceived you.

With all your daughter’s love….

Affectionately,
Root”

Gabi is push-me-over-with-a-feather impactada. “Devils! Devils!” She takes her revolver out of the drawer and runs out into the back yard (past a gorgeous pool, I might add) screaming like a banshee for Fernando. (Of course, Fer can’t hear a thing because he’s inside the house with the sound-proof windows.)

Sofia, meanwhile, pays a visit to Juan while he’s baking. After a little smooching and “boda” banter, Juan shows Sofia the bottle that he found in Fernando’s safe and puts it under her nose for grins. Sofia suddenly has flashbacks to that nightmarish night of her deflowering….. She tells him that she remembers that smell from when she was raped, that the man that attacked her put something over her nose that smelled the same way. Juan is furious (cuz he can at least put two and two together and most times get four). Why, then, the man that raped her was Fernando Escandon! Slowfia is appropriately impactada. Juan picks up his shirt and as he races out of the kitchen he grumbles that Fernando is going to have to answer a whole slew of questions from him. She begs Juan to wait and races out after him.

Gabi has given up the search and returns to her office, exhausted, to cry her eyes out over Fernando’s infidelities. Juan races into the yard now and finds Fer there. He immediately accuses him of raping Sofia and of course, Fer denies it and calls him crazy. Sofia shows up. Fer says that’s nuts because he was the one who rescued her that night. Juan tells him to stop pretending. Feo pulls another Bart Simpson and says he can’t prove anything. Juan pulls out the bottle of ether from his pocket and says he took it out of Fer’s safe. Ruh-roh! Then Sofia says she’s never forgotten that smell. Fer asks if it’s a crime to have a bottle of ether. (No, but it’s a damned strange coinkydink, don'tcha think?) Juan tells him he knows he put her to sleep with it so she wouldn’t recognize his face. Suddenly he and Fernando go at it with fisticuffs. All Hell breaks loose till Gabi runs out with her revolver aimed at Juan and tells him to get away from Fernando.

Round two of Zoo-world starts. Sofia shrieks in fear and jumps in front of Juan. Gabi tells her to get out of the way or she’ll shoot Sofia, too. Juan pushes Sofia behind him and warns Gabi not to shoot Sofia. In the middle of all of this hubbub Fernando keeps yelling and hopping around like a proverbial Mexican jumping bean, pleading for Gabi to kill Juan. “Kill him! Kill him! Kill him right now!” Juan screams back that he’s not afraid to die. “Shoot me! Since I’m not going make this wretched swine pay for his crimes! Why not?” He yells over at Feo. “You-u-u cowardly beggar!” That’s another cue for Sofia to jump in front to try to protect him again. Fer starts screaming that it’s all lies. Juan screams back that Fer’s lying but he knows it’s the truth. Gabi’s as confused as the rest of us and yells for somebody to tell her what Fer’s done. Gabi takes another emotional body blow as Juan tells her Fer was the one who raped Sofia.

Fer starts screaming again for Gabi to shoot Juan while she has him in her sights, but she suddenly turns the gun on him instead. “You’ve been making a fool of me the entire time! You traitor! You’re like a dog that bites the hand of the master that loves and feeds him!” (Go for it, Gabi!) He insists she’s just upset. She knows he loves her and nobody else. Gabi throws Root’s letter in his face and says it is a hand-written confession of everything. “She was lying!” he yells at her in desperation. Gabi yells back. “You slept with Root and made a fool of me. That’s why I’m going to kill you!” She aims, shoots high, and bags him in the shoulder. He falls to the ground just as Uni breaks to pay its bills.

When we return to the scene of …numerous crimes, suddenly Feo is up and running for his truck. Juan calls for Capricho (who must have been off flirtin’ with the fillies ‘cause it takes him a minute or two to show). Juan jumps on his valiant steed a few seconds later and starts galloping after Fer and the truck. Viewerville tightens its beanie and rubbernecks as somehow Juan and Capricho try to cut him off with a rearing horse tactic after miraculously arriving up ahead on the road only a minute later. Fer takes his semi-automatic and tries to shoot at them, but the gun jams and he throws it aside. Capricho, the real brains of this operation, can read the handwriting on the wall even if Juan can’t. He takes the initiative and gallops out of Fer’s way.

Juan and Capricho now race back after the truck and pull up alongside it in another maneuver that even Trigger and Roy (Rogers) would have marveled at. Juan jumps onto the truck’s roof. He lays flat and reaches down into the conveniently opened driver’s side window and then lamely tries to poke at Fer’s wounded shoulder and harass him (I guess) into stopping. No go. Fer suddenly puts on the brakes and Juan tumbles down over the windshield, off the hood, and onto the ground. Fer revs the truck back up and rushes to run him over but Juan rolls out of the way at the last instant. Fer puts the pedal to the medal and makes like dust. “He got away from us, Capricho! We’ll grab him later.” They head back to the Double R.

Back at the Double E, Gabi frowns and tells Sofia that Fernando never loved her and so Sofia must have provoked him and that’s why he raped her. With a sick sneer she adds, half to Sofia and half to herself, that now every time Juan touches her he’ll remember that Fernando was Sofia’s first. Doh!-fia (who as we all know is on the fast track for sainthood and soon to be beatified) is dumbfounded. She simply can’t understand how Gabi could be so callous and uncaring and says she’s no longer going to let Mama Cruel Shoes take advantage of her affections.

Gabi grabs at her chest as Sofia heads out to the pool to find consolation in the arms of Eva. Sofia tells Eva how cruel and insensitive Gabi was when she found out Fernando had raped her. “It’s as if she weren’t really my mother.” Eva has to bite her tongue to keep from telling Sofia that the b!tch really isn’t her mother at all, that she is. (Forget Eva! For crying out loud! I'll do it! Let me tell her all ready! Let me, pleeeeese!)

When Juan gets back to the Double R he tells Vicente and his brothers what just happened and that he’s got to find his gun and go looking for the brute. Sofia arrives just then and begs him not to go after Fernando. She’s afraid of what might happen and she doesn’t want him to risk it. Juan eventually gives in to her.

That night Feo sneaks into the clinic as the doctor is about to leave for the night. He forces the doctor at gunpoint, gansta’-style, to take out the bullet.

The next morning is Sunday and the Bishop is performing the mass. It was a rough Saturday night, apparently, for Gabi. She looks like Death warmed over (and just like one of those Santa Muerte statues from that Mexican-Gothic stall the other night, come to think of it). She comes up to partake of the Host but the Bishop recognizes her and stops cold. In front of the entire congregation of the faithful he calls her out. “Gabriela Aceveda, you are not worthy of receiving God, our Lord. You have played with the sacrament of confession, pretending to be repentant of your sins. Therefore, you are out of grace and in no way absolved. We’ve examined your case and from this moment on you are excommunicated, and as long as you do not repent and come back to the correct path you do not even have the right to enter God’s house!” Gabriela is shocked into silence and she’s furious.

Vocab:
*escoria = a person who’s the scum of the earth
“nunca falta un roto para un descosido” = there’s a patch for every tear
“me quema las habas” = the beans are burning me

Labels: Fuego

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