Caray, Caray!

[Note, for those who were wondering—after checking Esmas, I figured out that we have 43 episodes after this one. That puts the end of Amar Sin Limites somewhere around the second week of January at the earliest, given that I’m sure there will be holiday programming changes that will pre-empt the show.]

We open with the scene between Lidia and Piero where Piero is sweet talking her into signing divorce papers so that he can continue to make Lucia to believe he’s broken up with her. He finally leaves and Lidia goes back into the living room where Clemencia is waiting to find out who was at the door. Lida explains, that it was Piero. When Clemi wants to know what he wanted, Lidia tells her that Piero wanted them to get back together. Clemi is full of indignation and blurts out that Piero is shameless (un sínico) for thinking that he can get away with kissing Lucia in front of everyone and still trying to get Lidiia to go back with him. Lidia tells Clemi no worries that instead, she’s decided to divorce him. She leaves out the part where it is supposed to be a fake divorce to convince Lucia that Piero’s dumped her. Clemi says that although she doesn’t approve of divorce, she thinks that Lidia is doing the right thing. Piero won’t respect her. “And without respect in a couple, there’s nothing.” She adds that Lidia made mistakes—everybody does. The important thing now is to correct them. She’s sure that Lidia will find somebody who truly values her and loves her. They hug but Lidia’s choked up. Maybe because she’s a LIAR! Clemi smiles angelically.

Meanwhile, Azul is having a reunion with her family at Mo’s house, after the kidnapping. Emilia runs up and hugs her. Julio remarks that since she’s got a new dress on, he can see that Diego must have planned the kidnapping ahead of time. Azul announces that Diego made her the dress himself. Inez asks where Diego took her. Azul says to a remote beach. GSD is indignant and wants to know why Diego compelled her to go with him like that. Mo butts in and says that according to what Azul said, Diego didn’t take her by force, she went willingly. GSD demands a clarification. Mo says that Azul defended Diego at the Police Station, absolving him of all wrongdoing. Azul tries to interrupt him but Mo is on a tear now. He angrily demands that her family deserves an explanation, just like he does. They were all worried about her. (Camera cuts to Arnaldo for some reason—he’s looking like he’s thinking something but says nothing) . Azul explains that she didn’t want to get Diego in trouble because his mother had a weak heart and she didn’t want her to suffer. And besides, Diego didn’t harm her. He only wanted to talk to her. Finally Arnaldo chimes in—“what a way to talk to you, huh?” Emilia says, if that’s all he wanted to do, he should have done it in a more civilized way.” Inez just wants to know what he said. Azul says, “well, that he loves me and that Eva Santoro was dead so that now there were no longer obstacles between us.” GSD butts in here to say that they all already knew about Eva being dead, “It was from an explosion that she herself created with Ivan with who knows what nefarious goal in mind.” Emilia adds that Eva’s being dead doesn’t excuse Diego’s actions. Azul says that that’s what she told Diego. She accused him of only looking for her because Eva was dead. GSD is still outraged and thinks that she should have let Diego get locked up. Azul pleads that whatever, Diego’s mom didn’t deserve it. She was already stressing out from the kidnapping itself.

Diego isn’t exactly scott free, either. He’s with Don Chucho, Anibal, Gaspar, Efrain and Manuel who are all listening to what his lawyer has to say. The lawyer explains that he isn’t guilty of kindnapping because there was no ransom demand. He would have been guilty of “illegally imprisoning” but Azul not pressing charges let him off that. He did, however, beat up the chauffer and steal a car and he’ll have to answer for that. He’ll have to get bail money for that. Manuel interrupts to let everyone know that there’s no money. Silvana volunteers her savings. Chucho does too. Anibal says not to worry, he can loan him whatever he needs. Manuel cracks “look at how generous!” Anibal is. Diego thanks everyone for their generosity and says he’ll pay everyone back. Chucho takes this moment to let him know that they no longer have jobs, since Julio fired them. Gaspar adds that Julio said he didn’t want a delinquent working in his prestigious boutique. Diego has an orange flashback of one of his “love shack” arguments with Azul , with her accusing him of being Eva’s kept man and getting her to buy him half the boutique. Back in the present, Diego looks off in the distance and says, “We’ll see if Julio can fire me.” Chucho tells him he tried to convince Julio otherwise, but there was no moving him. Manuel interjects that Diego is going to have to pay for his foolishness. Diego thanks Anibal again and says that he has to accept his loan since he can only pay him back if he is free. And he’ll pay him back—with interest. Manuel sniffs at this boast and says he’ll believe it when he sees it. Anibal ignores this and tells Diego he trusts him and he knows that he won’t give his Mom any more reason to worry.

Back at Mo’s, the interrogation of Azul continues. Inez is remarking that Azul’s adventure is like something out of a movie. Azul says she never wanted anyone to worry. She asks Mo about Katy. Mo uses the opportunity for a little emotional blackmail and tells her that Katy was traumatized and Chonita took her to a park to calm her down. Just then the non-traumatized Katy runs in, in her princess dress happily screaming out “Azul! Azul!” Everybody smiles and fawns over Katy. Julio and Arnaldo get up to go and Inez asks if she can have a ride to her house. Arnaldo says the important thing is that Azul is back. Azul hugs Katy and glances up at Mo, whose face is dark as a thundercloud, in sharp contrast to all the other happy people around him.

Silvana has gone home and is filling Ivan in on what happened. Ivan wants to know if Diego and Azul got back together. Silvana says no, Azul went back to Mo. Manuel told her that Azul didn’t press charges because she felt sorry for Clemi. Even if Diego and Azul have cleared some stuff up, it’s pretty obvious that they aren’t going to get back together. Silvana hopes that Diego will give up on Azul. Ivan adds in that deadpan way of his: “because you want him to end up with you, because you love him so much.”

Back at casa Moran, Diego has a fond reunion with Dona Clemi while Lidia and her Dad stand across the room. Clemi’s happiness is cut short by Manuel who insists on telling everyone that Anibal loaned him bail money. Clemi starts to get short of breath again and Diego tells her not to worry that he will pay Anibal back. Clemi says, yes, right away. She suggests that Manuel sell his car. Lidia agrees. Manuel’s reaction is about what you’d expect. He’d rather Diego stay in Jail than sell his new car. Lidia turns on a dime and backs up her Daddy. Besides, when Piero was in jail, Diego didn’t help her. Clemi points out that Diego did help—he got a lawyer and paid him out of his own pocket. Lidia argues that the lawyer didn’t help Piero. Manuel gets on his high horse about Diego doing a crime and that he should be doing the time. Clemi gives up. She tells Diego she’s glad he’s out and she understands that although what he did was wrong, he did it out of love. She looks at the other two and complains about how they are supposed to be a family and support one another. Lidia and Manuel hug eachother and look away from Clemi and Diego. [Some family! For me at least, justice for those two can’t come fast enough. ]

At the boutique, Andres has come looking for Ceci. Instead, Gaspar meets him and tells him off. Andres looks puzzled. What’s he being accused of. Ceci shows up and fills in the blanks—of beating up Gaspar’s Dad. Andres is impactado. Then he tries to lie his way out of it, saying that Efrain became violent when Mo tried to find out where Diego went. Gaspar doesn’t buy it. He knows his Dad is a peaceful person. He may have been a boxer but he only fights to defend himself. Andres (directing his words only at Ceci) says they only fought him to defend themselves. Ceci argues that even if that had been the case, they could have found another way. Gaspar points out that they were two against one. Andres argues, again, only at Ceci that Mo was desperate. And anyway, “Diego carried Azul off by force—they were the ones who did wrong, not us.” Andres says that Gaspar should know that neither he nor Mo were going to press charges against Efrain, even though they could have. Even if Azul wasn’t pressing charges, they could have made things hard for Efrain. [I don’t exactly see how, without implicating themselves in an assault]. Gaspar sees the implied threat. Ceci looks like she’s weighing Andres’ culpability against Diego and Efrain’s.

Diego is still with Clemi. They are making up. Clemi tells him that she understands his love for Azul but next time they’d better do things the right way—no more kidnapping. She’s got to divorce Mo before they can get together. Diego is all like Yeah, Mom. I know.

[whoo hooo long Pasion commercial!]

Azul is flashbacking Diego making the dress for her. When she gets back to the present, she’s with Katy, who asks her about the kidnapping. Azul tells her that “the boy who kidnapped her didn’t do anything bad.” Princess Katy is happy to hear this because when Azul went away she was very sad and had a lot of nightmares. “You had the same nightmare?” asks Azul. “Yes,” says Katy. “I thought that they were going to do to you …” At this crucial moment Mo comes into the room and stops Katy from finishing. He tells Azul that her Dad is leaving and he wants to say goodbye. Azul gets up and goes. Mo sits down with Katy and, holding her down, reminds her that he brought her back Azul and that she’d better forget about her Mommy up in heaven. He points out that she’s been mentioning Mommy quite a bit lately. “You KNOW that there was NO WAY to save your Mommy, right?” Katy nods slowly. He tells her that if she keeps talking about this, the police are going to take him away and “Azul won’t want to see us anymore. “ Katy’s eyes are big and wide. She whimpers. Mo sticks the knife in. “You’ll be all alone in the world, Katy. They’ll send you to an ORPHANAGE. “ Put another buck and change in the therapy jar for little Katy.

Azul is telling GSD and Emilia about Katy. Emilia agrees that Katy was very afraid (when she disappeared). Emilia says, “We just wanted to say goodbye. we know you need to rest.” GSD says he still wants to talk about this whole defending Diego thing. He let it go because he didn’t want to expose her in front of Mo. He walks away. Emilia lags behind. She thinks the whole Diego thing looks bad too, but she has something else to impart. While Azul was gone, she was watching Katy. She saw something, heard something. Azul wants to know what it was but Emilia doesn’t want to talk to her about it here. They can meet tomorrow, at her place. Kiss Kiss, bye bye.

Mo is still torturing poor Katy with tales of terrible Orphanages, where nobody takes care of you. Katy promises not to talk about Mommy in heaven if Daddy promises not to let anything bad happen to Azul. Mo smiles and promises her.

At Efrain’s apartment, Chucho is wondering aloud how Diego is going to get their jobs at the Boutique back. Efrain says he doesn’t know but Diego seemed pretty sure of himself. Chucho says that Diego is a very talented designer, he could certainly earn the right to work there. But if he fails, maybe Efrain could teach him (Chucho) to be a mechanic? Efrain says sure. That’s what he gets for allowing Diego to be a fighting Romeo and even involving himself, as his trusty sidekick. Chucho points out that he’s mixing up two different works of literature, Romeo and Juliet and Don Quijote. Just then there’s a knock at the door. It’s that same guy, whose name I don’t know who has been asking about the missing car. Presumably the one Diego took to the beach. (The same guy who made eyes at Lidia). Now he says that the owner of the car is really mad and he’s in trouble.

Diego finally goes to visit Silvana. He thanks her for all her help. He tells her that thanks to her, he and Azul have reconciled. Silvana is not too happy to hear that. She smiles anyway and accepts a hug from Diego.

Now with everybody gone, Mo accosts Azul and demands to talk to her alone. He wants to know what Diego told her. Azul claims that she told him everything already. Mo tells her that she must think he’s stupid. He wants to know what happened at the Love Shack. Azul wants to know how he knows about the Love Shack. Mo admits that he got as far as finding out where they went but by the time he arrived, they were already gone. We get an orange flashback of Mo at the Love Shack with the captive Efrain. Mo picks up the bodice of the wedding dress and announces that they had been there. Flash forward to the present. Since there was only one bed in the shack, he wants to know if they slept together. Azul looks stricken.

She tells him she didn’t sleep with him. She swears it. He asks her about bodice of the dress he found in the bed. She says that the piece came off when Diego grabbed her. She asked Diego to get her some clothes but later he made a dress from pieces of the dress. Now Mo seems quite concerned that Diego saw her naked but she tells him that it wasn’t so. He doesn’t believe her. She tells him that he should be glad that Diego forced her to go with him. During that time she realized that he (Diego) was crazy and that she didn’t want anything to do with him. She pretended to believe him and that’s why he let her go. Mo seems pleased by this. All of the sudden though, he grabs her and shakes her and screams that she swear that all this is true. Azul complains that he’s hurting her. He wants to know why he let her go. What did he try to convince her of. Azul drops the bomb. She tells Mo what Diego told her. That Mo ordered Andres to kill Paco and Abuelo. Also, that Mo has made a lot of people suffer. He sold counterfeit and expired medicines. Mo is speechless. Not for long, I’m sure.

At Silvana’s, Silvana pushes Diego a bit on this whole, “Azul believes me now” thing. Diego says, oh yes…and there are a few things she told me that I have to verify. He wants to talk to Ivan. Conveniently, he’s in the other room. Diego kisses her hand and thanks her again for taking care of him. Silvana vows that she’s his friend. Diego says that when he and Azul are successful in unmasking Mo, there will be justice for Nico. Silvana smiles again, wanly. Diego goes in to talk to Ivan and a tear trickles down Silvana’s face.

Mo is still on a rampage. “Diego ripped you from my arms. He made me look like a fool in front of everybody. He took you far away when you and I should have been on our honeymoon.” Azul apologizes. He is still pissed that she took his side at the police. Azul says that she had to do what she did. “ I did it for us.” “Listening to the lies of Diego, I realized that he is crazy. He said that when my Dad finds the cure, you are going to sell it to people that you’ve infected. Imagine that!” “Diego is capable to inventing all this to separate us.” “I was afraid of him and couldn’t deny him what he asked.” Mo wants to know what this was. “That I listen to all these lies.” “I swear, I didn’t sleep with him.” The next bit I found hard to follow. She says something like, “I’m sure the authorities would have looked for evidence of sexual assault.” I would have had to respond to questions in front of my family. I found all of this very embarrassing. “ she breaks out into tears and hugs him. Mo is crying too. He tells her he’s sorry for pressing her when she was only a victim. Over his shoulder, Azul looks anxious.

Diego’s with Ivan. Diego and Ivan compare notes about the kidnapping. Ivan immediately asks if Diego actually believes Azul. If he’s sure that she just didn’t tell him what he wanted to hear so he would let her go. Diego laughs off the suggestion. “Azul is incapable of betraying me.” Ivan says, “and that’s why she married Mauricio? Because of a little misunderstanding with you? Diego says he doesn’t want to argue with Ivan. He changes the subject. What are you going to do when you’ve healed? That’s easy. Avenge the death of Eva. Diego nods.

Mo asks Azul if she has realized that when Diego realizes that she is with him, that Diego will try to harm them. Azul says yes. Mo then moves in for the kill. Now that there are no longer obstacles between them, they can achieve “total union.” (No more, I’ll wait till you’re ready missy, it’s time to prove your love to me in the sack.) He pushes her to the bed and sucks her face. She lies there like a corpse. Azul begs him to stop. She’s not in the mood. She wants him to honor the prior agreement.

Diego tells Ivan that they ought to be allies in the fight to bring down Mo and Boris. For him, it’s the only way to get Azul back forever. Ivan says that he doesn’t need him. Diego says that well, he should hurry up and get well so that he can leave soon so that he doesn’t incriminate Silvana. Ivan sits up suddenly.

Next we’re over to Piero who is at the office with Lucia. Lucia’s ticked because he’s been AWOL. She reminds him that she’s the boss. The business belongs to her. He can’t just take off. Piero says that he went to get the paperwork for divorcing Lidia. Lucia stops in her tracks. He hands her the papers. He got the marriage certificate and all the paperwork. All he has to do is hand it into a lawyer and then get Lidia to sign it. Lucia opens the envelope and reads the papers. She says that it’s a good beginning. But she wants him to hand over the handling of the divorce to her.

Efrain has brought the car guy to Diego’s house. Lidia’s there and of course he’s gaga over her. He can’t believe the luck that she’s the sister of the guy who has the missing car. Lidia is rude to him and he says now just wait a second here, missy. “Your little brother took a car belonging to one of my clients.“ Efrain cuts in to explain that there’s a problem, they need to talk to Diego. Lidia tells them that she has no idea where Diego is. Just then, who should happen by but Manuel. To catch him up, Lida announces that Diego took his car to kidnap Azul. The guy gets furious with Efrain when he learns that the car may have been used to commit a crime.
As Casa Silvana, Isela is now sitting on the crying couch and Silvana is telling her her tale of woe. She’s lost Diego forever. Gloria comes in. She’s jealous that Isela and Silvana were chatting up a storm only to shut up the minute she came in. But no worries. She’s going to go see “her spy.” She’s brought him some fashion magazines so that he won’t get too bored. Silvana tells her to stop. She tells her that he’s busy. Gloria laughs this off and says, how could he be busy, when he’s just lying there like a sack, in bed. Gloria complains that they are hiding something . Just then, Diego comes out with Ivan, leaning on him heavily. Diego announces that he’s taking Ivan with him. He doesn’t want to cause them any problems. Gloria refuses to let him go. The women block their way. They want to know where he is taking him. Ivan says he wants to go. Blah Blah Blah. Diego tries to make a compromise. He’ll take Ivan in the morning. Ivan looks disgusted but heads back to the room.

Azul is finally catching up with Ceci. Ceci tells her that she’s glad to see her back. And she wants to know EVERYTHING. Especially if it is true that she defended Diego with the authorities. Azul says, yes and she paid for it, with Mo’s fury. Ceci said that Andres said the opposite. Azul says “then Andres lied.” Ceci tells her about how Andres and Mo grabbed up Efrain and beat him up to tell them where the shack was where Diego was keeping her. Azul sighs. All the time she’s looking over her shoulder. She says that everything she’s finding out is proving that Diego told the truth. Mo is a liar. He tried to make me believe that Silvana--dicho alert: “nos echo de cabeza”—I think means “betrayed us.” The truth is that he and Andres are a couple of criminals. Ceci wants to know what Diego told her. Azul tells her that Diego is convinced that Andres killed his Abuelo and Paco. Ceci looks uncomfortable and says quietly, please don’t say that! It can’t be. She puts her head in her hands. Azul says she know’s it’s hard for her to hear. She felt the same way when she thought Diego was a criminal. She couldn’t stop loving him. She suffered a lot. Ceci whimpers that she thought she had found the love of her life. “I can’t believe it.” A tear wells up in her eye. Azul says “Now that you know, you’ve got to take precautions.” “Help me find the truth and follow it through to the end.” Ceci wants to know what this means. Azul says that she believes Diego. Ceci wants to know if he showed her proof. Azul says no, but that is why she came back, to find it. Ceci breaks down in tears. “This is a nightmare!” she says. Azul tries to comfort her. Ceci says, “you don’t know, I already have my own suspicions.” Azul wants to know more about that. Ceci tells her about Leonarda’s supposed trip abroad without clothes, makeup, perfume or her passport. Azul looks shocked. Could they have”done something bad” to Leonarda? Ceci doesn’t know but it certainly is strange. Azul counsels her to keep a cool head. They have to stay calm. Ceci is anything but. She tells her she needs to know, she HAS to know. Azul tells her under no circumstances take any of her suspicions to Andres. She tells her that she loves Diego with all her heart and she wants nothing more than to go to him. But she wishes that it were under different circumstances. Different than her husband, and the father of Katy, is a murder. Ceci says she wishes that all of these suspicions were untrue. Azul tells her that they will only know by trying to find out. “We have to stay strong and united.” Ceci smiles and says that Azul is the family she never had. She wipes the tears out of her eyes. Ceci asks her for what must have been the only good part of the kidnapping…the sex! “So did you sleep with Diego?” She laughs with tears still in her eyes. Azul smiles.

Andres and Mo are back at Mo’s office, talking. Andres tells Mo that he barely was able to convince Ceci about why Efrain got a beating (supposedly self-defense). Mo compliments him on this. He’s still ticked that Diego told Azul that he (Andres) had killed his Abuelo and Paco. This is news to Andres. He freaks out. Azul is going to tell Ceci! He stands up. Mo tells him to calm down and sit. Diego also told her about how he plans to infect other people with his illness and sell the cure. Andres is even more shocked. “We’re lost. They know everything.” Mo says he isn’t sure but Azul told him that she thinks Diego is crazy and she didn’t believe him. Andres says, so why did she defend him them? Mo says that’s why he wanted to talk to him. He isn’t sure about what she’s doing. If he can trust her. If she’s trying to entrap him, she’s the one who is going to end up a prisoner. For the moment, they will have to be very careful. Neither Azul nor Cecilia must hear anything odd that might make them suspicious. Andres says, no worries. He knows how to handle Cecilia. “And you, what are you going to do?” Mo says, he also knows what to do. He’s going to make her love him again.

Diego, Chucho, Gaspar and Efrain are all eating at Efrain’s house. (What happened to the car guy?) Gaspar is relating how he braved the evil Andres at the boutique. Gaspar swears that Andres will never touch his Dad again. Efrain tells him not to provoke Andres, that he’s a dangerous guy. Gaspar says that since Cecilia was there, he felt safe. Andres wouldn’t do anything to him because he knows that he’d go to Ceci and tell her. Efrain says he feels sorry for her, tied to somebody like that. Gaspar points out that Azul is in a similar situation. Diego agrees and says that very soon they will be freed from these [couldn’t make it out] bad guys. Gaspar mentions the guy looking for his client’s car. Efrain groans and repeats the story. He says that he begged the guy for one more day. Diego says he’ll give him the car back as soon as he deposit’s Ivan at his new hideout. Efrain asks what is his relationship to Ivan. Diego says nothing really. He wanted to have him as an ally in the fight against Mo, but Ivan wants to work alone.

Ceci and Azul are still chatting. Azul relates how at first, all she and Diego did was fight. But the location was romatic, the beach, the sound of the sea. Finally, they talked. Azul shows her the slip dress and the bodice of that Mo brought back. Ceci asks if Mo found them together. Azul says no. In the background, we see Mo spying at the partly opened door. She says that everything is worse now. Mo is jealous, imaging what happened between her and Diego. Ceci says that from her face, she doesn’t have to be that imaginative to guess what happened. Azul, holding the piece of dress to her face, says that it was the most beautiful time she ever had in her life. Mo is in shadow so we have to guess what he heard and what he’s thinking.
That night, Mo is asleep, alone in his bed, wearing old man PJs. (What is it with these guys?) he’s having a nightmare. He wakes up in a sweat and has an orange flashback of finding the piece of the dress in the bed in the Love Shack. Next he has an orange flashback of Azul holding the piece of the dress and saying it was the most beautiful time she ever had. Mo hisses to himself that for sure Azul and Diego slept together. He curses Diego and Azul.

The next morning Isela and Silvana are eating breakfast and Gloria is dressed like she’s going on a workout. Gloria laments that things won’t be the same around there without the spy. She announces that she’s bound for her kickboxing class and she’s out the door. Isela and Silvana laugh. Isela says that her mom’s attitude isn’t all that bad. Silvana agrees. She changes the subject to Diego. If he succeeds in convincing Azul that Mo is a murderer, she’ll lose Diego forever. And if he doesn’t, Nico won’t get justice. “Which would you prefer?” asks Isela. “I want justice for my Nico” says Silvana. “But I want Diego too. I still love him.” Isela tries to comfort her.

Mo in his PJs walks into Azul’s room. He sees an empty bed, with the piece of dress on it. He’s livid. He hears the water running. Azul’s in the shower. He is about to walk into the bathroom when Ceci walks in with a glass of orange juice and comments the obvious, that Azul’s in the shower. Mo gets all pissy and complains that Azul is his wife, he could just go and hop right in the shower with her, if he wanted to. Ceci says no worries but she doesn’t leave. Instead, Mo leaves, angry. Ceci’s brought the juice for Azul. She grabs a towel for her and tells her she’d better lock the door because there are a lot of stray dogs(?) running around. She just caught Mo about to crash her shower. Azul is worried. Last night he wanted to sleep with her and she wouldn’t. Ceci says that she can’t keep putting him off. If she’s going to be his wife and get him to trust her so that she can unmask him, she’s going to have to sleep with him. Azul shivers in her towel. Ceci says that having separate beds is strange.

Diego has taken Ivan, at his request to a field. When he asks him why he wanted to come here, Ivan replies that this was the last place that he took Eva, before she died. When they were on the way to Cocoyoco, she made him stop and she thanked him for helping her. Ivan thinks that she had a presentment of her death. Ivan hands Diego a letter. It was Eva’s last request. Diego wants to know what it is, the deed to half the boutique? He tries to give it back to Ivan. Ivan refuses it. It was Eva’s wish that he have it. He tells him to read it. “It will answer all his questions.” Diego still doesn’t want it. Ivan tells him to remember that it’s the last wish of a woman who loved him until her dying breath. Diego, ever the romantic, wrinkles his nose and seems to accept this.

-----Tivo cuts off here------

Labels: amar

Is anyone out there watching Pecados Ajenos on Telemundo?

Labels: telemundo

I’m excited to hear that Pasion is starting soon, I’ll be moving over to that on Fridays, so looks like I’m into my last couple weeks doing Amar Fridays here. I really want this show to end, but I’ve been watching it long enough that I want to know what happens.

I always catch the ‘tomorrow on Juan Q’ bit at the beginning of my recording, why don’t we have anybody on Amar like whoever that lead actress is? Super tight clothes, mega cleavage, that’s what Amar is missing. Big time. I know you ladies get your Andres fix and all that but there has to be at least a few men watching besides me that wouldn’t mind some babe like that on the show.

I’ll skip anything that was a repeat from Wednesday and get to the new stuff –

Mo instructs Andres to go to Casa Moran to stake it out for Diego and Azul.

Diego is there already it turns out. He tries explaining things to his mom, Manuel interrupts and says “yeah yeah that’s great Diego nice work” in a very sarcastic voice. Lidia piles on too, about how he made Clemencia worry. Cops arrive, they arrest Diego. As they are carting him off, Azul comes out of the back room and tells them to leave him alone. She tells the cops that she ran off with Diego willingly. She exchanges a mushy look with Diego. Barf whatever.

Katy tells Ceci that Mo left to find Azul, for some reason that makes Ceci somewhat impactada.

The cops say that Azul has to provide a written declaration to free Diego. Clemi tells Manuel to go with Diego and help him. He acts like an ass and says he won’t go. Clemi yells at him and he finally goes, obviously against his will.

Katy wants to wear her princess dress to be beautiful for Azul when she returns. Ceci tries to call Andres but can’t get him. She asks Chonita more questions about Leo. Chonita agrees that the whole thing with Leo is very strange.

Gaspar tells someone on the phone that he doesn’t know anything about Efrain, who then walks in looking like hell. He tells Gaspar and Chucho what happened. He says they got to the cabin and Mo went nuts because there was only one bed and it looked used.

Diego tells Azul not to lie for him and cause problems for herself. Gee what a swell guy. They hug, then Mo walks in just then to yell at Diego to ‘get your hands off my woman!’

Commercial for Pasion – coming soon!

Mo tries to attack Diego but is held back by Azul of all people, weak diseased Azul.

Gaspar and Chucho are aghast at what happened. Efrain tells them that apparently the cops have located Diego already.

Mo is now held back by cops. Azul tells Mo to listen to her. Mo starts yelling, some guy comes in and tells them all to shut up.

Anibal comes to see Clemencia, Lidia leaves them alone. She says Diego showed up and got arrested. He wants to comfort her but doesn’t want to act inappropriately. She says Diego did it for love, Anibal says he could tell Diego loved Azul. Anibal tries to calm her down, she rambles on and on. Anibal says he’ll ask his lawyer friend to help Diego. Clemencia is very very grateful and kisses his hand.

Mo is now hugging Azul, which aggravates Diego, who is now behind bars. She tells Mo that Diego didn’t hurt her. Mo issues some threats to Diego. He says criminals deserve punishment, Diego says they don’t all get punished, just look at Mo himself walking free! He calls Mo an idiot for good measure, which sends Mo into a rage again. Mo has mastered the whole “I’m gonna pretend to come after you, but slowly, so somebody will come stop me first, then I’ll act like they’re holding me back” move. He turns and yells, when some cop comes to get in his way, THEN he lunges towards Diego. Diego tells him to bring it on. Manuel shows up then, and proceeds to yell at Diego and tell him he owes Mo an apology. Diego can’t believe it, but he hasn’t been watching this show to see what an ass his father has become. Mo asks Manuel, “and who asked you anyway?” Diego says he’ll never apologize, then loudly declares his love for Azul.

Chucho leaves Efrain’s place, some other guy arrives to pick up his car. Efrain nervously pushes him away and shuts the door, I guess it was that guy’s car that Diego ‘borrowed’ to take Azul to the beach.

Ceci flounces into some lounge area and tells Gaspar, who is very snippy with her, that Azul has appeared and she was making calls, which Julio didn’t like, etc etc. Gaspar snaps at her about her ‘gorilla’ of a boyfriend. He tells Ceci how Andres punched his father, Efrain. Ceci is impactada. Gaspar says sorry to tell you this, but if there are any criminals around, they are Mo and Andres. Ceci doesn’t know what to say.

Azul sits about five feet away from Diego’s cell to tell the cop what happened. At least, the version she wants to tell. Diego moves over and argues with his father, who if I haven’t mentioned, is an ass. Anibal shows up with his lawyer friend. Manuel isn’t pleased to see him.

GSD and Emilia arrive at Juilio/Arny’s place to catch up on news.

Azul finishes up her declaration. Mo overhears the part where she left willingly and freaks out, yelling at her and shaking a fist.

Ha a commercial for La Parodia with them all dressed up like the Juan Q cast, great curly mullet on whoever is supposed to be Juan.

Mo continues to freak out. Azul tells him that this is the truth. The police guy says that false testimony is also a crime. Azul says she knows, but she went with Diego willingly. Mo yells that Diego ruined their wedding, Azul says AGAIN that she wasn’t kidnapped. What legal system would allow Mo to stand there and treaten her like that? Cripes. Oh yeah the Novela ™ Legal System, where you only sometimes get arrested even when you kill people. Mo even grabs Azul and shakes her, finally the cop tells him to leave her alone and let her say what she has to say. Nobody actually moves forward to stop him, they just tell him “hey dude stop.” They tell Mo to wait outside. Mo looks constipated and leaves the room. Diego feels pretty good about himself right now and stares at Azul.

Outside, Mo rants and Andres says obviously Diego and Azul are hittin’ the skins, all the evidence says so. Mo says no way, she is mine, legally she is mine. He is in deep denial here. Andres says come on dude it’s the only explanation. Mo swears to kill Diego.

Isela tells Silvana that the cops were looking for Diego. Silvana says she needs to warn Efrian. These two are a full day behind I think. They also sound like they are arguing, but I can’t tell if they are or not. Isela seems a bit put out that Silvana didn’t tell her everything she knew about the great wedding escape but that’s all I can figure. Isela says that Silvana is taking a great risk for Diego, who might have forgotten her anyway, keeping Ivan here, Silvana says she didn’t do anything wrong, just given a place to stay for some guy as a favor for a friend. Normally I’d say ‘yeah right’ but after what I just saw at the police station, it might work as an excuse. They go on about Diego, who is already out of trouble.

Julio, Arny, GSD, Emilia go on about everything. GSD says Diego better not have hurt Azul. Oh Ines is there too, and it comes out that they all know about Azul being infected. I guess they are worried about that, except for GSD who should be somewhere working on a cure but is smoking instead. Ines says that if Azul knew she was terminal, she could decide how to live out her days how she wants to. GSD thinks that if she knew, she might give up and die, as some terminal patients do. Emilia explains this to everyone as if they were 5 years old. GSD asks all of them to help him make Azul happy for the rest of her life, because they don’t know how long she’ll live. Has he given up on a cure?

Azul finishes up her work and turns to Diego, they stare at each other. I like Azul’s hoochie wedding dress, but it still doesn’t hold up to what I was talking about earlier with the woman from Juan Q. Mo storms back in and grabs Azul and drags her out of the police station, nobody stops them. I guess because she is legally ‘his property.’ Whatever.

Julio thanks GSD for including him in the family discussion. GSD says he isn’t perfect but he loves his kids and will try and respect what they do. Something like that. They go on about that for a while, boring. Yeah you are a bigot and don’t like your son getting naked with men, we get it. Julio pledges money to help GSD in hospitals and whatever for his sick family, but also for his investigation for a cure. GSD actually thanks him by hugging him, metiches Arny and Emilia watch and smile.

Haaa a commercial for La Familia Peluche with Omar Carvajal from La Fea, just seeing him with a moustache and a big fur suit is hilarious.

GSD et al have coffee and chat. Julio volunteers to take Ines to her physical therapy. GSD AGAIN says he doesn’t agree with the butt loving with Arny and Julio but says Julio is all right.

Mo yells at Azul. Azul says she let Diego off the hook so that Diego’s poor mother doesn’t have a heart attack. Mo wants to know what happened at the cabin. Silvana happens to arrive then with Efrain, Gaspar, and Chucho. Mo says he knows what side Silvana is on, based on who she showed up with. He says she can’t see Katy any more. Well Duh.

GSD and Emilia discuss his gay son some more. Again. Now Emilia says he did all he could as a father. Um, no, he didn’t, he acted like a bigoted ass.

Silvana listens in on Diego’s declaration, he is saying he did it all himself, nobody helped him. Wow it’s easy to get people off the hook in Mexico. Or at least in Novela Mexico. Diego gets up and exchanges a sour look with Silvana.

Clemi thinks it’s good that Azul set Diego free, Lidia thinks Azul is still a bitch. I don’t care what Lidia says after making such a mess of her own life. Piero shows up and argues with Lidia. He tells her that Lucia won’t give him any money unless he divorces Lidia.

Good commercials today, now we see the lovely Paty Manterola on a Destilando Amor ad. She’s crying, so that’s no good. I’ll make you feel better Paty. Oh wait I’m married no I won’t forget I said that. Ultimos Capitulos. It’s apparent that Pasion will be filling the Destilando time slot.

Andres drives Mo and Azul like a chauffer, Mo explains how Silvana had been visiting Katy.

Efrain, Silvana, Gaspar, and Chucho discuss with Diego what all happened RIGHT IN THE POLICE STATION. Diego just finished saying that he didn’t have any accomplices, then they all discuss ‘I did this’ and ‘I did that’ right there in the room. Idiots. They all thank each other for their help. Chucho wants to know what happened with Azul, Silvana turns away. Diego plays down all the lovin.

Piero says he’ll be deported if Lidia doesn’t divorce him and let him marry Lucia, ‘so then we can be together.’ Whatever. Let him get shipped out. She thinks he really wants to be divorced (of course) but he denies it, just that he needs to to stay in the country.

Lidia goes back upstairs and tells Clemencia that Piero wants to get together and Clemi blows up. Lidia lies to Clemi and says that she asked Piero for a divorce. What a player Lidia is. Clemi gives her the ‘there’s someone out there for you’ speech.

Mo and Azul arrive at Julio’s place. They are all amazed at the news that Azul let Diego off the hook. Azul looks worried, like they’ll all turn on here and beat her to death or something. She tells Mo she already explained, he says to tell the rest of them, so she tells the same story about Diego’s mom. She says Diego just wanted to talk, Arny says what a way to talk. They all talk at the same time. GSD says Eva did die in an explosion but Diego was part of her team. Azul says yeah she knows. She is saying whatever she has to say to shut them up.

Outside, the lawyer says that Diego is off the hook for kidnapping, but he still stole a car and committed assault. For those crimes he’ll have to pay a hefty fine. Manuel the ass says ‘well we don’t have any money.” Silvana pipes up that she has a little money. What a sucker. Chucho says he does too. Anibal says no, he will handle the money, to which Manuel the ass says ‘oh how generous.’ Diego vows to pay him back, then Chucho drops the news that Julio fired them from the boutique. Diego flashes back to Azul telling him that Eva bought half the boutique for Diego. Back in the present, Diego says “we’ll see if Julio has the right to fire me.”

Monday – Gaspar yells at Andres for hitting his father, Mo acts like a real ass to Katy, the guy whose car Diego ran off with shows up looking for it. Also, Mo yells at Azul some more.

Labels: amar

Since our blog mom posted the synopsis I thought it only fair to post the character photos and profiles...thank you to the good people at esmas.com

UPDATE: see below the Marycelis list for the January 2008 additions by Captain J.R.!!!!

Since our blog mom posted the synopsis I thought it only fair to post the character photos and profiles...thank you to the good people at esmas.com

UPDATE: see below the Marycelis list for the January 2008 additions by Captain J.R.!!!!

RICARDO DE SALAMANCA Y ALMONTE
Son of Mercedes Almonte and Pedro de Salamanca. He is educated, speaks various languages and has good manners. At 18 years old he was accused of a crime he didn’t commit and united with the English pirates. He is brave, daring and an expert in handling of weapons. His misfortune has hardened him, but its soul is noble. He loves his mother and protects his blind cousin, Lisabeta, for whom he feels great compassion.
CAMILA DARIÉN
She is the daughter of Justo Darién and sister of Vasco and Rita. She is happy intelligent and with character. She’s always ready to help her neighbor. She is a hard worker, loyal and generous. She presents a strong face against adversity and later will cry in private. Loves and defends her family and she doesn’t give in to injustice.

SANTIAGO MÁRQUEZ
Natural son of Jorge Mancera y Ruiz. He his handsome, strong, tender and has a good heart, loved and respected by the town for his good judgment and role as a conciliator. When Jorge gives him his last name his attitude changes and his new position makes him vain, however deep inside remain the values that his mother taught him.

JORGE MANCERA Y RUÍZ
Master of the place. Husband of Sofía and father of Úrsula. His family received from the king from Spain the commission of those lands. He is the absolute master of the lives and the goods of the villagers, he charges taxes, he gives 'justice', he offers and he removes privileges. He does not have scruples and he obtains whichever woman draws his fancy. When he finds out that Santiago is his son, he gives his surname and begins to drag him into his life of dissipation (this is probably wrong translation).


ÚRSULA MANCERA Y RUIZ MENDOZA
Daughter of Sofía and Jorge. Widow of authoritarian and capricious character, with a 7 year old daughter, Tita, whom she ignores completely. Úrsula is very easy (ligera de cascos), and likes young, good-looking, and strong men. She married very young with an older man gave thanks to God the day when her husband died. She takes for a lover Vasco, the brother of Camila, but upon knowing Ricardo insists in having him.

SOFÍA MENDOZA DE MANCERA Y RUIZ
Wife of Jorge, mother of Úrsula and grandmother of Tita. She married Jorge because of an arrangement among families. When she discovered who he really was, she began to was he really, began to detest him. She does not approve of the way Úrsula is and says so. She is hard and kind at the same time. She feels more at home with the people of the town than with her husband’s friends.


LISABETA DE SALAMANCA
Daughter of Timoteo and niece of Francisca. She has been blind ever since she was 10 years old. Due to the contempt of her father, she takes refuge with Francisca. She is very intelligent. Her smooth nature hides a determined character. She lives to inspire pity and manipulates others to her advantage. She loves her cousin Ricardo and is terribly possessive. She doesn’t care if he has lovers but is not willing to permit him a wife


JUSTO DARIÉN
Father of Camila, Vasco and Rita. He is the owner of the mill and of the town’s warehouse, he is a patient, just, good man and respected by all. He is affectionate with his daughters, especially with Camila. He knows his son’s defects about his son, but his fatherly love always conquers him. His friendship with Sofía, whom he helps in his charitable deeds, has been transformed into an impossible, quiet, but deep love.

ALBERTO LAFONT Y ESPINOZA
Friend, administrator and right hand of Jorge. He is distinguished, cultured and elegant. He has enlarged his riches by abusing the confidence of his boss. Cynical and without scruples, he executes the misdeeds of Jorge, who he guesses his thoughts. He is a widower and has a daughter, Manuela, which he treats with hardness. He tries to be aware of everything that happens in the region and utilizes this information to his convenience.


FRANCISCA DE SALAMANCA
Sister of Timoteo. Aunt of Ricardo and Lisabeta. An old maid with a bitter and rigid attitude that has always lived in the shadow and the charity of her brother Timoteo, has taken care of Lisabeta practically since she was born and is her confidant, counselor and accomplice. Although she knows that her niece loves Ricardo, she does not want that her to marry neither with him or anybody nobody, because she will not accept losing her.


OFELIA MÁRQUEZ
Mother of Santiago and Inés. She is the obstetrician, faith healer and seamstress of the town, is beloved and respected by all. She is a mother that protects and defends her children to the last consequences, willing to die or to kill for them. When Jorge was very young he took advantage of her, but she never said it. She became pregnant and married the blacksmith of the town, who accepted Santiago as his legitimate son.

MARIO
Nobody knows if this is his true name. He is the second in command and right-hand man of Ricardo. Mario is a skilled mariner, adventurous, coarse, not afraid to speak his mind, with a touch a humor. He is loyal and at times dreams of finding a woman and settle down but as he himself is described, is a sea dog.

---

UPDATE January 2008: Here is Captain J.R.'s cast list for Pasión:

Cast List (con nombres de personajes):

Daniela Castro - Lisabeta de Salamanca (blind since age 10, Timoteo's daughter, Ricardo's cousin, Francisca's niece)

Gabriela Rivero - Fortunata (town social butterfly)

Maya Rivero - Tita (Ursula's daughter, Sofia and Jorge's granddaughter)

Rocio Banquells (Cantando por un Sueno) - Ofelia Marquez (Santiago y Ines' mother)

Juan Ferrera (REBELDE) - Jorge Mancera y Ruiz (villain, fuedal lord, Sofia's husband, father of Ursula)

Fernando Colunga (NTO, NSF, LU, MLDB, AR, Alborada, etc.) - Ricardo de Salamanca y Almonte/Ricardo Lopez de Carvajal/el Antillano (pirate by circumstance, lord by birth, the principal hero)

Emoe de la Parra (Alondra) - Mercedes, Ricardo's mom

Alejandro Felipe (AR, Alborada) - Paco, Vasco's son

Susana Gonzalez (EEAYEO, ANTP, S.O.S.) - Camila Darien (principal heroine; sister of Vasco and Rita, daughter of Justo)

Luis Jose Santander (LdA, IdT) - John Foreman, Rico's pirate boss

Alberto Estrella (EEAYEO) - Mario, Ricardo's pirate mate and best friend

Sebastian Rulli (MdF) - Santiago Marquez, blacksmith, in love with Cami, married to Rita, son of Ofelia, brother of Ines

William Levy (Acorralada) - Vasco, "don juan" womanizer, brother of Camila and Rita, son of Justo, father of Paco

German Robles (Alondra) - Timoteo de Salamanca (brother of Francisca, father of Lisabeta, uncle of Ricardo)

Maty Huitron (LdA) - Francisca de Salamanca (Timoteo's sister, Lisabeta and Ricardo's aunt)

Kika Edgar (AR) - Ines Marquez (Ofelia's daughter, Santiago's sister)

José Elías Moreno (HdA) - Alberto LaFont y Espinoza (friend, administrator and right-hand of Jorge, father of Manuela)

Anais (HOY, special role LFMB) - Manuela (daughter of Alberto)

Maya Mishalska (AR) - Ursula Mancera y Ruiz Mendoza (Sofia and Jorge's daughter, Tita's mother)

Marisol del Olmo - Jimena (Camila's best friend)

Mariana Karr (Alborada) - Sofia Mendoza de Mancera y Ruiz (Jorge's wife, Ursula's mom, Tita's grandma)

Raymundo Capetillo - Justo Darien (father of Vasco, Rita and Camila)

Maite Embil - Rita (sister of Vasco and Camila, daughter of Justo)

Arturo Vasquez (Alborada) - Pablo (Rico's pirate mate, headquartered at La Iguana)

Carlos Lopez Estrada - Claudio (Angel's brother, Don Alvaro's cousin)

Marcelo Cordoba (Alborada, ASL) - Ascanio (Camila's friend, Timoteo's butler)

Antonio Brenan - Crispin (twin- brown apron, assistant in blacksmith shop)

Jorge Brenan - Pancho (twin - dark blue apron, assistant in blacksmith shop)

To~o Infante - Gonzalo, one of Jorge's drunk, shameless friends

Tina Romero (AMF) - Faustina, Ofelia's sister

Isela Vega - la Paisana, female pirate

Eric del Castillo (El Mentira, NTO, MdF)- Don
Gaspar, high priest at La Mariana Island church, Rico's godfather

Rafael Inclan - Mahias, the gypsy peddler

Joshio - el Chino, the chinese pirate

Alejandro Avila - Juancho, the land pirate

Sheyla (MdF, Cantando por un sueno) - opera singer, La Mariana island

Olivia Gorra (la soprano) - opera singer, San Fernando Valley

Jorge Trejo (Amy, Navidad Sin Fin) - Angel Fernandez de la Cueva, brother of
Claudio, cousin of Don Alvaro

To~o Mauri (AMF, IdT) - Don Alvaro Fernandez de la Cueva, cousin/step-father to Claudio and Angel

Hugo Macias Macotela - Marcelino, Don Jorge's administrator

Evelyn Solares - Agata

Paco Iba~ez - pirate

Chao - Enrique

Andres Zuno - Bernadet

Iliana de la Garza - Cleotilde (Camila's gossiping maid)

Jose Antonio Baron - Agustin

Martin Ferro - Mateo, a drunk, senseless friend of Don Jorge

Rocio Gallardo - Nicefora

Xorge Noble - Bermejo (La Mariana Island slave auctioneer)

Oscar Ortiz de Pinedo - Salvador

Luis Reynoso - pirate

Cast List (still with character names TBA):
Aurora Clavel (AMF)
Conrado Osorio

Labels: Pasion, synopsis-cast

As senior recapper I'm taking "first-night rights" since Jardinera can't - she says the show is starting December 3 - and I'm also presenting your Esmas sinopsis, translated, below.

FYI: At the Esmas Pasion site I found this ridiculous flashscreen of our heroine rising out of a clamshell like Dorothy Lamour wearing a strategically abbreviated satin evening gown.

Labels: Pasion, synopsis-cast

Dear Readers: Mil disculpas in advance because I’m giving you a slightly irregular recap tonight. I’m going out on travel for the next two weeks, half for business and half family visit. I’ll be reading, though, so I can keep up. Cheryl NM will be your sub, so thank in advance, Cheryl!

Poor Delirio, he don’t get no respect. No respect at all. He’s still in that elevator with Pastor and Ivonne behind him, and Pastor is commenting on how he’ll have to tell her more later because of the undesirables on the elevators. What’s more, it’s smelling pretty bad in this elevator, so he’ll have to get a memo sent out about bathing daily to all the staff, though he knows how much work it is for some of them. Delirio alternately rolls and closes his eyes and does his level best to ignore while Ivonne tries hard not to bust out laughing. Oops, too late. She’s busting out. The bell rings and she leaves, then Pastor shoves Delirio aside with a snide comment and leaves.

CL is at his slick best as he tells Paula she’s hallucinating. She’s the one who told him to quit pressuring him, poor schlep that he is. But, since when has he paid any attention to what she’s told him? He asks her permission to tell her she’s insufferable. [You don’t need hers, CL—you have ours.] They just need to stop talking, he thinks. They fuss a while, and then she escalates to screeching. Our suave CL keeps his cool. [He’s a pro, Paula, why are you working so hard at this?] He tells her she’s upset, and saying things he doesn’t like. Well, she’s saved the best for last. It’s best if they break up, forever. CL sighs, hangs his head mournfully, and generally gives an Emmy-worthy performance. That’s best, he thinks. They’ll do it her way. It’s pretty clear she can’t handle this situation. [Not his fault, por supuesto.] So, she’s right, they have to take radical measures. They agree it’s best for everyone and bid each other goodbye. CL turns toward the door and turns back (sort of like Columbo, the funky detective who always has one more innocuous question that trips up the killer later). He’s hoping this won’t affect the work. He wouldn’t, for example, like to find her fourth letter of resignation on his desk tomorrow. No, this ain’t gonna happen, she assures him with a pasted-on smile. Good. He leaves, and Paula picks up her desk blotter and throws it around a little, muttering about CL. He stands outside and throws a kiss to heaven, congratulating himself on this coup. Paula realizes she could have made a strategic error. [Ya think?]

Yadi is sitting in the living room, enjoying the day like any stay-at-home leech. She answers the phone and Gutis asks who he’s speaking with. Yadi wants to know who he wanted. He realizes it’s his quarry and says her name. He stammers and stutters and tells her it’s him. Bored, she asks how it’s going. It’s bad and it doesn’t please him a bit. She tells him Perafán is at the office. He wants to talk to her, though, because he’s heard she’s getting married. He wants to know if it’s true or not because he thinks that cockroach Perafán invented it. Gutis figured her for a decent girl who wouldn’t have to get married. She fusses at him and tells him not to bother her. He just still hopes he can convince her not to make a mistake. Yadi is incensed and hangs up. Wow, what timing, Mami’s getting home! Yadi is thrilled to see her. Nidia is not her usual bouncy self. Yadi wants to know if she gave out all the invites to the wedding, how’d it go? Nidia tells her “more or less.” Yadi knows something’s up here. The phone rings, and Nidia wants to know why she’s not answering. Yadi says she knows who it is, and asks her Mamá guess who it is. Nidia’s not for guessing games; she has a headache. What’s more, if it’s for her, she’s gone. The phone keeps ringing and Nidia goes upstairs, with Yadi trying to get her to talk. Later! Yadi is puzzled and the phone rings on….

Nidia sits down on the side of the bed, looking like she’s seen a ghost. [Well, she actually has. The ghost of Christmas Past, who may have left her a gift?] She remembers bumping into Angarita and looks like she’s close to tears.

Juan and Fern are discussing the bar for Kike’s wedding. It’s a special day, and Kike should have the best, Juan tells Fern. Nope, Fern tells him, half beer and half tequila. He’s adamant. Juan accuses him of being a skinflint (codo-stingy, from Sylvia’s list today), and Fern reminds Juan that Fern always ends up paying. Suddenly there’s CL, bright-eyed and busy-tailed, greeting Juan warmly. Juan is puzzled. He greets CL, and asks how’s it going. Never better, CL tells him with a wide smile. CL goes off and the smile turns to a disgusted scowl; Juan is just perplexed. He thought bubbles about the conversation, which doesn’t please him the least bit. Something’s fishy.

Kike runs up and asks how it’s going. They have to go to night school. Juan points out he has to wait for the Licenciada, what can he do if she hasn’t come down? Kike thinks Juan should ask her, otherwise he’ll have to go alone. Juan tells him to calm down and goes to ask.

Yadi is still sitting in the living room, waiting for whatever, when Marely gets home from work. She tells Marely she’s been waiting for her. Marely wants to know why. Yadi asks about Mami’s visit to the office; she came home muy strange and is now closed up in her room. Marely tells her about the guy Mami saw, and how Mami said she owes the guy money. Mami lost all her color when she saw him! Yadi isn’t buying it since they seem to have plenty from Papi’s inheritance. Marely thinks it could be, and explains that she thinks they’re living on Juan’s, hers and Delirio’s salaries. Now it’s all catching up with Nidia. Who knows who she got mixed up with and now has to pay the consequences, Marely tells Yadi. This guy came looking for her at the office. [Marely, honey, for a smart girl you aren’t thinking clearly on this.] Yadi doesn’t think this is it. She has a gut feeling (intuition) about it. She can’t say why, but it’s not a money problem; it’s just a hunch (corozonada) that Yadi has.

Juan bounds off the elevator, thought bubbling about how he needs to get to school on time. But, he’s about to be surprised. Paula looks disgusted to see him. Juan excuses the interruption but he wants to know how long she’ll be. He has class. She tells him to go to class, and she’ll take a taxi. He won’t hear it. He babbles on and she cuts him off and starts to screech. She tells him again to go to class. She wants to be calm, and be left alone. She especially doesn’t want to talk to him. He thought bubbles to himself about this turn of events, and tells her excuse me, but there’s no need talk to me like this. She yells at him, he’s just trying….she yells yet again and cuts him off. They fuss back and forth; she accuses him of playing the victim and he retorts that she can just stay with her venom and bitterness. She throws him out but tells him he has to stay until it suits her to come down to the garage and go home. He squares his jaw and tells her he’ll wait. Paula shakes her head as he leaves, like she’s not sure what she just did.

Juan goes back to the basement, where Kike waits nervously. Kike tells Juan let’s go, but Juan informs him that he can’t go until his boss decides to get her sorry okole down there to go. Juan is yelling up the stairs and Kike shushes him. Juan is not deterred and fusses about that woman. She’s just too high to deal with a lowly chauffeur. Kike reminds him they are friends. Juan says they WERE friends. He was necessary while she could use him, but when that’s done, there’s a dagger in the back. Kike tries to calm him and get Juan to explain what happened. Juan tells him nothing, except the Licenciada just made him remember the law of life, that she behaved like any big boss would with an overconfident (confianzudo) lowly chauffeur like him. The only person who lost his place was Juan. Kike looks mystified by this turn of events. Juan swallows hard. Real mean don’t cry.

Paula is still at work, and it’s dark outside. She’s talking to a doc on the phone, and finalizes an appointment for a consultation. Paula no sooner hangs up than her phone rings; it’s Ana, worried about her baby girl. Paula just says she’s awfully busy. Why? Ana wants to know if she should wait dinner for Paula. She says Paula should calm down, and Paula agrees; she’ll come home and they’ll talk. Ana’s happy.

Juan is still pacing the garage and stewing about the treatment Paula gave him, thought bubbling and scowling. Here he is, all overheated like a penguin in Acapulco. He’s confused and VERY angry. Could it be he’s lost all the ground he’s worked so hard to gain? Or, could he have miscalculated the real distance between him and her? What to do, what to do? Go into reverse? Nope. He’s not going to lost his dignity. Paula interrupts his reverie, polite for a refreshing change. She thought he’d gone to school. What? Didn’t she tell him to wait? But what about his class? He tells her that’s his problem (asunto mío, my business). They exchange chitchat, and Paula offers an apology. He tells her she doesn’t need to give explanations (and calls her Señorita). She’s frustrated and he thought bubbles about what she’s trying to do. It clearly won’t fly with him.

Kike is doing his level best to get Juan off the hook with the maestra, give him one more chance. She’s says Juan’s done well enough at times, but he’s not consistent. He didn’t leave her much latitude, though. Kike whines and begs prettily. [Does Juan have ANY idea how much he owes Kike? Probably not.] Okay, the maestra will listen to Juan, but no promises. Kike beams like a niño.

Juan lets Paula off at her home, going around the car and opening her door with military precision but no eye contact. She thanks him, and he tells her he’s at her orders. She’s going to take her own car in the morning, no need for him to come by for her. Whatever she’s arranged. She awkwardly tells him goodbye. He stands like a statue.

Later, at Ana’s and Paula’s dining room table, Paula tells Mami about her frustrations. In summary, she doesn’t understand men. [You could have asked any of us, we would have told you that around July 1]. Ana notes that she realizes this is the story of her life. But, has Paula ended everything with CL? Paula assures her mother she has. Period. Ana expresses her sorrow and Paula yells at her not to lie. They talk about Paula getting her calm back. [Just a thought: Paula’s usual “calm” has me convinced she took acting classes with Emilioooo. I’m just saying.] Paula hopes so because she doesn’t like the carousel of emotions. [Probably because you tend not to have any. Ever. Of course, emotions would give you frown lines.] Ana asks what about Juan. Paula sighs. It’s such a complicated topic. She tells Ana they had a little fight.

Kike tells Juan that finally, the teacher said she’ll listen to Juan. Judging by her tone of voice, she really wants to bounce you out (dar cuello-eliminate). Juan, who has always gotten by with his delightful looks and charming personality, is muy impactado.

Nidia is lying on her bed, breathing deeply as Yadi comes in to find her. Yadi strikes her pose with crossed arms and all, and wants to know who she ran into at Farell. Oh, you talked with your sister? Yup. She tells Mami that Marely related a strange story about Nidia running into someone she owed money to. It’s the truth, Nidia tells her. Yadi isn’t buying it. It may work for her clueless (pasmada - bewildered, astonished) sister, but not for Yadi. Nidia retorts and tries to divert Yadi’s attention—it’s all a drama with these girls, but Yadi won’t let her and wants to know again what’s going on. She pleads with Nidia to confide in her, trust her. Nidia looks startled and then resolute.

Juan and Kike are at the school, but out in the commons. Juan yells at Kike about the unfairness of it; Profesora Sabogal is bitter. He rails about the situation. Kike counsels him in how to behave. Juan will need to grovel and apologize. He fusses at Juan about how Juan’s fixation on the Licenciada has brought this about. Juan doesn’t want him to rub lemon in the wound. Kike talks at him some more, telling Juan he’s acting like a high school kid. Juan wants to know what he’s supposed to do now. Kike tells him to use his lip, and describes all Juan’s verbosity and charm working for him with the Profa. Juan’s not sure. He’s fed up with begging everyone.

Nidia wants Yadi to cease and desist. She owes a guy money, that’s it. Yadi scoffs. She tells Mami to watch out, she doesn’t know what mess Mami’s involved in, but watch herself. Nidia says nothing’s going to happen; she just needs to pay the guy and that’s that. Yadi wants to know about the wedding that Nidia’s putting on for her. Everyone’s going to wonder about the money Nidia had to make it happen. Nidia breaks the new gently to Yadi that they’ll need to make it a bit simpler. Yadi is totally incensed and they fuss about their vastly differing expectations for The Wedding. What, Nidia asks, you can’t tell me you didn’t suspect this? Nidia pontificates that marriage is a sacrament and the celebration is of lesser importance. Fat chance Yadi’s going for that. She’s feeling Deprived. Nidia tells her not to raise her voice to her mother. Yadi is righteously indignant because she Can’t Believe Her Mother Would Do This To Her. Her mother is going to have to do better than that (pasaste, from pasar, one meaning is do better than that.) Yadi runs out crying and slams the door.

Juan stands in his best Humble Stance, apologizing to the Profa. She is not interested and fusses at him. He tries to interrupt, but she tells him everyone has a special case. You think you’re the only one? They go back and forth and finally she hammers in the final blow; Why do you think students come at night? Because they have day jobs, and lots of them have children to boot. They work all day, leave the children at home and get to class on time so eventually they’ll have a better future. She tells him he’s lost out for this semester, not to stay for this period, and she doesn’t want to see him around these parts again. Juan is very, pero very, downcast.

Yadi isn’t sitting on a chair in the living room any more. She’s on the steps instead. Delirio greets her warmly, as always, as he comes in from work. She is not in the mood. There’s nothing good about the evening. She scathingly tells him to get Gutis off her case. Tell him not to call, not to look for me! Delirio tries to pacify her. He’s not in charge of this guy’s wishes. She yells that she doesn’t care how he does it, but he’d better convince this guy or he’ll have consequences. He’d better get this little problem resolved or she swears this house will become an inferno for him. What? More than it is? Yep, more! She calls him ridiculous old man and he mutters as she stalks off upstairs.

Soon after in the master bedroom, Delirio attempts to take control of his life by greeting Nidia. Since she’s lying on the bed with an eye mask, she’s not making eye contact. She doesn’t know what’s good about the evening, either. Delirio comments on the atmosphere in the house; it’s cloying. He tells her he had a problem with the daughter. Nidia takes the mask off and wants to know which daughter. This time it was Yadira, the epitome of feminine tenderness. He points out that her daughters don’t give him the least bit of respect. Nidia points out that respect has to be earned, it cannot be demanded. She asks him to respect her headache. He assures her with pleasure he’ll respect her headache, but who’s going to respect his heartache? Everyone in this house wounds his heart! Nidia gets up and goes to lock herself in the bathroom. Perhaps it has a loud fan.

Juan complains to Kike that everything is going badly for him. Kike tells him that it’s all because of his love for Paula. What good has it been for him to be at this woman’s back? Only for him to suffer. Juan argues there have been moments of great joy, lovely times. Kike points out they’ve been d*** few moments. Every time it hits Juan harder. Juan realizes he’s right. This woman has stolen all his joy. Kike wants to know why he doesn’t forget her once and for all. Let everything get back to normal in a flash (en un tris, in a moment). Juan reminds him of a talk they had one night (in a bar, IIRC) when Juan told Kike exactly these words and Kike told Juan that you can’t choose to love. Love comes when you least expect it, not according to a specific hour or date on a calendar. When you fall in love you become a slave. Kike tells Juan he’s right, and we hear Palomita in the background.

Fern is in a bar, asking the girl who’s tending the bar to call and ask for Nidia. Delirio answers the phone in his striped jammies with his socks on. The bartender asks as requested, and Delirio wants to know who’s calling. It’s a friend. Delirio tells her to hold on, because the Sra. is indisposed. [My hubby would just tell the caller I’m in the bathroom. That’s how deaf culture works.] He goes to call Nidia to the phone. Nidia wants to know who it is. “A friend (female).” Why, Nidia, were you expecting someone? The bartender hands Fern the phone. Nidia tap-dances her way through an awkward moment. Fern is puzzled, and irritated because they won’t see each other as planned. Nidia says goodbye in English with a “besote” (I kiss you). She looks sideways toward Delirio who is still standing, hands on hips, listening and watching suspiciously as she hangs up on a not-too-happy Fern. Delirio asks who it was. Nidia rolls her eyes and tells him it’s a lover of hers, calling from a bar. He asked a waitress to ask for her. Well, it’s that we had a date, but since you got home early, I couldn’t go out. She shrugs sarcastically. Delirio, equally sarcastic, tells her how amusing the Sra. is. At your age, making jokes about such a serious thing. He scoffs. She shrugs with a “qué, Yo?” look.

Monica is telling Laura about how Paula got all involved with a chauffeur (and here we thought she was so egalitarian), and imagine her involved with CL. In the beginning, he did it half as a game, half serious. But she was involve with a chauffeur. Laura can’t believe it. Moni continues: imagine this, she’s confused about her feelings. She doesn’t know how to decide between CL and a chauffeur. Laura scoffs at this incredible truth. Moni has decided to get Juan on her side. He’s just as much a victim here as she is. Laura wants to know how she’s going to go about it. With patience. She’s in no rush, Moni tells Laura. Moni thinks that with Juan on her side, things are going to be much more difficult for Paula and CL. And Much Easier for Moni.

Paula is having her blood pressure checked by the silver-haired doc, and describing her anxiety and tension. No examining room here, just his office and she’s in the chair across from his desk. Is this how it’s done south of the border? He’s got all his degrees and certificates on the wall, too, so we know he’s legit. He remarks that she’s had strong emotional changes she hasn’t had time to process. He goes back to his seat and tells her she needs therapy [and we hope she isn’t paying too much for what we would have told her for free]. He can help her assess her situation. He’s going to give her a scrip, too, but one thing: no booze. By gosh, she’s got a cami on and almost no serious décolletage. How did we miss that under her suit jacket at the office?

Juan is in his workout clothes, doing rapid pushups military-style. Whew, be still my heart. He thought bubbles that back home in these situations exercise always helped him. [Juan, rest assured your exercise will help calm me, too].

CL is still at the office or is it tomorrow? No, we find it’s Juan thought bubbling while he does pushups about the following weeks when a tense kind of calm prevailed. As he thinks about those times, we see our lives—or someone’s lives—passing before our eyes. CL tensely meeting Paula in the lobby at Farell, never speaking, and turning away toward their offices….Monica looks down from the mezzanine above worriedly as Juan continues to describe those weeks.

Juan’s reverie continues as he muses in the Farell garage that some days he brought the Licenciada to work, and others she drove herself. [Lots of time on his hands, but apparently downsizing to create efficiencies isn’t a problem at Farell.] Juan and the boys watch Paula pull away.

Sometimes Juan drives, and the next passing scene tells us that Paula works in the car instead of talking to Juan so he can keep telling us how those weeks went. Since the night of the discussion, he advises us, things have definitely chilled between them (enfriaron). He had no way to pick them up again.

He continues that Yadi and Nidia were engaged in a war to the death….and we see he means they’re pretendercizing with Yadi grabbing Nidia’s ankles as Nidia brings them up into the air off the bench she’s lying on. Meanwhile, Juan tells us, Delirio is still training and exercising, while Juan has no idea the enemy he wants to deck is Pastor. Back at Farell, Juan continues, Fern is a growly bear (peor genio – worse temper). The boys are aware that Nidia had something to do with it—she hit him hard. But Juan’s blows were worse.

Kike’s bachelor party, Juan confides, was a disaster. We see him with Fern on one side and Kike on the other, watching a stripper who’s up on a coffee table doing her thing, and the boys are totally unmoved by the scene in front of them. Empty glasses and full bowls of snacks litter the table with bottles of beer. This group has about as much joie de vivre as the group on the front porch in Hee Haw used to have. Maybe even the dogs on that porch had more than these three.

Finally, Juan is home in bed, crossing himself, and concluding that he felt his story with the Licenciada had gone sour (en picada). It was only a matter of time before this noble love (amor sublime) died a natural death. He turns out the lights.

Oh, Juan’s not done yet. As we stand outside the court building, he tells us that there were still lots more things to happen. and one was going to be the best thing, or better said, the worst. We see CL and Moni sitting in front of the judge’s desk. The judge is advising them of the law, and telling them because of their business partnership, he’s compelled to ask them if they really understand the implications of a permanent separation. If their differences aren’t too great, there’s still time to save their marriage. CL looks like he has heartburn, and Moni bites her lip. CL looks away, off into space.

The judge continues –he wonders if either them has anything to say. CL starts….”yo….” Moni snaps her head to look at him. “No.” Moni looks back a little sadly. CL says the decision is made, and Moni says she does have something to say, even if it won’t change a thing. She wishes him peace, and tells him she thinks he’s committing the worst error of his life. Sooner or later he’ll realize. He looks like a block of wood. After the life they have built, she continues, he’s going to leave it all behind for a passing adventure. And the worst of it is, there’s no going back, because he’s causing wounds that no one, ever, can heal. His face is blank but we know him well enough to know he might be a trifle uncomfortable. She finishes by hoping that he will realize before it’s too late. CL recovers whatever bit of discomfort he may have had for a nanosecond and asks if that means she isn’t signing off. No, she will sign. She’s a woman of her word, although her entire world is crumbling (derrumbando, collapsing). He looks off at the side as she looks down in front of her. “Where do I sign?” The judge gives her the papers; she signs (left-handed), then the judge indicates where he needs to sign. CL hesitates, looks at Monica, sighs, then signs. Monica is close to tears again.

As some marriages end, others begin. Kike and Juan are at the church and Kike comes bounding toward Juan, humming Lohengrin: Act 3: Treulich gefuhrt ziehet dahin (Bridal Song, just thought you’d like that trivia). He tells Juan there are only last minute thing left to arrange, and he’s jubilant as the Mendelssohn Wedding March starts in the background (they’ve got it coming and going in just two bars here). They exchange chitchat about the impending wedding, and Juan assures Kike all will be well. “Look who’s talking! Pessimist number one.” Okay, Juan tells him, but Juan’s made a decision. What? Is Juan finally going to forget….and look someplace else? No, on the contrary, if Paula doesn’t make the first step tomorrow, Juan will. He just can’t keep playing this infantile game. He’s dying to be with her, to talk with her. Kike tells him to stop that already. Well, at best she might be thinking like me, Juan tells Kike. The uncertainty is killing him. If nothing happens today, tomorrow at Kike’s wedding Juan Dominguez, native of Chichipico, is going to bite the bullet (let his guard down).

At the lobby desk in Farell, Julia is spilling her guts about the guy who ran into Marely’s mother. The other lobby lizard is behind Julia’s desk listening, and Marely is standing in front, getting the full scoop. Julia tells Marely he’s Pastor’s brother. Moni and CL get off the elevator and we hear Julia’s chisme fade into the background as Moni remarks that like she said in court, she hopes he’s made the best decision. He abruptly says he’s made it. She congratulates him on the indifference he’s adopted. He tells her it’s difficult for him, too (no eye contact). Does she want Fern to take her some place? No. She’s got some things to do in the office, then she’ll go. She wants to walk a while. Monica starts away and CL takes her wrist to make her turn back—is she going to be all right? She points out it’s not like she finalizes a divorce every day.

Marely realizes something’s up; she cuts Julia off mid-sentence and runs to Paula’s office. Paula whines that Marely startled her. Marely says CL just arrived with Monica, and Paula thinks maybe they’ve reconciled. No way! Marely overheard them say they’d finalized their divorce!

Yadi’s getting a final fitting for her wedding gown. Yadi wants to know who’s taking her down the aisle. Well, Alirio, of course. He’s the man of the house, Nidia scoffs. Yadi’s not having any of that. This guy leaves her cold. If we want the man of the house, that’d be Juan. Nidia looks worried—how could they be so rude to Alirio? [No problem at all with that, if you ask me]. Yadi offers to tell him. Nidia says thanks, but no thanks and begs a little for Yadi to get with the program. Yadi says if it’s Alirio, she’s not getting married.

Paula is leaning against a credenza behind her desk, décolletage in full bloom. What does she care if they got divorced? Don’t mess with me, Marely tells her. Marely knows she’s plenty interested. Paula says she’s Wrong. Are you sure? Marely wants to know, arms crossed and looking doubtful. Yep. She explains her position to Marely, which we all know is totally bogus. Marely gives her a look. Paula tells Marely she wants to stop this chitchat and get back to work. Marely gives up for the moment.

Kike is worried that if they don’t buy the suit (tacuche, from my Mexican usage dictionary), he’ll never get it. Time’s running out. Juan wants to know why he just can’t use the suit he used for confirmation? Nope, Kike wants to wear it for the first time (estrenar). Juan’s mind is on if the Licenciada may need him. Kike wants to get the suit, accessorize, and make an impact. Kike talks him into calling for permission to be gone a while to help Kike get his suit. Juan goes to call upstairs while Kike beams and babbles.

Paula and Marely work on some documents; the code doesn’t belong with another, why? Because one’s a quotation and one’s an actual invoice. Paula isn’t concentrating; she has no head for it. Marely wants to know if it’s because of what she’s thinking it is. The phone rings. Paula doesn’t want to take the call but tells Marely to tell Juan he has the afternoon off. Kike is bouncing up and down like a puppy. Juan knows that Paula is avoiding him, he’s not stupid. Kike tries to calm him and reassure him, he doesn’t want Juan to get depressed now. What does he want? Juan is hurting a lot. Kike tries to get Juan to go, and Juan snaps at him because Kike isn’t helping with his suffering. Fern comes along and wants to know what’s up. Kike says they’re going shopping. Kike is getting muy anxious. Couldn’t this wait till later? Fern tells them the latest: CL and Monica finalized the first paperwork things for their divorce. Fern describes the tears. He’s never seen her cry before. Juan thought bubbles that he divorce is real now. He asks God to give him strength.

CL tells Pastor he’s not sure if he’s taken the most important step of his life, or made a world-class mistake (stupidity the size/tamaño of the world). Pastor empathizes, and CL says he’s left with neither of the women. Pastor wants to know what his hard line and indifference with Paula have brought? CL says she’s tougher than he thought. She’s arrogant (soberbia), proud, and doesn’t seem to bend. Pastor gives more of his excellent advice, which so far is working so well.

Juan and Kike are walking around in the store, and Juan is complaining that his soul is giving up. He thinks CL’s divorce is dangerous for him. Kike isn’t understanding, and Juan explains there is no obstacle now to Paula ending up with CL. Now that he is free, he’ll enter the fray full force. [Gee, Juan’s tie is almost the right length tonight, but it wasn’t earlier in the capítulo. Is this a sign of something? A social statement?] Kike advises Juan that she just doesn’t suit him. She’s made Juan suffer and she Doesn’t Love You, he tells Juan. Kike wants to know what he has to do to convince Juan. Juan fusses at Kike that no one, since he was born, can tell Juan Dominguez about women. Kike says he can’t discuss it with Juan more. Juan grabs him back and dares Kike to tell him what an imbecile, romantic, he is, a miserable chauffeur who looked too high. Juan babbles on and Kike stops him. Juan lightens up and takes a kid-size tux; he tells Kike it’s probably too big.

Pastor is still advising CL. Hablablablabla. CL should take his game to an extreme. Compel her to give up her pose as a dignified woman. How? Take a risk. What risk? Pastor stands up, takes a deep breath, and prepares to give him the Plan du Jour.

Laura lets Monica into the apartment. Moni is crumbling. [I’ve been there; I recognize the signs.] Moni is crying that she shouldn’t have done it, shouldn’t have signed. She still loves him. [Qué the heck for?] She collapses on Laura’s shoulder, and Laura comforts her. Moni says all she needs now is the wedding—the wedding of CL with this stupid woman. Laura puts her arm around her friend and holds her while Moni cries.

CL comes into Paula’s office, wanting to know if she’s very busy. No, it’s fine. [Interesting how her suit matches his tie. She could borrow his tie to cover that décolletage.] He wants to talk to her. About what? CL supposes she’s heard about his divorce. They met, etc….he’s just waiting for the documents. She tells him she didn’t know. CL says “I did it,” and looks at her meaningfully. She tells him she’s sorry. CL replies he’s made a decision he thinks she should know—he’s leaving the country, going to Spain. Paula is Impactada, of course.

Monday: Paula tells Ana about CL’s divorce, and Ana is Impactada, too. Must be genetic. Ana wonders if Juan has another chance. Juan wonders if Juan has another chance.

(Vocabulary is in the text, and I may have time on the road to edit it and put it down here, if not, more disculpas).

Jeanne

Labels: Juan