Caray, Caray!

In the opening scene, Natalia, who is usually trying to get rid of her mother, now has a tantrum because her mother is trying to leave. Natalia begins her often-repeated litany of blame and adds a new twist:
¡Voy a inhalar hasta que me muera!
(I’m going to inhale until I die!)

But Marisa makes a getaway in her red convertible. She passes a street person who is digging through some trash. Marisa stops the car, gets out and approaches the woman. She calls out: Señora… ¿Mamá? Mamá? [What the…?] The woman disappears into the night.

Who taught Rania to dance? Elaine on Seinfeld? Ni modo. She is dancing for Said and even if he doesn’t seem mad with desire, at least he is smiling politely. Jadiya watches with her friends. She tells them she’s going to dance the way her mother taught her and they are to applaud her when she does. Jadiya then takes Rania’s place in front of her father and dances as her friends clap appreciatively; and Rania goes sulking to Amina.

Said has to leave for a ‘business’ appointment. No sooner is he out the door than Rania screams ‘mucosa envidiosa’ (jealous brat) and sets upon Jadiya so aggressively that Amina has to hold her back. Jadiya’s friends look on in horror, but Jadiya smiles to herself. Mission accomplished.

Lucía intercepts Consuelo in her attempted nocturnal escape from the del Valle house. Leaving like that makes her look guilty, Lucía tells her. Unless maybe Consuelo is willing to do her a favor and be her spy in the House of sKanks…

Leo’s cell phone rings as he and Roberto are leaving the hearing. It’s Malicia. She invites him to Salamandra for a drink. He accepts and also agrees to receive her in his office the following day.

At Salamandra, Diana has overheard Malicia’s invitation and now warns her:
Si fuera tú, no me metería con Leonardo Ferrer. Mira, Cristina no es Clara, Alicia.
(If I were you, I wouldn’t mess with LF. Look, Cristina isn’t Clara, A.)
Butt out, says the Malicious one, or you’ll end up cleaning bathrooms.

Leo asks Cris to join him but she’s tired and has a headache so she begs off. But after Leo and Roberto leave, she tries to call Leo and gets his voicemail. She has a feeling… So she and Vicki decide to follow the men.

Malicia greets Leo and Roberto ever so graciously as soon as they arrive at Salamandra.

Dora is at home telling Estela about Daniel’s testimony:
¡Hubieras visto a Daniel! Le dijo al juez que yo era su madre y muy orgulloso!
(You should have seen Daniel! He told the judge that I was his mother – and he was very proud to say it.)
Lucas shows up at their apartment looking for Jade.

Another Ferrer is out paying a surprise visit. Marisa comes calling at Gloria’s looking for Alejandro. Gloria isn’t happy but she does have Ramón escort Marisa to Alej’s room.

Dora tells Lucas that Jade and Daniel have gone out and she doesn’t know where.

But we do. They are in TOPIM (the only park in Miami) and Jade, in a modest purple hippie dress, is dancing for Daniel.

Back at Gloria’s, Alej has just arranged to meet up with Diana when Ramón arrives with Marisa. She is there to ask him to come back to Natalia. She knows she was unfair, she did things she’s not proud of, and she is ashamed of the necklace incident. She was wrong about him and now she is asking forgiveness. But everything was done for her daughter’s sake, to protect her.

Now the situation is out of control and Marisa needs Alej’s help. Nati is killing herself and killing her baby too. But she’ll listen to him. She loves him.

Alej interjects:
No sé si lo sepa, el hijo que está esperando Natalia no es mío.
(I don’t know if you know, the baby N is expecting isn’t mine.)

No, Marisa didn’t know. She is momentarily taken aback but still pleads with Alej to come back to Natalia.

Ramón rushes back to Gloria and fills her in on the conversation. Gloria runs up to Alej’s room and tells him he’d be nuts to go back and make the same mistake all over. Marisa leaves humbly, saying she understands.

When Alej and Gloria are alone, he says:
¿Qué quieres que haga? Yo sé que no debería pero la amo demasiado.
(What do you want me to do? I know I shouldn’t, but I love her so much. literally: too much)

Marisa gets back home only to learn from Rosa that Natalia has, once again, been kidnaped. (La tiene secuestrada de nuevo.) All Rosa knows is that a rude, angry guy has been calling every half hour. They have her somewhere downtown. Marisa tries to reach Leo and Lucas but they both have their phones off.

We see Alej in his room. He appears to have made a decision. He walks out purposefully and shuts the door behind him. [But what is that thing in his room?]

Said is at Salamandra scanning the crowd. [He and Marisa were supposed to get together but they both seem to have forgotten about it.]

As Malicia serves drinks to Roberto and Leo, Leo asks her what she wanted to talk to him about. She tells him it’s something he’ll like, but they should talk in a quieter place. His office tomorrow.

Alej’s decision has taken him back to the Casa Ferrer. Rosa and Marisa bring him up to speed on Nati’s situation. Since no one knows where she is, he’ll look in the Old Scary Drug Place. Marisa gives him her car keys and he sets out to rescue the woman he loves.

And at Salamandra, Said at last gives Zein his answer: Jade is free. (libre, folks, not gratis. Anything but gratis.)

Cris and Vicki enter the club. Mira con quién está Leo (Look who Leo’s with) observes Vicki tartly. Malicia takes Cris aside. She doesn’t want any misunderstandings, she says. She called Leo because Zein wants to make a surprise party for him. Malicia thinks it’s Zein’s way of making things right with Cris (reivindicar contigo) Cris nods and smiles. [There is no thought bubble, but if there were, it would be: ¡Me las va a pagar!]

Diana observes to Pablo that Alej is taking a long time getting to the club. Then Pablo gets a call from Alej. We hear him say: Where are you? And then: ¿Otra vez, brother? (Again?) Diana snatches the phone. Alej tells her somewhat cryptically that he has a problem and they’ll talk tomorrow. Then he hangs up leaving Diana feeling uneasy.

Clara is at home regaling Caro with the story of sadsack Escobar showing up with his flowers and wine and finding her with Rogelio. When Caro asks how he reacted (¿y qué cara puso?) (literally, what face did he put on?), Clara says:
Bueno, fue una cara como entre estreñido y tener un callo en el pie y que se lo estén pisando.
(Well it was an expression somewhere between constipated and having a callus on your foot and you’re walking on it.)

Rogelio has taken the apartment papers home to analyze them point by point.

This smiling conversation is cut short by an ominous phone call. Says Clara:
¡A Fernando se lo llevaron preso por droga!
(Someone’s holding Fernando, it’s something to do with drugs).
Caro takes the phone and takes charge.

Albieri (you remember Albieri? Little guy, huge ego?) comes home to an empty house. He calls Anita but she says Luisa’s not with her.

Ah, but she is. Poor Albieri, she says to Luisa. He is beside himself (desesperado) looking for you. Wait until I take my revenge, answers Luisa. Then he’ll know what desperate feels like.

Lucas comes upon Daniel and Jade (her face attractively flushed from the dance) in the park. Lucas has come to claim Jade but Daniel is not about to give her up. You shut up, says Lucas. Jade – come with me! Daniel blocks his way, Lucas is prepared to fight for his story, his life, his woman; he punches Daniel in the face and the fight is on. Jade is appalled by their behavior and runs away.

Since Lucas hasn’t spent a lot of time working out with Pablo and the guys in the gym, it’s no surprise that his twenty-year-old counterpart is the one who is ultimately left standing.

There follows a sort of post-combatal truce (If these guys were smokers, they’d be lighting up right now):
Daniel: How would you feel if you were a copy of someone?
Lucas: It’s better than being the leavings (desperdicio) of someone else. I was always an inferior copy, first of Diego, then of you.

Daniel looks thoughtful. Did you feel like that when you were my age? he asks. Yes, he did. And what did you do when you felt that way? Lucas tells him: I felt like escaping, running away. I used to cry. And I wanted to die.

At Casa Ferrer, Marisa takes the call from the drug guy: Yes, I know where that is, she says and sets out alone, despite Rosa’s urging her to wait for help.

The Zombie trio – Fernando, Natalia and Paula – are being held together in a New but equally Scary Drug Place. Natalia is feeling some pains in her belly. She’s afraid she’s going into labor and she begs the drug guys to let her go.

Paula tries to bargain for her freedom by offering to sell ectasy to school kids – you know how much kids love it, she says.

Outside the New Scary Drug Place, Marisa – in her usual skintight, low-cut, miniskirted dress – asks the first scuzzball she meets where she can find El Perro (the dog).

It appears that Clara has already found the hound. She is sitting opposite him, desperately trying to buy time because she doesn’t have enough money to pay off Fernando’s drug debt in exchange for his freedom. El Perro tells her she has 24 hours or her Playboycito of a son will die.

Marisa is led inside and quickly arranges to pay off Fernando and Natalia’s debts.

Fernando and Natalia are set free. Paula thinks she’s included in the deal, but she discovers that her ransom hasn’t been paid. Her captor has other plans for her. [Fortunately, with the Ectasy for Kiddies remark, the writers have inoculated us against feeling sorry for Paula. And her friends don’t even seem to notice they are leaving her behind.]

Alej arrives at Casa Ferrer after an unsuccessful search. If anything happens to Natalia, he says, he’ll never forgive himself.

Clara takes Fernando home. They’d have killed you if it weren’t for Marisa she tells him. He says he saw his band play and the guy who replaced him is good. Not better than you, says Clara.

Natalia and Marisa arrive at Casa Ferrer. At this point the pains are so bad, Nati can barely walk down the stairs. She sees Alej and tells him to go away, that it isn’t his baby. If it’s your baby, it’s mine too, he tells her, no matter who is the father. He says:
No te voy a dejar. Nunca más te voy a dejar.
(I’m not leaving you. I’ll never leave you again.)

Help me, mama, Nati pleads to Marisa. I don’t want to lose my baby.

Marisa takes charge. She tells Rosa to notify Leo and Lucas. Natalia is going to the clinic.

Back in the barrio, Gloria pumps Ramón for information on Alej’s whereabouts and, as usual, when he tells her (He went looking for Natalia), she scolds him for being a gossip.

Across the street Gloria is attracting some eyeball action. As the offending Abdul says to the equally guilty Mohamed:
El haram entra por los ojos cuando el hombre está descuidado.
(Sin enters through the eyes when a man is careless.)

When Dora goes to Cris’s bar to ask Miguel to testify at the paternity hearing – he needs to confirm that he saw her when she was pregnant – he tells her she can count on him for anything.

The mood in the del Valle house is anything but mellow these days. Lucía is downright testy and explodes when Andrea mentions Roberto’s audiencia de paternidad. Even though the hearing is closed and Lucía will be denied entry, she insists on going with Roberto. She has no intention of leaving him alone with the sKanks.

Andrea gets a call from Alej. The baby is 7 months along and anything could happen, he says. She heads off to the hospital.

Natalia tells Alej that the baby is really his. She lied to him after seeing him with Diana. If she had been willing to give up drugs, he would never have left her, he tells her. Yes, she agrees, she destoyed everything. But we’ll rebuild it, Alej tells her.

Lucas has been waiting outside Dora’s apartment all night for a chance to talk to Jade. Just as Dora comes out and tells him that Jade is inside – she was asleep when Dora left – Lucas gets a call informing him that Natalia is in labor. He leaves in a hurry.

In the apartment, Jade tells Estela and Dora about last night’s fight and Dora rushes to check on Daniel.

The clan is gathering at the hospital. Natalia is being wheeled on a stretcher to the delivery room while Marisa, Lucas, Enrique, Rosa, Alejandro and Andrea wait.

We hear a few screams, a few grunts and then we realize we are in the presence of a miracle: from those skinny loins, instead of a scrawny 7-month premie crack baby, we see emerge a large, wide-eyed three-month-old infant that may just weigh more than Natalia. But we don’t hear the baby cry. Says Natalia:
¡Quiero ver a mi hijo! ¿Por qué no llora mi hijo?
(I want to see my baby! Why isn’t my baby crying?

Credits roll.

Labels: clon

In a luxury hotel suite, "Aunt" Elsa agrees with Caramelo that the suite is nicer than her apartment; but she still doesn't want to move in there with them. Before Caramelo retires, she pokes fun at Asunción's hair comb-over when he appears newly showered and in a satin robe.

At Mario's, he frets again over Santiago reneging on the deal; but tells Abelardo he trusts Alejandra completely with the secrets of the tunnel house. Abelardo wonders if she could think of some solution.

Back at the hotel, Asunción is impressed with room service; but not nearly as impressed as Elsa is with Juan José's gorgeous transformation. When she opens the door to him, she can't even pronounce his whole name at once. Juan José guffaws gleefully, lampooning the dog carcass Asunción is apparently wearing on his head.

In their apartment hallway, Gabriela is just raking Julieta over the coals for being late for work because of Roberto, when she has to use her own keys to open the door, because Julieta can't find hers. As the door swings open, they are both horrified at the devastation of their apartment turned upside down.

Juan José leaves Asunción to his room service, preferring to invite Elsa to dinner at a nice restaurant. At the Sagitario, they argue over whether Elsa should accept part of the treasure from Juan José. He wants to get her brother a lawyer; an apartment and car for her; whatever she wants.

But she doesn't think it's right; the treasure belongs to him and has nothing to do with her, she insists. When Elsa worries about what people will think, Juan José laughs at her, pointing out she's always the first to claim she doesn't care what people think!

He feels he owes it all to her; and she's less than happy to hear again he thinks they're like brother and sister. She refuses anything. And Elsa is positively upset to learn he's contracted Alejandra to remodel the house -- with an eye to making her family suffer; Juan José points out he has much more money than they now.

Julieta alerts Leonardo to their apartment break-in; and when he runs immediately to check it out, he finds no forced entry. They see that everything's torn up, but nothing's missing. Leonardo suspects rather that someone came looking for something, and the girls can't imagine what that would be.

When Leonardo suggests the intruder came in with a key, Julieta frantically searches her purse and determines her set is missing. Leonardo sends Ramón to fetch a fingerprint kit. At Adolfo's condo, he's furious to hear Roberto didn't find the diamonds and threatens Roberto with his life if he betrays him.

Roberto hastily explains he searched the tiny place with gloves and found nothing, leaving no fingerprints. When he holds Julieta's keys up and grins -- bragging he didn't have to break in -- a horrified Adolfo orders him sharply to get the hell rid of them. Adolfo is still perplexed and frustrated Roberto found nothing.

Next morning at the breakfast table, in a spotless apartment, Julieta's just wondering if some nut job broke in when Leonardo enters to have the locks changed and inform them of a 24-hour watch outside. Also, they only found fingerprints for the girls and their father. Gabriela thinks to apologize for being rude yesterday.

Alejandra and Mina tour Juan José's house and level with him that it's going to be so costly he should just build a new one. But he's dead set on living in this house; and they head into the kitchen, where Mina wonders if they found water in the old well.

Juan José moves to Alejandra's side, fixes her in the eyes and smiles just for her, saying he found -- a treasure. He teases that he doesn't want to get scolded again, so they'll stop digging now. Alejandra's just exiting the kitchen -- chuckling and protesting that she didn't scold him -- when negotiating the step, her old accident injury makes her stumble.

She explains about the accident, unwittingly plunging Juan José into momentary despair over Piedád's death -- and connecting Alejandra's taxi to it and the bus crash. When she innocently asks if she said something wrong, Juan José shrugs it off in denial; but Alejandra wonders.

At Roberto's apartment, he snickers and hands Carlos a draft beer from the tap, explaining his car, apartment and everything came from a good job he just started at a company. Noting the trefoil ring on the hand around Carlos's mug handle, Roberto claims he'll have some news about the girls and the weekend trip tomorrow.

But he really likes the ring, Roberto says. Carlos reminds him the only identical one was somehow lost by Adolfo 20 years ago. After Carlos exits, Roberto removes the recently stolen trefoil ring from its hiding place and examines it.

At the tunnel house, Alejandra and Mina shock Abelardo by discussing their remodeling work -- for the house he utterly failed to buy; then they shock Mario by revealing the original owner was Juan José Victoria.

After the men exit into the tunnel, the women resume discussing the "Ocampo" remodel -- and Ocampo. With a knowing grin and both eyebrows raised, Alejandra tantalizes Mina, hinting she should have seen Juan José with his shirt off!

At the park, David meets a waiting Gabriela for a stolen moment before he flies to Cancún on business again. They are both happy and loving; and David's sincere need and ardor prompt Gabriela to divulge that the only way she'll be able to stay in town -- is if they were married. With a last, long kiss, David appears to be considering it.

Exiting the tunnel into Mario's office, both men regret that all Alejandra's wonderful work will be for naught if Santiago won't do his job. Mario surprises Abelardo explaining who Juan José Victoria is; that he's not sure he was guilty -- and that he's out of prison, where Roberto found him in the neighborhood, perhaps on a mission of vengeance. Abelardo's going to check on the original owner at the penitentiary.

In the hallway, Abelardo encounters Dora, whom he asks whether she worked at the Mirador Hotel when the maid was murdered. She reluctantly admits she did. Dora astounds Abelardo by confessing that she knows the man they convicted was not the one who did it!

Discussing the $5 million peso remodel they're looking at, Alejandra and Mina also discuss Juan José. When Alejandra judges him definitely attractive -- but lacking a bit of class, Mina enthusiastically rejoins that to her he's not lacking anything!

At that moment, the object of desire enters and wants to take Alejandra to coffee to talk over the remodel details. On exiting, Juan José and Alejandra awkwardly encounter Elsa entering; she's there to see Mina on clothing business, but isn't very pleased to hear Mina gush at how their new client is so fond of her friend.

David bids goodbye to Mario, who's abed, and chuckles at Mario's gossipy interest in Gabriela; but Mario is interested for David's sake, he says. As David exits, Abelardo enters and surprises Mario with news that Gregorio was murdered in prison and bequeathed the house to his cell mate, Juan José Victoria! And when Abelardo also explains Dora's admission, Mario wants to speak with her immediately.

A little later, Dora enters and Mario and she relive the details of the events surrounding the death of the maid -- her friend, Isabel. In fact, Dora claims after six years as a maid at the hotel, she asked to work in the house there due to associated painful memories. She knew Isabel about six months and they were good friends.

Mario retells and flashes back to the occasion he saw Juan José and Isabel with their heads together, whispering and giggling in the hallway. Dora becomes anxious and emotional, wondering what could be done for him after eleven years; but Mario encourages her to think positively.

Dora painfully explains her experience of the event to Mario, following the details of Carlos's nightmare -- except that Dora trailed her friend's screams and attackers down the hallway and watched one of the boys (we recognize Roberto) actually pick Isabel up and throw her over the railing! The only face she recognized was that of Adolfo's son: Carlos Ávila!

Labels: verdad

Yes, the whole gang has converged on ValleSol , a spiffy resort for the annual automobile convention. The Auto Siglo sales force, Doña Arcadia and her pups( complete with their robes, their sun tan lotion and their car sick pills) and the long-suffering Chatooo arrive first. Rosaura, for once, trills that there's nothing like this in Miami. Thanks be to God.

There's the usual bickering and sniping amongst the sales folk. Marino is being castigated for his feud with Sandra. Bebe reminds him that he'll never get to see his daughter if he doesn't apologize and make up with Sandra. Marino reminds Bebe that he NEVER apologizes to any woman. And no advice from you Ramirez...you have neither wife nor child, he adds. No, snivels his buddy, but I had a wonderful woman, right in front of me, and I realized it too late.

We tear ourselves away from this sad scene to contemplate another. Jaime's still hunkered down at the table with Leonor, talking about his childhood, his dreams, and his hopes for starting work soon. There's a knock at the door. At first I thought it was VickyVickyVicky but the knock was too civilized. Instead it was a messenger with a mysterious envelope. Inside are the pictures of Leonor and her kids, taken without them realizing it. Ohoooooo. Scary. But Jaime advises her not to tell Rafa or he won't go to the convention. This seems like strange advice to me. But whatever. If it works for the plot and getting us to the gran final Friday, I'm all for it.

Julieta arrives and asks the classic telenovela question: ¿Qué haces aqui? If you don't know what that means, it's back to Spanish 101 for you. Julieta starts hyperventilating, throws Jaime out (Leonor winks reassuringly at him) and then our little chippie starts complaining about the stress of having two suitors vying for her hand. Leonor settles it by noting that Julieta is way too young to get married. That being said, Julieta finally notices Jaime's fine graduation certificate on the table and realizes her former novio is now a bona fide lawyer. Will this change things? Sure hope so. Cesar is just a wet behind the ears office Romeo in comparison.

While the Auto Sigloites are gushing about the beautiful ValleSol, a hungover Marco and Chavez also arrive. Chavez gets stuck with the bill for the taxi (nothing new there) and they sneak into their quarters before anyone can realize they're on campus. This is a stealth operation, after all.

Stealth II, Miss Vicky, arrives shortly after, vowing with clenched, perfect teeth that RAFA IS HERS! AND NO WAY IS HE GETTING AWAY FROM HER!!!! Got that, amigos? What's Private 057's bet on this one?

Stealth III arrives, with a little too much eye makeup. It's none other than Miss Milagros. She's still trying to decide if Ramirez is her future or the convent. Lordy, that's a tough choice. Think I might opt for the convent, in spite of his surprisingly robust physique. But what do I know? A lifetime of those pompous lectures though could make you homicidal.

Now our two lovebirds make an entrance in the Pantera. They're running late because Rafa was stopping every whip stitch to check the oil, the tires, go pipi and grab some tacos. Ale is in a skin-tight hot pink strapless dress so he may have grabbed something else besides. Just sayin'. Although given those sterile kisses, maybe not.

A big Auto Siglo fuss at the registration desk. Rooms must be shared. Shock, Awe and Horror. Marino immediately requests Claudia for a roommate. Pepeto puts in his bid for Rosaura. And Doña Arcadia puts an end to all that nonsense. Boys with boys; girls with girls. And the Presidential Suite for me and another suite for my pups. I guess if Chato's lucky, he'll find a couch somewhere.

Next to arrive are Stealth IV, Daniel and Marian, also in a strapless dress and looking quite fetching. Both of them are actually. They make a nice couple. Or would if he weren't such a doofus.

But wait! Here's a new visitor. We see her sandal feet and some exotic long garb. Yikes. It's the lioness MGM style of the auto industry. The feared and revered Rebecca Madariaga. Hard to take her seriously, since this actress plays the hopeless naca in those cheesy Hora Pico comedies but whatever. Let's go with it. This could be fun. She's carrying a lion cub as her accessory and is taunting the venerable Queen with an astounding lack of respect. Marino starts to suck up to her and Doña Arcadia fells him with one well-timed blow. Bien hecho Doña!

A short gloomy return to the apartment where Rosario is in the doldrums. Jorge reminds her that Quintana must be genuinely repentant if he confessed his previous bad intentions. And she still loves him, right? Yesssss...snivel snivel. Plus the usual telenovela cant: One can't forget a great love overnight. I had so many dreams, so many illusions. Yada yada. We know this will work out. Back to ValleSol where the action is.

Rafa and Ale have finally walked in and Doña Arcadia has that gleeful I-know-what-you've-been-up-to-look. And tells 'em that have to share a room. WHAT!!!??? Just kidding. A room for each. And get changed and come on down. The party is starting and we're going to have a couple of drinks.

Licenciado Gomez of Clos Autos now shows up. He's quite genial given how sharply he and Rafa parted. He's introduced to Ale, compliments her beauty as he razzes her about causing him to lose his best salesman. But nevertheless, he's going to give them a run for their money for the trophy for Best Agency. Let the games begin!

And the games are afoot between Doña Arcadia and the fearsome Rebecca. The lioness refers contemptuously to the crazy goings-on she heard about at Auto Siglo. Crazy? Well, yes, we've been making money like crazy, if that's what you mean, snaps back the Queen. I like these two together. Nice of the writer to throw in this extra little tussle during the last week.

Back in the room, which Ale and Rafa do seem to be sharing: he's getting the heebie-jeebies though he doesn't know why. Ale tries to calm him down and snuggles up to kiss his cheek while he clamps his lips together. I'll cut him some slack this time because he's nervous, but he only has a few more days to show me he's galan-worthy. They saunter forth to the lobby and check each other out. They're definitely hawt!

Three raggedy men come shambling up the path now. Clearly not guests. But they're looking for Rafael Medina. And they've found him. Good thing because he has to marry this guy's daughter. WHAT!? Well, is this the Medina who gave a lecture on Love in Monterrey? Er, yes. It was all a mistake, but yes, I did. Well, you got my daughter pregnant and now you have to do right by her! And they drag him off, throw him in a red van and vamoose.

We see a pair of hands hidden behind some bushes. Part of the Marian plot, no doubt.

And now Ale, staggering down the steps in impossibly high heels shouts at a taxi to follow the red truck. Whoops. And take her with him please. Off they go.

Back to our clot of Auto Siglo salespeople who are traveling in a big amoeba-like mass. They've finally noticed that Ale and Rafa aren't with them and Claudia assumes the worst (or best, depending on your point of view). Susana tries to get Ale on her cellphone but it's turned off. No room in that tight Ale dress for a cellphone anyway. Doña Arcadia orders everyone to search the grounds.

Back to our odd couple. Chavez wants to bunk with Marco because the rooms are so expensive. And the bed's big enough, surely. No way. You're on the couch, snaps our licenciado. Next horrific discovery. The whiskey is in those little bottles meant for dwarves! How can one get a buzz on with that!?

Exactly what Marian's thinking. Daniel's only plan seems to be to go out and mingle and see what their tormentors, Ale and Rafa, are up to. Marian's thought bubbling that she has a much better plan, but mum's the word.

And now the answer to our machete question. An angry brother is holding it to Rafa's throat while Papa beckons daughter Coralina, a toothsome lass, in to verify if this is the culprit who got her pregnant. We see Ale staring worriedly in the window at this frightening scene. Is this the guy? asks Papa again.

Wanna know the answer? Tune in tomorrow because that's where our episode ends tonight.

Previews:
Bebé is bleating that they should be worried about the whereabouts of Rafa and Ale. Indeed they should!
And Marian's mysterious partner in crime is asking if it was part of the plan to kidnap Medina. WHAT? shrieks Marian.

Vocabulary:

No soy tu gato = I'm not your servant. (Chavez to Marco)
que la cancion! = same old story, (Chavez getting stiffed for the taxi fare and tip)
sigilo = stealth (Marco says they have to sneak into their rooms with "el mayor sigilo")
degüello = slaughter. (Jimenez worries that if he loses his job his wife will "deguella" him)
brincos dieran = you wish! Doña Arcadia teasing Rafa and Ale when she told them they had to share a room
no te andes creyendo la muy muy = don't go around thinking you're a big shot, hot stuff....Dona Arcadia and Rebecca insulting each other
mojado de gaznete = a little something to wet the whistle (Chavez looking for a drink)
enano = dwarf (Chavez, horrified to find only those little airline type bottles of booze in the room)
ñaña = heebie-jeebies, creepy {feeling} Rafa trying to explain why he feels strange

Dicho of the Day

El león cree que todos son de su condición = The lion thinks everyone is like him( but used to mean Not everybody thinks and acts the way you do.)

Not particularly relevant here but used a lot in telenovelas and since we've got a new character, the lioness Rebecca, just thought I'd throw this in.

Labels: dinero

Capitulo 59-B

This is the second part of Missing Recap 41 at this link.

1. Omar says Fernando has to start tonight. Fernando says he needs time to adjust to the idea. It’s like getting a tooth pulled without anesthesia, every day for a year. Omar says that he’ll get numb to it. After a few kisses he won’t feel a thing. And after awhile he’ll like it.

2. (This scene is missing from the complete DVD set.) Erasmo says Conceptos is no place for his niña (little girl) and she must resign tomorrow. Julieta reminds him that without her income they can’t make car payments, and he’d lose his FI accounting job too. Tom listens through his imaginary door.

3. Juana feels a strong essence around Lety. She’s sure that Lety’s situation is changing, and there is intense love. Marta tells the cuartel she’s stopped eating, but when they’re gone, she binges.

---

Capitulo 60

Read Kim's original recap, the section called “Missing Recap 42: Prelude to a kiss.” Then come back here to discuss it.

1. Fernando drinks heavily at lunch and protests his mission. He continues grabbing excuses. Omar tells him he just needs more “embellezadors” – whiskey to make a woman more beautiful. They role play for practice. Omar reminds him of what’s at stake. Fern agrees to one tiny kiss, nothing more. Ever!

2. Paula says Saimon is a great guy, but she won’t be his novia because he’s poor. She ditches Saimon and accepts a date with another rico.

3. Juana reads Lety’s shells. The man she loves wants to go out with her. She’ll get a lot of money. The relationship she’s desired will happen. A great dream will become a reality.

4. (This part is missing from the complete DVD set.) In response to Juana’s predictions, Lety has an extended fantasy in which Fernando proposes. Marcia, Alicia and Luigi are supportive (this must be a fantasy!), and the cuartel ladies are all bridesmaids. Parts of the fantasy seem like ballet, parts like opera, and parts like tango, even with Argentinian accents. Is there some classic genre of melodramatic tango movie?
5. Fernando worries about employee reaction because they won’t make payroll tomorrow. Marta tells Fernando Juana’s prediction. He finally accepts his mission and asks Omar what he has to do.

6. Lety has a meeting with the lawyer and Tomás. Fern says cancel it. Instead she sends Tom alone. She doesn’t want to bring Fernando more whiskey. He says that she disobeyed him regarding the meeting and the whiskey. That means Tom has more influence over her. He tells Omar to tell his Mommy to come and get him; he doesn’t want to play anymore.

7. At the antro, Omar ditches and tells Lety she needs to stay with Fern because he’s depressed. Fernando proposes a toast. Lety asks, “Por Conceptos? He answers, “Por los dos.” At first glance, he’s toasting ‘the two of us.’ But he does not say ‘nos dos.’ So it can also mean ‘both,’ i.e. both to Conceptos and to nos dos, the two of us.

Labels: fea-2010

Brandon wipes OJ off of Ilitia, who surprisingly lets him.

Muneca and the maid free themselves from being tied up. The captions are horrible/nonexistent again today. I am amazed again, for the 100th time, how a major TV network can screw up something so simple. My brother has made recordings of German TV shows to share with us (me and my other brothers) and made the captions himself with some program he got for free. Inexcusable.

Fedra whines about Emil supporting Netty. Spiderus says well, Netty IS pretty… Fedra doesn’t like that at all. Eman comes in and wants to talk to her alone, Spiderus leaves. Eman wants to know if Chema and Jose Maria are the same person. Ominous music.

Brandon and his horrible chango/chilango voice try and comfort Ilitia, she gets weepy and says whenever he’s around something goes wrong, her life is a disaster.

Fedra tells Eman she doesn’t want to talk about that guy, he’s dangerous. Eman says he is the one who killed her parents, right? She says yes and whines on about how he should forget about Chema and pay attention to his own life.

Ilitia cries and Brandon tries to comfort her. He says it hurts him to see her cry. She pushes him out and closes her door. He says to himself that it looks like she has a heart after all.

Eman says the day he was in the fire Fedra kept yelling for Jose Maria to save her son, why was she doing that? Emil walks up and wants to know what they are talking about. Fedra gives Eman a dirty look.

Mari tells Maximo that she isn’t afraid of Fedra, she won’t let her push her around. Maximo is proud of her. He gives her a knife to carry with her to defend herself. She says first Netty gives her pepper spray, now he gives her a knife, what is everyone arming her for? Maximo says for the war! Fedra declared war the day Mari was born.

Emil wants to know who Jose Maria Sevilla. She says you know, the guy who killed my parents. Eman asks if she had a kid with Jose Maria, Gretel heard her cry to J.M. to save his/her child the night of the fire. Emil tells Eman not to say crap like that and respect his mother. I’m having a bit of a hard time following all this, sorry. Fedra says Gretel is sick and anyway that night she was all worried and crazy because of the fire. The fire made her remember the worst day of her life, sorry! She leaves and Eman says he thinks that maybe Fedra isn’t who they thought she was. Emil says he is having that same feeling, even after 25 years of marriage. Well that settles Eman’s parentage, he has to be in his 30s (ok that’s in real life, we’re supposed to believe Fernando Colunga as college aged half the time too).

Maximo tells Mari that her father had discovered Fedra’s secret but died before he could tell him (and others I guess, like Eva and Netty) what it was. Maximo says what a coincidence that he died then, he wasn’t a drinker, he knows that he was pushed. And the same thing might happen to Mari, so take the knife! She takes it.

Muneca and the maid untie Low and the driver. Low begs forgiveness for all this happening, Muneca swears she is going to find a way to help him out of this situation.

Begonia gets test results and is excited. She tells the baby that now they have proof!

Oliver tries to sneak Gretel out of the pension. He says nobody is home, but they crouch down anyway, like that will help. She says they are acting like a couple of criminals, he says they are, they just stole a beautiful night. Aww. They go partway down the hall and Netty comes down the stairs and totally busts them.

Mari wonders if Fedra is really capable of killing her father. She looks at a photo of Fedra with Eman and Kristel, when Eman walks in and says hi to her she gets startled and drops it, breaking the glass in the frame. Eman says he’ll pick it up, he understands she’s nervous about what happened between them. She says it’s not that, she’s scared and pissed off because his mother won’t be happy until Mari is dead.

Oliver and Gretel pretend they were looking for an earring. When Netty sees that she has both earrings in, then they say oh wait it’s Gretel’s belly button ring. Netty wants to know what they were doing that would cause a belly button ring to fall out. Gretel somehow manages to change the subject to say that she really came over to tell her thanks for going with her father Emil to the hospital to see Axel. Netty falls for it and gives her a hug. Gretel takes this opportunity to leave, Oliver follows her.

Mari tries to tell Eman that Fedra tried to choke her, he tries to make excuses or that she misunderstood something, Mari says whatever she’s your mother of course you will always take her side. Mari leaves.

Kristel is suffering from morning sickness worse than any woman in the real world has ever suffered. She acts like she drank a couple bottles of whiskey the night before. Nereida sits and watches her with a smile. It sounds like Nereida agrees to make a tea to kill the baby, but I don’t think that’s right. I think she is going to make a tea to help Kristel feel better, and keep the secret, but first Kristel has to give her a little extra money in her salary. Blackmail.

In Los Angeles, Brandon talks to some guy about the helicopter accident. The copter was new, in perfect condition, there was no reason for it to blow up. If there was more to that conversation please fill me in. The captions suck ass and I can’t understand Brandon’s horrible voice very well.

Doris is reading some magazine about Mexican history, Gladiola shows up and tells her she’s late for work. Doris runs off and Gladiola picks up the magazine. Was this a follow up to some earlier PSA material about Mexican history? My contribution – if you have a chance to visit Guanajuato, do it. Full of history and so interesting and fun. I’ve been there twice and I can’t wait to go again sometime.

Paula is preparing a meal for Maximo, based on the care she is giving to make sure everything is just right. Gretel sneaks in, saying she doesn’t want Fedra to see her. She is smiling and says she finally has good reason, she’s in love! I feel bad saying this, since Gretel is such a sympathetic character, but she has horrible teeth. Being in a family this rich, her teeth should look perfect, like her parents and siblings. What happened here?

Ilitia’s modeling engagement is going poorly. She pouts and the director calls a break. Ilita goes for a drink, some chick stops her, saying she already can’t walk straight, no more drinks! Ilitia whines and feels sorry for herself.

Eman decides he is going to try and stop his mother from ruining more lives. He calls someone to deliver a box of chocolate to Mari. Spiderus is skulking about and overhears.

Mari sits in her room and fusses that Eman won’t accept that his mother is a killer. She says she has to find out who Fedra really is, she has to finish her father’s investigation. She is talking out loud of course, so Gretel overhears and comes in, wanting to know what’s up. Mari instead asks her where she was last night.

Paula and Maximo talk about their past, there was something about a pregnancy but I couldn’t understand if she was pregnant or if someone else was, or what. Anyway Paula has kept this crappy job for so many years to be near Maximo, she wants to know what has he done for their love? She has made such a sacrifice. She leaves in tears, he calls after her but she doesn’t come back.

Oliver and the Comisario discuss how the family Ruiz y de Teresa is surrounded by deaths and it’s suspicious. Muneca shows up to talk to them. She says she needs help, some guy are threatening her family.

Low is pushing Begona around, she must have come to him with the proof. He is mad that she came to his house with this. She wants to know how he can reject Christian as his son but he accepts Ilitia, even though she is the product of an affair too. He wants to know how she knows all that. She says Muneca told her. He says he doesn’t want to discuss this with her. She then drags out the test results to prove his paternity. I guess before she had just shown up and he was pushing her out of the house on general principle.

Fedra is livid that Eman has the gall to order chocolates for Mari, like it’s a crime. She is worried that Eman actually likes her, Spiderus says it isn’t possible. Fedra thinks that it really is happening and is worried. Spiderus says don’t worry, soon Eman will be bringing her flowers….. to her grave. He is going to do something to her chocolates.

Begona tells Low that she is going to tell Muneca the truth and she’ll dump his ass. Her goal is to ruin him. He says the test results are fake. She says check it out, they are for real. Uh oh I think something bad is going to happen to Begona. Then she says the only way out for him is to recognize his paternity, to give her son his name. She says he better decide quickly, then leaves with the baby.

Muneca is trying to get the Comisario to put 15 men on her house for protection, but won’t tell him who is threatening her family or why. Good luck with that. Oliver and the Comisario feel the same way, Oliver says talk or they can’t help. The Comisario says this whole appearance by her here makes him think that the accusation that Low had some contraband was true after all.

Crap I thought I would escape the entire Axel amnesia saga but here he is in his bed. He wants Fedra to tell him why everyone is so worked up all the time, what’s the deal? She says it’s all because of Mari, ever since she has come to the house she has been tormenting Fedra and the others. She says more bad things about Mari, that she wants to destroy the family. She tells Axel not to worry about that, she has a surprise, she invited his girlfriend over. He is as surprised as we are to discover that he has a girlfriend. I see what Fedra’s plan is, I’m sure it won’t work in the long run. I don’t think losing your memory makes you any less gay. Emil comes in and says that they all need to talk. He wants to know what Fedra did to him before that was so horrible.

Gretel is really rocking the tight low cut t-shirt, but those teeth. She is going on an on to Mari about how awesome Oliver is and how awesome their relationship is, it’s so awesome. Mari has a doll, she says she found it in her father’s office. Gretel starts doing a freak out. Mari says there are some things she doesn’t understand. Why did Gretel say she was responsible for Mari’s father’s death? You were there right? You saw him fall out the window?

Fedra gets all defensive, how can he think she would do something against her kids? See Axel? This is what Mari has brought into this house! They argue for a bit and Fedra blames it all on Mari. Emil says he’s starting to question what kind of woman she is, he isn’t quite buying into her I’m so awesome talk.

Mari pushes Gretel for her version of the death way back when. Gretel just freaks out a bit. She has a flashback of Fedra throwing the guy off the balcony. Gretel tells Mari that she saw everything! Mari (and the entire viewership) says “tell me then! TELL ME!” Gretel just acts all freaky. Cripes.

Eman wants Maximo to tell him whatever it is that he knows about Fedra. Maximo isn’t in the mood, Eman says he isn’t leaving. He must know why Fedra is his worst enemy.

Mari begs some more, Gretel doesn’t answer some more. CRIPES. Gretel finally says “the silver lily” and passes out. Thanks for nothing.

Emil asks Axel to leave him alone with Fedra. They are in Axel’s room – they have this huge house, and they have to kick him out of his own room to talk in private? Very selfish. Fedra starts cursing Mari some more, it’s all her fault. Then she insults Netty, Emil says that Netty was by his side the whole time at the hospital with Axel, and where was Fedra? Huh? HUH? Fedra says tell me the truth, is she your lover? Emil says no, because Netty deserves better than to just be someone’s lover. She has class, etc etc. Unfortunately, he says, I can’t say the same about you. Oh SNAP. Nice one. Fedra starts trying to beat him up, then gets all weepy and tries to play the victim. He says again that he is questioning everything where she is concerned, and maybe even her name is fake. She says she told him everything, he says no, she told him a story and he believed it. She says she never held a gun on him to fall in love with her or marry her, he says she’s right, that was his mistake and now he has to suffer the consequences. He says everything is going to be different now. He is going to uncover her past. This was a great scene, hopefully Emil follows through.

Low visits some guy in jail. Low says he’s tired of dealing with flunkies so he came here to talk right to the boss. The guy, named Garduno, says Low shouldn’t have moved the stuff out of his house. Low says he had to and it was a miracle the cops didn’t find it. He says he has done everything that Garduno has asked of him. Garduno says yes and he wants to help him, he wants his people happy. Remember when Low asked him to take care of the woman that appeared with his son? He had it taken care of until Low sent word to call it off. Low says he regrets doing that. He has changed his mind and he does want her gone after all.

Maximo can’t believe how different Eman is from his mother, how strange the world is. Maximo goes on to say that he never believed Fedra’s story about her parents dying and all that. She doesn’t act like the fine lady she pretends to be. Maximo says Fedra broke Emil up with Muneca, who he was engaged to at that time. Eman did not know this. Also, Maximo says, right after that, Fedra announced that she was pregnant, and Eman was born SEVEN MONTHS after Fedra first showed up. Ding ding ding there we have it, officially. Eman is not a Ruiz y de Teresa. The cousin loving is ON. Well now it’s NOT cousin loving but you know what I mean.

Mari tries to wake up Gretel. She calls for help. Axel comes in and immediately thinks Mari did something to her. He is really mean to Mari.

Eman doesn’t want to believe the news that Emil isn’t his father. He says Emil and Fedra were together before she came to the house, but Maximo says Emil found her on the beach, they were married less than a month later, and seven months after that Eman was born. Maximo is sorry for causing him this pain. Eman says that his mother couldn’t have done that. Where has he been? She would do anything. Eman continues to deny it. Maximo says fine, go ask her who your father is. She is the only one who knows, but you don’t have my blood, you aren’t a Ruiz y de Teresa!

Monday – Brandon and Ilitia hit the sheets and this time her parents aren’t around to break it up. More kissing with Eman and Mari, maybe he is seeing the upside to not being part of the family.

Labels: llena

Until yesterday, our Merry Marco had everything tightly controlled. There may have been some pressures, some of his plans were just about bursting at the seams, but everything was (barely) under control, much like one of Claudia’s blouses. But Chavez “opened the clasp”, so to speak, and now just about everything is out in the open. As such, we may not be too surprised that there are numerous things still “hanging”, and with so much “exposed”, Marco was sure to try to cover up a bit. Tonight we took a breather from yesterday’s delights, as new plans were hatched all over the place. We also had a possible new love connection, one character finally growing some cojones, and a touching moment for two of the characters who have been almost like pinballs in this crazy machine. We also had lots of things promised for “tomorrow”. Here’s what happened.

A lipstick-covered, half drunk Marco is arguing with a disheveled, fully drunk Chavez, having found out that loose lips sink ships, Chavez’s having been sufficiently loosened that both of them are about to go under.

In contrast, Ale and Rafa are brimming with confidence. Although they still have to solve the problems of Frank (Zetina is searching for him), Vicky, Marian and Daniel, they’re happy, because love will keep them together.

Nighttime at the Jimenez hostel, where the ladies get the bedroom, Father-in-law gets the couch, and Ramiro usually gets the shaft. Suegro is asnooze, and our ladies in waiting are waiting in the dark, armed with rolling pins, for the arrival of their whipping boy. Jimenez enters, half drunk, turns on the lights, to be met by his horrendous harem of hostility, his wife threatening with the pin, accusing him of being out with Arcadia again. And how could he cheat with someone like Arcadia? What does she have that I (Elvira) don’t? She shrieks for Jimenez to get out of the house, and just show up every two weeks (quince días) with money. Ramiro first moans that he almost lost his job, but when suegro makes another of his stupid remarks, Jimenez explodes! I’ve HAD it! Elvira tells him not to yell, but he GRABS the rolling pin and yells that it’s HIS HOUSE, and they all had better SHUT UP! You’ll respect me, he roars. I still pay the bills, and I’ve never been unfaithful, never! He threatens the three with the rolling pin, and they cower on the couch like little mice.

It’s over, he adds, from now on, you’ll respect me, or GET OUT!!!! He even throws a few things at them, and tells them he’s now going to the bedroom to sleep. As he leaves, Suegro bounds up, declaring THAT’s a real man! Wish I could have said that. I’m going to sleep in the bedroom, too, and you two cockatoos are stuck in the living room! He staggers after Jimenez, leaving our nightgown-clad nellies speechless.

Chavez tells Marco that at least he finally blew off Carmela, the human vacuum cleaner, right? Nope, laments Marco, I actually let her have her way with me, and it was horrible. Then everything’s lost, says Chavez. Marco disagrees, he’ll still get all the money from the sale of the hacienda, and flee to Brazil, woo-hoo! Not so fast, replies Chavez, that low-life Shrimp Man double crossed us, and sold it! Marco’s enraged, threatens to sue the guy, put him in prison, he’ll make cocktail of that damned shrimp! But Marco then realizes that Chavez has very likely betrayed him, and sold the hacienda out from under him. Chavez claims to be Markie’s only friend, but Marco is so mad he falls over the sofa.

Chavez complains that he always wanted to be Marco’s friend, but got treated like an employee, a slave, a wet newspaper on the corner. “And that’s not right, because I see you as a brother”. Marco protests, I don’t have any brothers, certainly not as ugly as you. But then he gets wistful, saying he actually does have brothers, but he hasn’t seen them in a long time. “It’s true, I miss my family, Vicente”. “You called me Vicente?” Chavez gets teary, and our two slimy slobs melt into a bit of a man-hug, they’re down, but they’re not out (yet).

Rafita arrives home, greets his Mom and Sis, telling them this has been a great day, only to be startled by Vicky from behind, “Pajarito!!” She’s hopping mad that he didn’t answer his phone all day. Rafa hides behind Leonor and Julieta,


begging Vicky to wait until tomorrow, and they’ll talk. Vicky isn’t too happy about this, calling Rafa unfaithful and a liar, but she agrees to wait, and tells them goodnight. As soon as she leaves, Rafa gets a big smile and tells his Mom they know where to find that swindler from the radio, and she’ll be free! He then notices Juli’s long face, and finds out that both Cesar and Jaime proposed to her. No way! You’re too young! And your career! But this decision will have to wait until tomorrow, too.

Now it’s tomorrow. We’re at Siglo, and Arcadia gives Beltran a list of candidates for a whole new crew of salespeople. She has to keep the current ones until after the convention, but after that, they’re out, and it’s his job to pick replacements. He wonders about HIS job, and she waffles a bit, then says she’ll probably keep him, since she doesn’t want him to have a heart attack with his checkbook. A few money, money, moneys, and she exits, leaving Beltran a bit shaken at this development.

Jaime’s wearing a suit, standing before three serious guys with white hair. Turns out he’s passed the bar, he’s officially a lawyer! He jumps for joy (and stumbles, of course), thanks his new “colleagues” and turns to his family, which consists of his granny and his cousin. He unfolds his diploma, says he’ll dedicate it to granny, who weeps with pride. Curls is proud, too, having never gotten out of high school. Jaime misses Rafa, Julieta and Leonor, wishes they were here. Curls tells him to go rub (restriégales) the diploma in their noses. Jaime’s not mad, they always supported him, at least until Vicky messed things up. Not deterred, Curls wants to celebrate, and picks up both Granny and Jaime, let’s party!

Doña Arcadia is addressing the troops. If you don’t win the title at the convention, heads will roll (van a rodar cabezas). Marino doesn’t think there’s anything to worry about. They’re like Titans of selling, they’ll win it all. You’d better, says Arcadia, and asks Jimenez to come to her office.

Urdiales is telling Rafa and Ale that he submitted their estimate to his board of directors, and it’s almost sure to be accepted, but they won’t know until tomorrow. They shake on it. After he goes, Rafa and Ale both yell “gol!” They’ll still go to the convention, and they sneak a little kiss.

Frank the Freak is cutting pictures of women out of magazines (don’t we all do that in our spare time?),

when there’s a knock on the door. It’s Zetina (I guess he DID know where to find Frank), who says he came on behalf of Marco and Chavez, who need to see him. Frank just needs a minute to get his things. Zetina thinks to himself, could it be that for ONCE things went right for me?

Nope. Two scenes later, Zetina calls Rafa to tell him that Frank’s given him the slip. Dang.

Our two brothers in slime (Marco and Chavez) are out like lights, when Marco’s cell rings. It’s Vicky with a wake up call, in full scream mode (she’d make a great alarm clock), telling Marco they have to meet. Something has to be done, once and for all. Marco hangs up on her, and she REALLY goes crazy! Marco tells Chavez it’s too bad Vicky’s hung up on the idiot Medina, because she’s HOT!

We see the big hands, we see the sleek laptop, we see the boring test pattern on the secondary monitor, and we know we’re witnessing a powerful man.

He instructs his secretary to have an envelope delivered to Leonor Nuñez, with no explanation. This is, of course, what Marian was working on. The man (whose face we don’t see) says “the moment has arrived we’ve all been waiting for”. Not quite. Tomorrow, maybe?

Rosaura and Claudia, wearing similar outfits of high waisted dark skirts topped by low cut frilly white tops,


are gossiping as usual. Rosie thinks that rich guy (Urdiales) is giving Claudia the eye. Claudia’s hormones activate, and she “walks” over to him, coyly displaying all her charms. Urdiales doesn’t exactly want a car, he wants a “personalized accessory”. Right. And he’d like to discuss it over lunch. She beckons Mr. Big over to her cubicle first, as we see Carmela enter to pick up her car.

She hears the greeter girls (sorry, I forgot their names) talking breathlessly. Girl 1 starts. “He lasted all night, he gave, he gave, he gave, and never got tired”. He looks fat, but he’s a total athlete, he went up, down, up, down (Carmela’s ears are perking up). Were you satisfied, asks Girl 2? Totally, I couldn’t take it, I said I was so tired I’d have to go to sleep, but he said, don’t worry, I’ll finish myself! What he did in one night would have taken another a week! If only all men were like that.


Uhh, excuse me, asks Carmela. Who are you talking about? Oh, that chubby guy Trapito. Could he do the same job for me? Just ask, but he only works at night. Perfect! replies Carmela, striding off to make a date. Gee, that’s strange, says Girl 2. She wants HER apartment painted, too?

Frank shows up at Marco’s, grabs some whiskey, and Marco has a new plan.

Carmela makes a date with Trapito for the “same job he did for that young lady”. Trapito wonders if he should bring “his things” or use hers. She’ll lend him hers, but he has to keep going all night. He assures her he’s “a machine”. She thinks to herself, finally, a REAL MAN.

Ale calls Marco, urges him to withdraw the lawsuit against Leonor. She’s going to a convention for a few days, but he’d better do as she says, or she promises, he and Chavez will go to jail.

Okay, what Urdiales really wanted was a personal advisor or consultant. He said asesoría, which I thought was an accessory. Well, Claudia fits both descriptions, so we’ll let it go. Generala and Rosaura urge her to go for it with the big guy, he looks rich, not like the losers (muertos de hambre) she’s been going with. Speaking of which, Marco calls, and gets the time and place of the convention. Claudia’s tired of his spy requests, with never any bonus for her. He says they won’t be seeing much of each other anymore. After he hangs up, she thinks it’s too bad, because he did turn her on. She envies Ale, who has two guys crazy about her, when Claudia doesn’t even have one (there really was no reason for this picture, except that I really think Claudia is pretty :))


Rafa wants them to go to the convention in the Pantera, it’s an extension of himself (una prolongación de mi mismo). Ale agrees. Rafa’s happy friends enter. They’re afraid to talk in front of Ale, but says she knows everything, the hacienda was free of the lien for months, and Marco had an arrangement with Carmela to keep it quiet. So, says Dandy, do you believe us now? Well…..yes, but I’m not too impressed with your method (procedimientos) of seducing a woman to get information. The boys look duly chastised.

Todo yo Daniel sidles into Marian’s office, full of plans to recover Ale, and get Rafa for Marian. Let’s join forces. Marian is dubious, why? Because I’m totally in love with you, Marian. Oh really? If you’re so in love with me, why do you want to conquer Alejandra? Good point, but Dan forges right ahead with not wanting to be outdone by that car salesman. How can three sexy women be gaga over that slob, when I, so full of love, don’t even have one? Marian explains why. You act like a child, Daniel, and love is not a game. He’s not deterred, still insists that he can seduce Ale, leaving Rafa free for her. And his plan? Go to the convention. (Okay, we had the famous barbecue, next up, the famous convention. Should be something).

In an outdoor café, Claudia is talking cars, but Urdiales admits he’s already bought them. Then, why are we here? asks Claudia. Can’t you guess? he hints. Well, maybe, but (she actually tries to COVER her boobs here), I don’t go out with married men! How about divorced ones? She lights up, uncovers the boobs, give them a little boost, and asks if he has children. Not yet, but I’m not discounting the possibility. Do you have any candidates to help with that? she purrs. Could be, as they look in each others’ eyes, some fine wine is poured, and Claudia may have finally hit the jackpot, as she languidly waves her ringless, sensuous fingers.

Leonor is watching a telenovela when there’s a loud knock. This time, it’s not Vicky, it’s Jaime. He proudly presents his diploma to Leonor.

They smile, she gives him a congratulatory hug, and he tells her he owes all this to two women. My Granny, and you, Leonor. She gets misty as he thanks her for all the support she gave him. He adds that he’s not thanking her to get Julieta back, he knows that’s his sole responsibility. He had to come, to give her this diploma, to thank her, from the bottom of his heart, because she’s always, always been the mother that he never had. He loves her very much. She cries tears of joy.


Rafa gets a call from Urdiales, the sale is confirmed! So they can go to the convention without worrying about that. Ale and Rafa do “gol!”, they high five, they say they’re invincible, and they kiss. The only thing, says Rafa, is that Urdiales has to go to a meeting in Cuernavaca in two days for the final signing, by the Director of Acquisitions, and Rafa and Ale will have to go there, too. So (I think) Rafa and Ale will go to the convention “tomorrow”, and the next day to Cuernavaca. Let’s hope the Pantera doesn’t break down (or as Private 057 predicted, Rafa doesn’t get kidnapped). Ale’s not worried, if the Pantera breaks down, she’ll help push. Money, money, money, says Ale in glee. For the wedding. But, says Rafa, we’re not going to spend TOO much on the wedding are we? Do we have to have all that champagne? Of course not, handsome, she gushes, I don’t need any expensive wedding, just to be with you for the rest of our lives. But promise me you’ll sing. And I’ll be totally yours. They kiss again.

Vicky calls Marco, angry. So are we going to meet? No, replies cool Marco, I’ve already decided what to do, and I’m not telling you. But I’m going to a convention for a few days. He hangs up. Vicky EXPLODES with rage. If things don’t go her way, WATCH OUT!!!!!!



And Monday? It’s “tomorrow”, and (although they could be teasing us), it looks as if Private 057 is right!!!!!


Vocabulario:

Quince días – two weeks, literally 15 days, but the first and last are counted, unlike the way we calculate it
Restregar – scrub or rub. Restriégales en las narices means rub it in their noses, or in their face
Van a rodar cabezas – heads will roll, you can also say rodarán cabezas
Asesoría personal – a personal advisor, or consultant (not a personal accessory, as I originally thought!) Actually a consultant is un asesor, but asesoría is like a consultancy
Una prolongación de mi mismo – an extension of myself
Procedimientos – procedures, or methods of doing something

Labels: dinero

The recap is up now. Thanks for the patience everyone. Everything went really well yesterday with the playgound! Here is a pic of the nearly complete playground.


We get a bit of a replay from last time. Bertha and Dora are in Mario’s office and Bertha is giving Dora a hard time about properly cleaning Mario’s office. Dora takes offense. She’s worked 11 years for Mario in this house with no complaint. Well, Bertha’s in charge now. As Ale enters looking distracted, Dora reminds Bertha that only Abelardo is allowed to touch anything in Mario’s office. Bertha doesn’t care (what’s new?). Dora leaves and Ale shares with Bertha what has her so worried and distracted. She explains the whole Elsa, Architect Medina, JJ situation. Mario walks into his office just at that moment wanting to know who the man is that she is speaking of.

A man he doesn’t know, answers Ale. Someone who’s getting her into trouble (lirios)—Juan Jose Victorio. At the mention of this name, Dora who is passing with a tray full of china, drops the whole tray in a loud crash, totally impactada. They all turn to look at her in surprise so we cannot tell if this name resonates with Mario. We also never return to this scene, so the mystery of Dorra and JJ will continue a bit longer.

At Adolfo’s apartment, Yolanda is showing Adolfo the huge, likely hot, diamond she bought from the jeweler for a bargain price. Adolfo is impressed. It’s a fantastic diamond! He takes a closer look and we can tell that there’s obviously something else of interest here. Turns out it’s an exact match to one of the diamonds he had sent in the shoes. “It’s one of them!” He’s going to get it to his expert to confirm his suspicions, and in the meantime he wants the jeweler to keep an eye out for that guy who sold it. Yolanda is in a state of disbelief. How can it be the same diamonds when David threw the shoes in the trash in L.A.? Adolfo, ever suspicious of others' motives, thinks that was a lie. He’s sure the girls not only still have the shoes, but have sold the diamonds for their own gain. He’s even more sure of this now that he’s heard they’re leaving town. “Strange coincidence, no?” Adolfo intends to get his diamonds back!

At a local flea infested hotel, Marcos and Susana spread the diamonds out on the bed, imagining how much money they can get for them. Marcos decides he’s going to sell another one—the big one. They decide to ask 100,000 pesos for it.

Our other lottery winners, JJ and Limon, are still looking wild eyed excited at finding their treasure of gold bars. JJ is grateful that Limon made him keep looking and assures him that they are sharing the treasure. They’re all one family now (JJ, Limon, Caramelo, and Elsita), and the treasure belongs to all of them. They hug as Caramelo comes out cradling a gold bar. Limon scolds her that it’s not a plaything and to put it back. JJ, ever the softie, doesn’t want to be so hard on her. In fact, he thinks they should be thinking of putting her in school. When Limon points out that Caramelo doesn’t have any official papers that would allow them to register her in school, JJ counters that they can buy her some papers. And they’ll all live right here in this house. JJ, Limon and Caramelo can each have their own room (guess it wouldn’t be proper for Elsa to move in), and they’ll turn one room into a den/office. They start to daydream about all the things they want in the house. As for the problem of how to convert all that gold into money, they’ll leave that up to Elsa as she’s the brains of this operation. (I would say uh oh, but Elsa’s managed to help them out so far by really working her connections.)

Gabi is arriving at her apartment building and runs into Leo who is leaving. Leo says he doesn’t want to butt in, but he wants to make sure she knows what she’s doing with that guy he saw her with (David). “He’s my boyfriend.” Gabi’s starting to get bristly (careful Leo). “Are you sure he’s trustworthy (de confianza)?” Wrong question Leo. Gabi is in full defensive mode. “Why does the whole world distrust David? Anyway, it’s NONE of your business!” Leo says she’s right and sadly walks away.

JJ is still riding a high when he answers his door excitedly, ready to share the good news with Elsa. He finds not just Elsa, but also Medina. Elsa immediately starts to scold JJ. She doesn’t understand why he won’t sell Medina the house when it will be to his benefit, and after all the architect has done for him. JJ can’t contain his news anymore, and despite Medina’s presence, announces they’ve found the treasure! Elsa rushes to the kitchen with the boys with a completely perplexed Medina in tow. When Caramelo reveals the gold bars under a blanket, Medina is open mouth impactado.
Elsa is all excited smiles. She runs to JJ to hug him, then hugs Limon and picks Caramelo up into an embrace. They get Medina’s assurance that he won’t say anything. He sincerely promises not to. Anyway, JJ is the legitimate owner of the house, and as he found the treasure in his home, it belongs to him. He wants to know how they knew the treasure was there and JJ says it’s a long story that he may tell him some other time. They do however, need to find some way of protecting the treasure legally, so Medina offers the services of a lawyer who can take care of it. (I like this guy more and more each second.)

Medina asks if anyone else know about the treasure, as he thinks that might be why someone tried to set him up the other day. Elsa and Caramelo swear they have told no one. Limon hasn’t told anyone either, but he is worried about that friend of Elsa’s (Carlos) who saw him in the hole. They hope that he suspected nothing.

Marcos is back at the jeweler’s. He’s got another jewel (hoya) that his “aunt” gave him to sell. The jeweler compliments his “aunt” on her jewels and wonders if she has more. Marcos admits that indeed she does. They begin to haggle on the price of the large diamond. Marco wants his 100,000 pesos. The jeweler scoffs at that price, saying the diamond is full of flaws. They finally come to an agreement on 50,000, but only if Marcos agrees to bring the rest of the jewels to him to sell. Once Marcos leaves, he tells his employee to follow him and find out where he lives. He then cackles at how stupid Marcos is, as that diamond he just sold for 50,000 is worth more than 5 million pesos!

At JJ’s, Elsa is helping the boys count the gold bars, as they check that no more remain in the well. They have 400 bars of gold! They quickly make the calculations and figure out that they have approximately 300,032 million pesos worth of gold! They are all beyond impactados. They wonder what they should do now, and decide to wait for Architect Medina to return. Now they want to go celebrate with the few pesos they manage to scrape together.

Roberto visits Carlos at Club Sagitarius to update him on the plans he’s laying for the special date with Julieta. He’ll have Juli bring Gabi along, and then Carlos will have his opportunity. Carlos wants to make sure it’s someplace they can stay the whole night, as he plays menacingly with his letter opener. (Run Gabi and Juli! Run!) Roberto notices Carlos’ unique pinky finger ring (the blue one with the triangular diamond that we see in the credits and know was also found on Marta’s dead body).

He asks about it and Carlos explains that it’s a talisman that can bring good or bad luck. Ever grabby of anything that is Carlos’, Roberto demands that Carlos gift it to him. Carlos refuses. It’s a one of a kind piece (único) that his dad gave him years ago. There were two of them, and if they’re separated all sorts of bad juju will happen. But Carlos doesn’t believe any of that. His dad lost the other one many years ago. (Hmmmm…..)

Back at the Flea Motel, Susana is flipping through a magazine impatiently waiting for Marcos to return from the jeweler’s. Marcos finally arrives looking nervous. Seems our boy has a few brain cells and realized he was being followed. He had to walk around in circles and do some fancy footwork to lose the guy tailing him before returning. Susana doesn’t dwell on this news too long. She’s happy with the 50,000 and already starts to plan the clothes, shoes and handbags she’ll buy. Marcos is happy to indulge her, but he also thinks they should be thinking of investing some of the money in something that will help their future. He wants to buy a truck, so he can start a business transporting things. Susana does not look over the moon at the thought of being a trucker’s girlfriend, but Marcos says they have to start thinking about their future and the money won’t last forever. (Wow! I am blown away that he has shown so much intelligence and stupidity in the same episode.)

Gabi is checking in with her dad on the phone. He’s in Mexicali and hasn’t found work yet. He won’t be back for another week. Juli comes in to the room as Gabi is wrapping up the call and gets the update from Gabi. Juli sees their dad’s continuing absence as an opportunity to accept Roberto’s offer for a date on Sunday at a luxery hotel. She wants Gabi to come with her, but Gabi refuses. Juli, in full little sister mode, threatens that if Gabi won’t go with her, she will just go by herself! This tantrum is interrupted by a call from David. He’s grinning from ear to ear as he invites Gabi out to dinner. She can barely suppress her huge smile under Juli's watchful gaze. But Juli has figured out who was on the phone, what he wanted, and that Gabi accepted. She hopes this means Gabi will aks their dad to change his mind about leaving the city. Gabi refuses to do so. She doesn’t want to disappoint their dad who so desperately wants to leave. Juli is expectantly pouty and furious.

Now we get to the most fun part of our episode. JJ, Limon, Elsa and Caramelo have arrived at a fancy department store, Pretty Woman style, to begin their makeovers. Good guy Medina is at the bank taking care of the gold bars business and advanced JJ 300,000 pesos for their shopping spree.

The first order of business for Caramelo is a new baby doll, or two. She drags Elsa away and they spend the afternoon buying and playing with toys, trying on pretty dresses, including a Mini-Me Elsa look, and having a fun girly day.

JJ and Limon head to menswear where a snooty, pretty-boy salesman tries to shoo them away. A look at the wad of cash JJ keeps pulling out from his pockets and socks (lol!) quickly change his mind however, and he is soon personally serving these two gentlemen and helping in their transformation. They want hats, pants in every color, jackets, and shirts. The salesman looks like he has a tiny orgasm when they say they want ties (corbatas) too! Oh happy day!

At Adolfo’s, Yolanda shares the news of another diamond sale from the mysterious muchacho. Adolfo is now 100% sure that the girls are behind it and this guy is their accomplice. He’s going to take care of this, and begins to make a call as he orders Yolanda to leave. She lingers long enough to drink a glass of her beloved absinthe and to overhear Adolfo order someone to come over right now. She makes another plea for him to leave the girls alone, but he orders her to leave (Véte!).

At an elegant restaurant, David and Gabi are having dinner and mooning at each other. He informs her he has to go to Cancun for a few days to check in on one of their hotels. She checks to make sure his cousin isn’t going with him this time. He promises, and makes her promise she won’t go out with Carlos while he’s away this time. She promises, and viewerville sees another breakup very soon in their future when Juli has her way.

Back at the Deliptated Casa, everyone is still abuzz about their shopping spree. Limon even agrees to bathe before wearing his new duds! JJ wants to know why Elsa didn’t buy anything for herself, but she shyly begs off and changes the subject. She’s more concerned about where they will be sleeping while the renovations are being done on the house. They’re booked in a luxery hotel. And who’s JJ going to contract to do the renovations? Medina? Nope. JJ has someone else in mind. (Hmmmm…. Who could that be?)

At Adolfo’s, Roberto has arrived and receives orders from Adolfo to search the girls’ apartment for the diamonds while they’re at work tonight.

Ale and Mina are in their offices as they discuss the JJ/Medina situation through Ale’s office door. In walks a well shod pair of men’s feet in Mina’s office and she is left speechless for a second. We can already tell those feet are attached to a handsome man, and when the camera pans slowly up his legs, chest and then face, this is confirmed. We see a delicious looking, clean shaven JJ in a suit, smiling at Mina. He asks for Ale and Mina directs him in. “Señorita Alejandra Genoves?” She turns around from her shelves and immediately recognizes JJ from the tunnel. “Usted?”

"Good afternoon. How can I help you?" Ale asks, then confirms that he’s the man she met in the tunnel. JJ confirms this and says she’s just the architect he needs and that he’s renovating his house. It’s old and falling apart and he’s sure she can make it nice and pretty for him. He looks her up and down quickly, and it’s obvious he’s NOT thinking about the house when he’s talking about pretty things.

“Please sit Señor…” He introduces himself as Juan Ocampo, leaving out two key pieces of his name—the Jose and the Victorio parts. Ale wants to know how he knew her name was Alejandra Genoves. He makes up an excuse about seeing it in the listing and this all being a coincidence. Anyway, she points out, Genoves is her second last name. Her full last name is Balmori Genoves. Ale asks where the house is and when he says Jazmin 33, she and Mina are shocked that it’s the same house that belongs to Elsa’s friend Juan Jose Victorio (aka Juan Jose Victorio Ocampo). “Yes, he sold it to me.” Impactada faces on Mina and Ale.

At Roberto’s, Juli is losing track of time while making out with Roberto. She realizes she’s late for work and quickly heads to the bathroom to freshen up. While she’s there Roberto steals her housekeys from her purse.

Meanwhile at the Club, Carlos has stopped Gabi to ask if her sister is sick and not coming in. Gabi assures him she’s on her way in and tries to go about her work. But this was all really an excuse for Carlos to make a case for them to be friends. Gabi tries to find a polite way out of this conversation when in walks Juli. She heads straight to her little sis and demands to know where she’s been. Juli lets her know she was with Roberto and flounces off.

Roberto, meanwhile, is tearing their apartment apart, even dumping all their spices, looking for the diamonds. He does not find them, but finds something of more personal interest to him behind the stereo speakers. An exact copy of Carlos’ ring!

He puts it in his breastpocket, looking very satified with his discovery.

Labels: verdad