Caray, Caray!

Wednesday August 30, 2006

Hi guys, this is Amanda. I’m just filling in for Julie for these two days, so this may be a little different than you’re used to. If you guys have anything that you would like me to do differently if I ever fill in again, just let me know and I’ll do my best to accommodate you.

Tuesday
We start with Marcia and Alicia still on the phone. Marcia tells Alicia again that there is not going to be a wedding and then hangs up. Alicia is, of course, not happy; she wants to know more.

In Fernando’s car, he sees that Lety’s not happy that he’s not canceling the wedding. Fernando tries to calm her by explaining that he has to go on with wedding so that Ariel doesn’t get the company and dissolve it. He assure Lety that he will only go on with the preparations until the big committee meeting and then he is going to tell Marcia that he will not marry her. What is going to be Lety’s response???? !!!!

First we have to see what’s going on with Erasmo and Julieta. They’re talking about a girl they know (Rosita, I think) who canceled her wedding one month before it was to take place. And they’ve already paid the Mariachi! Julieta states that she feels very bad for Rosita’s mother and she hopes Lety never has to go through anything like this (Okay, am I the only one who has the impression that Julieta suspects the whole Lety/Fernando relationship? Does she not know that he’s engaged?) Erasmo of says that his daughter would never permit something likes this to happen. Julieta doesn’t look so sure.

We’re back in the car. Lety basically tells Fernando that he’s crazy. Fernando agrees, but it’s only because he’s crazy for her. Lety goes on about how much she loves him and Fernando expresses how much he wants the relationship to continue (basically rehashing the last I don’t want to break up conversation from a month ago). There’s handholding! And kissing! And then IT comes out. Big smile. “Are you saying you want to formalize our relationship?!!” Definitely not a smile from Fernando. He tells her that this is exactly what he wants (how she didn’t hear the sound that preceded this comment-who knows.) More kisses!

Back to Julieta and Erasmo. Apparently Rosita’s fiancée was a little bit of a dog, and everyone knew about it. Julieta expresses how bad she feels and then turns her attention to the pastry in the middle of the table.

Fernando drops Lety off and let’s her know how happy he is that their relationship is going to continue. After Lety gets out of the car, Fernando declares that God is going to punish him for this when he gets to Heaven. God decides not to wait and gives Fernando a nice little warning with some lightening.

Julieta and Erasmo are still going on about who gets the pastry when Lety comes into the house. Julieta tells Lety Rosita’s story. She then says that Lety would never go about with an engaged man. All of a sudden, Lety is hungry and does not need to eat but she promises to have a big breakfast tomorrow.

Martha is out with her family and she’s letting them know that she’s upset because her friends won’t joke around with her. Her daughter wants to know why. Martha doesn’t come out and say it; she says she betrayed them, just a little. Her daughter hits a nerve by telling her mom that she eats all the time when she’s not hungry. Martha and her husband go aside and she starts to cry and tell him how bad she feels that she is overweight. He lets her know that he doesn’t care about that; he just wants her to be happy. Kisses! He even volunteers to buy her more food.

Omar is in another bar, hitting on another woman. It appears that its working and he just might get the girl when Fernando calls. Omar goes outside and asks what happened. Fernando tells him everything. Omar wants to know if Fernando really is going to cancel his wedding with Marcia. Of course not! He can’t, silly Omar! What am I going to do with Lety the day of the wedding???!!! Omar reminds Fernando about Lety’s obsession with him and says that she’ll come to accept it when it happens. Classy Omar then wants to know about the kisses. Lots is all Fernando can say. “Did you look at the photo of Patricia Manterola?” Uh-oh, Fernando doesn’t need the photo anymore. “Did you enjoy the kisses?” Talk to you later, Omar.

Lety writes about her conversation with Fernando in her diary. (Just in case you’re wondering, no shiny pen). “Soon the world will know that we’re together, we’re in love. I’m going to shout it to the four winds!” Lety feels bad for Marcia. She treats Lety poorly, but she feels bad for her knowing that the wedding is not going to happen. During the next scene when Fernando goes to see Marcia you can hear her talking about her relationship with Fernando.

Fernando goes to Marcia’s apartment to talk about the wedding. Marcia doesn’t want to hear anything. He lets her know that they’re going to get married after the big committee meeting. Eventually, Marcia hits it right on the head. “You would rather marry me then lose your presidency in the company.” Fernando tries some reverse psychology and lets her know that’s exactly what he wants. Marcia wants to know if he’s going to continue with his girlfriend. What girlfriend??? Marcia lets Fernando know that she’s not going to share. “With who?” Marcia says she’ll marry him. He better not leave her; that would be bad news for her parents. The worst, really!. Kisses. Um, wait, Fernando doesn’t want to kiss. He wants to rest. Marcia acts like she’s okay with this, but first she needs to check out his suit coat. Ooops, there’s the infamous photo. !

Julieta comes into Lety’s bedroom with some extra delicious orange juice (this is a big breakfast?). Julieta wants to know what’s going on with Lety. Lety tries to play it off, but Julieta can tell that Lety is different. Lety gets really close to letting it out, but she tries to make her relationship with Fernando sound more like a professional friendship. Julieta says to herself that she hopes the happiness from this lasts a long time.

Back at Conceptos, Lola runs in late. Paula Maria wants to know what happened; Lola’s never late. Lola has a blender in a bag; I think it’s a wedding gift for Marcia.

Fernando and Marcia walk in. Alicia is already there. Alicia says that now she is poor it makes her show up to work on time. She lets Marcia know that she’s actually early because she had insomnia worrying about Marcia’s situation. “Change of plans,” Marcia lets her know and walks off to her office.

Omar and Fernando continue with conversation about the wedding. Lety comes in and has a short conversation about the report and leaves. Omar goes on about Lety and then shoes Fernando his next gift to Lety. Fernando actually says that the gift is ugly. Omar gives him a card and tells him it’s all about Fernando talking about how happy he is about his and Lety’s future. More of the usual Omar and Fernando conversation. Omar makes some weird sounds.

Marcia is tells Alicia that she has to believe Fernando because that’s what she wants. Alicia wants to know what’s going to happen with the “other woman” when they marry. Marcia says she doesn’t know, but she’s been fighting for Fernando for three years and is not about to cancel the wedding now when she’s so close. Later in the episode Marcia lets Alicia that she found Patricia Monterola’s photo in Fernando’s suit jacket.

Now we’re in Luigi’s office. He’s telling his models about his fabulous commercial when Lety comes in. He tells her he doesn’t want her in there, but Lety wants to know where Irmita is. She comes in with a drawing of Marcia’s wedding dress. Luigi wants Lety to leave. She lets him know that she’s there by order of the president. Luigi goes on about how beautiful Marcia will be in her dress.

Back to Fernando and Omar. Another uh-oh, Fernando hasn’t slept with Marcia since he’s been with Lety. He tells Omar that he can’t be with Marcia after kissing Lety. Omar reminds him that he’s done it before. “But not with Lety, Carvajal.” Omar wants to know why this matters. What’s going on with Fernando?

Lety is still in Luigi’s office. Irmita returns and answers the phone and gives it to Luigi. It’s Patricia Manterola (we’ll call her Patty for short)!

In his office, Fernando is holding up the photo of Miss Patty. Omar wants it back. Nope! Careful, Omar, Fernando may bite you if you get too close.

Luigi talks on the phone with Patty. He wants her to take him to a party. She can’t take him to the party coming up, but would love to take him to another. Luigi lets her know about the two advertising contracts that Conceptos has. Then he asks her if she knows about the President of Conceptos? She’s seen him in magazines.

Omar and Fernando keep fighting over the photo. Somehow Omar got it without being bit. He tells Fernando that if he keeps the photo it may cause problems. Fernando gives the photo a “kiss” goodbye just as Lety enters. She doesn’t seem to buy his excuse. Fernando knows he’s been caught.

Paula Maria (PM) is on the phone trying to find another place to stay. She has nowhere to live and no prospective boyfriend. Oh wait! Saimon enters. All of a sudden she’s happy! Of course she’ll accept the invitation of her friend on the phone! And them… Patricia Manterola appears!

Wednesday

Repeat of Paula Maria’s conversation on the phone. PM insults Saimon. In comes Patty. Saimon is entranced. Patty is looking for Luigi. Saimon almost chokes on some breath freshener. PM lets Luigi know Patty’s there.

Lety is in her office and sees the present (I forgot to say that it’s a stuffed duck) and then reads her card. I have to admit that Omar may not be good with the presents, but he writes some nice cards. Lety is happy.

Irmita, Omar and Fernando are in a meeting. Irmita thinks it’s weird that Fernando wants her help. Irmita lets Fernando that her work helps her maintain her life because when she’s home, she’s alone. Fernando tells her that she can have a vacation financed by Conceptos. Lety enters. Winks at Fernando. Fernando winks back but not very enthusiastically.

Saimon offers to take Patty to Luigi’s office. She seems a little scared, but accepts. After some of Saimon’s antics, they get in the elevator. PM is not happy. Saimon starts to tell Patty about the people and areas of Conceptos, including Juana and Sara. He introduces them to Patty in front of Alicia. Alicia has better places to be. Geez, I wonder where she could be headed?

Saimon introduces Patty to Martha and Lola. He wants to know why Martha doesn’t stand up in the presence of Patty. They walk away. Martha and Lola are very excited they got to meet her.

Ay Marcia! Patty is here. I saw her with my own eyes. Alicia lets Marcia know that Fernando is shut up in a meeting. Marcia wonders why she wasn’t invited to the meeting. Alicia thinks that Patty is not with Fernando because she knows that Marcia is there and doesn’t want to be obvious by asking around for him.

Patty surprises Luigi. Saimon looks lost. Luigi says that Patty looks divine. Saimon agrees. Luigi wants Saimon to leave; Saimon tells Luigi he was the one who showed Patty to Luigi’s office. Luigi doesn’t care. Luigi wants to know the man who is so lucky that he gets Patty. Patty would rather see Luigi’s video.

Marcia says she doesn’t have sufficient proof to confront Patty about her relationship with Fernando. Alicia tells Marcia that Fernando and Patty are probably laughing about Marcia.

Back to the meeting. They’re actually talking business. (Fernando and Omar work?). Luigi calls and wants to talk to Fernando. Lety doesn’t want to give up the phone to Fernando and says that Fernando said no interruptions. Fernando overhears the conversation and shouts at the phone that he doesn’t want to talk. Luigi says Fernando doesn’t want to know that Patricia Manterola is here??? She wants to meet him. Lety remembers all the times she saw Fernando with Patty’s photo. Lety looks sick. Everyone gasps when Lety tells Fernando that Patty is at Conceptos. Fernando says he feels obligated to go meet her. Irmita reminds him that there is a lot of work that needs to be done. Fernando says Lety can take care of everything, and Omar can help. Lety tells Luigi that Fernando is coming.

Patty wants to know who Luigi was talking to. He describes Lety as he sees her, and then he lets Patty know that Fernando is coming. Careful with him he warns her!

Fernando is in the hall preparing himself. He pretends he’s doing a contract with 2 million Euros and then has a fake conversation with Patty. Back in the meeting, Lety is visibly upset.

Luigi keeps going on about Patty’s beauty. He says that now she’s getting married, she needs to be careful. She shows him the ring. Luigi freaks out when he runs into the cuartel. Patty is very polite to them. Luigi takes her into Fernando’s office. Fernando pushes him out of the way and gives her some kisses on the cheek and then offers her a chair. Bye Luigi! Fernando pushes him out. Fernando wants to know why Patty is at Conceptos. She’s just visiting. He compliments her. (He kind of looked at her like Lety looks at him.)

Alicia lets Marcia know that Patty is in Fernando’s office. Meanwhile, Omar is trying to get Lety to talk about the budget for Luigi’s commercial.

Back in Fernando’s office, Patty is promising Fernando that she won’t take up much of Luigi’s time. She just needs his help with her upcoming wedding. Enter Lety. She needs something in her office. Fernando introduces Lety and Patty. Funny dream on Lety’s part about Fernando protecting her from a very sexy Patty on his desk. He tells Lety that she is the most beautiful and enchanting woman in the world. Back to reality. Lety asks Patty if she wants something to drink. Just water. Fernando finds this cute. Lety leaves.

Marcia runs up to Lety and wants to know where Fernando is and with whom. Lety tells her. Marcia accuses Lety of being Patty’s friend. Huh? Nope says Lety and runs off.

Patty gives Fernando a CD and some other gifts. Fernando keeps going on about her. Marcia comes in and Fernando introduces her. Marcia picks up the gifts. Patty wants Marcia and Fernando to listen to her CD and give their opinion. Marcia decides she doesn’t want to play to nice. She wants to know why she wasn’t in the meeting. Lety, Omar and Irmita are handling it. Marcia storms off. Fernando keeps comparing the CD photo to Patty and says it doesn’t do her justice. Will she autograph it?

Marcia walks out and the cuartel asks if she’s okay. Martha says Marcia is jealous. Marcia has walked off and wants to know why Lety is taking water to Patty. She runs into Alicia and tells her that she wasn’t able to tell anything from her conversation with Fernando and Patty.

Fernando is going on about Patty, when Lety brings in water. Lety tells Fernando that she needs some stuff from her office, but she stalls when he tells her to go ahead and get them. Patty asks Fernando if he’s getting married. Luigi told her. Fernando says that Luigi must have been joking, who would I marry. “Marcia, you’re fiancée??” Patty wants to know when the wedding is. (Lety is listening to this whole conversation in her office and is upset). Fernando says people get married just to get their photo in the newspaper. Lety hears this and starts throwing heavy binders at the door. Patty wants to know what happened. “Mice! Mice!” He calls to Lety ask what happened. “Nothing, Don Fernando.” Patty gets up to leave. Fernando delays her and Lety walks out and gets right between them. When they get close, Lety drops papers between them from Fernando’s inbox. Fernando tells Lety to leave. Lety sadly tells Patty goodbye. Patty wants to know why Fernando treats Lety so poorly. Fernando tries to plays her question off and then tries to make her laugh. Lety stands outside his door and looks like she’s about to cry.

Omar comes up to Lety and wants to know if Fernando is still in there with Patty. Omar wants to know what’s wrong with Lety. She says nothing and storms off. Omar goes the other way. The cuartel sees it all. They go to the bathroom to check on her. The want to know what’s happening with Patty and Fernando. They make a lot of insinuations about the relationship between the two. This doesn’t make it better for Lety. She’s not going to tell them anything.

Marcia and Alicia keep going on about Patty. Marcia is sure she sang all of her songs in private for Fernando. They move on to making fun of Lety. Alicia remembers that Luigi knows Patty.

The cuartel want to know about Fernando’s girlfriend. Conversation changes to Lety’s relationship with Tomas. It takes one scene change to get back to talking about Patty. Lola goes on about the many adventures of Fernando and his girls. Sara declares Patty a superwoman a 90”-60”-90” who could possibly satisfy Fernando and steal him from Marcia. Martha asks Lety if she thinks Patricia the much talked about lover of Fernando.
For next time:
Will Marcia confront Patricia Manterola?
How is Fernando going to make up for his behavior to Lety???
Stay Tuned.

I just realized how long this is, so I’m sorry if you have to wade through to find what you’re looking for. If there’s anything that I left out that you want to know, just let me know and I’ll do my best. Have a great weekend!!!!!

Labels: fea

Labels: heridas

I, personally, am having a busy week (nothing bad, just annoying). So, I've only seen Monday's episode so far, and I won't be watching tonight, either. Rather than make everybody wait till the weekend for everything, I thought it might not be a bad idea to give a compact recap of Monday's, at least, so people won't be too lost:

Throughout this episode, there is the usual filler talk between Omar and Fernando, agonizing over having to maintain the two relationships. I'm not going to rehash any of this. No useful information is given. However, at one point, Omar gives Fernando the photo of Patty Manterola to help him out with his next talk with Lety. (What was Omar doing with that in the first place? Never mind; don't answer.)

Luigi, who once stole one of Carolina's boyfriends, scolds Yazmin for being lippy with Irma (telling Irma which jewelry she should be allowed to wear for the presentation). Flaquito calls (on Luigi's phone, making Luigi even more annoyed) to tell Yazmin he's decided to go after Lola's house. Yazmin is pleased.

Marcia confides to Carolina that she's considering cancelling the wedding. Carolina tells Marcia not to rush into getting married if there are any doubts, but Marcia fears that if she doesn't marry Fernando in September, they may never get married. Meanwhile, Ariel tells Fernando he hopes he doesn't marry Marcia. And if he doesn't, Ariel is going to sell his shares and dissolve the company. (Omar just stands there unhelpfully like a silent idiot, figuring that if he doesn't move, Ariel won't be able to see him and eat him.)

During Luigi's very impressive presentation for Bella Life jewelry, Marcia watches Fern carefully to see if he's ogling any particular model who might be his girlfriend. Omar and Ariel drool openly. Meanwhile, there is a lot of nasty talk out in the hallway between Alicia and the feas, including a confrontation about Alicia trying to steal Lety's boyfriend. Alicia warns Lety not to challenge her.

After the presentation, Alicia tells Luigi that she should be in the commercial. I assume this is because a) she needs the money and b) after that incident with the feas, she is probably in need of a morale-booster. Ariel is not in the mood to boost anybody. He agrees with her that she does wear her clothes well, but she looks even better without them. Everyone is aghast at this very rude (and loud) remark from him, and she runs out mortified.

Ariel also claims this will be Conceptos's last project, which surprises Marcia. He announces to everyone that if Fern & Marcia don't get married in September, he's dissolving the company because Fern breaks all of his promises. He tells them all to have a nice day, and leaves. Luigi wants to know what's going on, for the sake of the dress (I guess he's going to be making it?). Marcia stomps off in tears.

Ariel seizes another opportunity to insult Alicia again on his way out of the lobby. Alicia unloads on Marcia about how little respect she gets from everyone and that she's treated like a nobody or a floozy. Marcia is a bit cold with her but says "do what you want with my brother - defraud him, kill him - just get even." Alicia asks Marcia what's wrong, and Marcia repeats, "get even." She goes home and starts drinking. (That can't be good.)

To impress Yazmin, Saimon asks Luigi to let him be his creative assistant. Luigi says no, he's a solo act. Luigi and his models make fun of Yazmin, and Yazmin tells Saimon they need to curtail their "relationship" because she doesn't want Lola's gossip getting back to El Cheque.

Fern insists on taking Lety home, so they can talk about everything.

Alicia gets a call from Roman, asking how is Jakarta. She hangs up on him. Then she realizes that was the guy from the other night, still hoping for a date with Alicia and Marcia. Omar comes along. She detains him for some reason, and he repeats Ariel's mean joke to her. Then Fern comes by and formally announces that he's taking Lety home. Just so there won't be any questions about his whereabouts. Then he mocks her. (Alicia's not a nice person, but this has been a really bad day for her and you just know she's going to do something stupid to try to feel better about herself.)

Alicia calls Marcia, who is drinking. She tells her about the call from Roman, but Marcia is not interested. Then Alicia says that Fern left with "la garnacha" (the grape??) or "la guarnacha" (can't find a translation for that). (It sure would be nice if she would pick a nickname for Lety that's easy to understand and translate. I finally got the hang of "tlacoyo bigoton" and now she has a new nickname?? Not fair!) Marcia is still not interested. Alicia is stunned and a little insulted by Marcia's apathy. Marcia snaps, "there's not going to be a wedding!" Let's see if she remembers that tomorrow after she sobers up.

In Fern's car, Fern tells Lety that it won't be easy, but he wants to continue their relationship. She is worried about complicating his life and the wedding. Fern says some stuff that's probably funny, and possibly explains Ariel's threat to dissolve the company. Ultimately, Fern tells Lety that he won't cancel the wedding, but he's not going to marry Marcia, either.

All I know about Tuesday's episode (which I probably won't see until tomorrow) is that Patty Manterola is in it, which should be interesting, given that Marcia and Lety both know that Fernando keeps her photo around.

---

I'm having dictionary trouble, btw. I got the Oxford one because it's big and had lots of words in it. (Correction: It's only the "Pocket" edition - but it's way too big for my pocket! The desk or unabridged version is probably much better so I guess I just need to shell out for a bigger book.) With no other info to go on, I thought those were decent criteria. And I'm sure it's fine for most purposes. However, vocabulary-wise, it's just not cut out for telenovela-watching. Plus, it's mostly British English, which is more of an impediment than I would have guessed. (For example, the English equivalent of one Spanish word was "plebby." Eventually I figured out that was slang for plebeian and referred to what I suppose we would call riffraff, but "plebby" is not a familiar word to me or the people I asked.) I have a few other gripes about it too, but my point is, I'd like some recommendations for a more useful dictionary. Thanks!

Labels: fea

She doesn't wear black and she's not carrying a big stick, but Berta is still the Queen of Mean around these parts...

Amparito the doormat is spilling her guts to Ramon, the guy who stood her up the night before. What's up with that? Get some backbone! For some reason he has an interest in Fernanda. Amparito tells him that godmother Fernanda is beloved throughout the colonies. "Fernanda's not like us, she's classy," Amparo states. She asks Ramon his marital status. He's got some sob story about his difficult childhood, had to take care of a sickly mom, no friends, she died, he had to work, that's why he's all alone. Amparito is pitifully sorry. What's he up to I wonder?

Luciano is leading the board meeting and Alejandro phones from outside. He says Gonzo and his lawyer have a secret and he wants to find out what it is.

Cesar has some report that shows Don Julio is completely to blame for the San Llorente financial fiasco and Cesar's participation is not mentioned. The stocks that Don Julio sold were the ones in his son's names. They were sold illegally and the report shows the seller was Don Julio, the investigation will be on him. When Cesar gets Daniel and Angel Bustamante to withdraw their accusations it will accomplish two things, he will be a hero in Miranda's eyes and he will save the company. Yep, that'll make her his all right.

In the Bored Room (yawn) Vicente the lawyer informs Luciano, a surprised Miranda and the rest of the members that Don Gonzo has made Miranda president of San Llorente Inversiones (SLI).

Veronica is smoking and sulking and still hasn't packed her bags after getting the boot by Squeaky. She tells Erica she's not going to leave. Squeaky enters and snottily says the truck is ready to take her away. Veronica begs Squeaky to let her stay, tears, crying, please don't throw me out. Squeaky quotes Berta, "Only because I am magnanimous will I pardon you. But listen up princess, one word to bug me and I'll throw your butt outta here." I still say these brats should be picking cacao.

We see Berta and Lukas approaching in the background...Padre Santiago is having a green flashback, Miranda is asking about her mother's relationship with the Padre's sister, Alfredo's wife. Back in the present, Padre is begging God to forgive him when Lukas barks him to attention. Santiago tells Berta she's like a demon, you only have to think of her and she appears. "How nice of you to be thinking of me, because you're going to explain to me the little game you're playing with my niece Miranda."

Back in the Bored Room, Luciano is handing out papers to the members. He asks Vicente to read some clauses associated with his stocks. Honestly, I don't really understand these financial conversations very well, but the bottom line is that Luciano (or the owner) can sell the stocks to whomever he pleases without permission from the board.

In their guestroom Veronica and Erica are being nasty to each other, or maybe they're just chatting,it's hard to tell. Flor walks in looking for Squeaky. She gets pale and dizzy but says she's only tired; she leaves to lie down. Erica, who has big round bazongas that refuse to move, says Flor is so skinny she looks like a cadaver. Veronica says when Flor goes to the afterworld she'll end up with Fabricio.

Faby arrives home. Gabino tells him he could only get a few men to watch the hacienda. The harvesters are nervous because Justina says some men are planning to sack the house and take some of the cacao harvest. Faby says they need to get some guys to protect the property but apparently everybody is busy, so Faby might have to take the women to his quinta for protection. All the chicks gathered under one roof...his...how very noble of him. As he enters the house he's intercepted by Veronica who plants a big wet one on him. Faby kisses her in return as Juan descends the stairs, watching.

As Lukas guards the door Berta says because of Padre Bigmouth Miranda now wants to know more about what he told her. She says the church already punished him once, next stop excommunication. "How did you know the church punished me? Nobody ever knew that. It was you Berta! Because of you I had to leave the country. You denounced me, don't deny it!" She smiles and confirms his suspicion.

Juan walks by Veronica and Fabricio. Faby wonders if he saw them, duh. The romantic Veronica tries to blackmail Faby into sleeping with her again. She'll tell all unless he finds a way to meet her that night.

Luciano tells Alejandro that he shouldn't do anything against SLI because Miranda is the president. If anyone goes to jail it will be Miranda, not Gonzo.

Juan and Tomasa are putting some of Flor's medicines in ziplocs. Tomasa confirms that these are the one dispensed only by Berta Juan says he intends to have them analyzed because Flor is not responding to treatment. Tomasa is to guard them. Bad move, never entrust evidence to the faithful but stupid maid. Remember what happened in Barrera!

Juan calls Fernanda to update her on Flor's condition. He tells her he has the medication and that Tomasa is guarding it. Squeaky is eavesdropping and hears the entire conversation. She runs off to rat him out to someone. Fernanda tells Juan that Fabricio can help them because he adores Florencia. Juan thinks otherwise and tells Tomasa to keep an eye on Veronica who is up to no good regarding Faby.

Alejandro is not happy to find out that Miranda is the president of SLI. He doesn't want her to go to jail but one way or the other Gonzo is going to pay. San Llorente Inversiones is lost.

Berta tells Santiago that if the Episcopal Council chose to send him to Liberia why is that her fault? He says it (him being gone?) allowed her to have an unhealthy love for Alfredo, who was the husband of his sister Sofia, they (Sofia and Alfredo) were in love. Berta rolls her eyes. He accuses Berta of assasinating Sofia. Berta might be able to hide it from the rest of the world but not from him. The only thing that Alfredo felt for Berta was pity. Bertha tells him he's playing with fire and to be very careful. Santiago says he's not scared of her. Maybe he couldn't save his sister from Berta's claws (garras) in time but his nephew Alfredo is a different story. For him Santiago can do anything and he will tell him who Berta really is. She is momentarily taken aback, but in a moment of diabolical brilliance walks around the desk and kneels at his chair, "In the name of God, you cannot deny a confession in my moment of repentence." He is shocked at her audacity but unable to refuse her. Defeated, he slumps down as she whispers her confession into his ear.

Faby approaches Juan and asks him not to tell Flor what he saw. Juan says only to protect Flor's health will he keep Faby's secret. Knowing the truth would kill her.

Miranda wants to tell all the employees that she's president. Vicente talks her out of it, telling her to be discreet. She wants to go with Vicente to talk to the Bustamante brothers. She also wants to talk to Don Julio. Cesar enters, kisses her on the cheek and gets the stink eye from Vicente.

Luciano wonders if he should cancel his rendezvous with Cesar. Alejandro tells him no, but that he, Luciano, won't be at the meeting. "Will it be you?" Luciano asks. Alejandro doesn't answer, just shakes his head.

Berta has confessed and feels much better. Santiago however is about to have a heart attack. He orders her to leave. Leave and never return. "On the contrary," she smirks,"as of today you are my father confessor." He calls her a monster of badness, how could she confess something so horrible? She says it's to make sure he doesn't mess with her. She confessed many things but he can't tell them to anyone else because he must protect the sanctity of the confessional. He says he suspected but now he nows, her evil nature has no limits. "The word limit doesn't exist in my vocabulary," she retorts.

Attention, Smackdown alert!!! Veronica is trying on bikini tops in her room when Tomasa storms in and orders her to stay away from Fabricio. Veronica starts mouthing off and Tomasa slaps her! Veronica tries to threaten Tomasa but the faithful maid won't back down. They shout at each other but Tomasa tells Veronica that she'll be keeping an eye on her, now get to the pool, andale!

Francisco arrives home tired from a long day of selling tacos. He tells Amparo he ran into the Padre and he told Francisco that he might be leaving town. He looked odd and said he was going to see the Bishop. Amparito wonders what could have happened.

Amparita visits Carola to tell her that she and Roman talked and talked. Carola tells Amparo that she has come to an important decision, she's going to leave her current lifestyle. She's going to change and do something else. Amparo is thrilled. They laugh and hug. Someone's gonna die, Carola I guess.

Alejandro and Miranda are having lunch. He admits he didn't press Gonzo for her hand in marriage. She says that's OK, there's too much stuff going on to think about marriage. "Huh? But we're adults, we can handle it," he says. She says, No, no, she has too many other things going on. "Would you feel that way if I were Fabricio," he says? She asks why would he bring up that sore subject, speaking of which, what about Berta? "Ouch, low blow on your part," he replies. They wisely kiss so as to end the silly conversation.

Someone named Don Armando calls Luis (Cesar's pal) to tell him that Miranda is the president of SLI. Luis tells Cesar the news and that if he can manage to marry Miranda before Alejandro gets to her then he will be the benificiary of everything. Cesar says not to worry, when Miranda returns to the hacienda he will strike his first blow.

The rich kids are playing a stupid pool game when Lasagna arrives with Raul. Of course squeaky blows a gasket, jumps out of the water, calls him filthy (mugroso) and orders him to leave. Juan, who is nearby on Flor patrol, sticks up for his brother, calling Squeaky a spoiled brat (malcriada)...

Labels: barrera

I thought I'd watch Barrera again to get an idea how much longer it will be running. Sadly, it is in its "Ultimas Semanas," not its "Ultimos Capitulos," so it will be a while still!!

Everybody weeps over Daniel - in classic novelas everybody gets a moment to emote over the death. At least once we hear: "NO PUEDO SER!" - which was the name I most wanted to give this blog, except it was taken already.

• I didn't know Daniel had married Juanita! Juanita faints when she hears of his death.
  
  
• Andres doesn't know where Valeria (whom he calls his wife, guess I missed the wedding) is, so he depends on a newspaper reporter to print the news of Daniel's death, and that Andres wants her back, so she'll get the news wherever she is.
  
  
• Maite is all weepy and tells Victor (SO much better a man than Unibrow - who in addition to being fat and boring has now become a coarse, ranting maniac): women who lose their husbands are widows, and children who lose their parents are orphans, but there is no name for parents who lose their children, and that is the most terrible pain of all.
  
  
• Federico is afraid that when Valeria hears the news, she'll come running back to Andres. So he, Federico, goes to Oaxaca (I think) and buys all the newspapers there. "How strange," Valeria says, "they've never run out of newspapers before." A nun says she's going to town, she'll make a phone call and try to find out what happened on Andres' big day.
  
  Federico meets with Valeria and tells her Andres has been offered a contract to go work in Spain and Portugal. He does not tell her about Daniel, but he does say that Veronica (with whom he had been about to tie the knot) is in La-La land. Valeria asks him to keep her posted.
  
  
• Unibrow (I saw Duck Soup last night and now I realize where we've seen those eyebrows before! Groucho Marx!) refused to talk to his son or his best friend Gordo at the funeral. He goes to the Maldonados and says he would like to accept the job they had previously offered him in France. He needs to get far away as soon as possible. Yeah, go, and don't come back I say.
  

Clotilda sucks up to Jacinta big-time, and in appreciation Jacinta confides that she knows where Valeria is, but Clotilda can't tell anybody.

Veronica is pacing back and forth at the mental hospital and talking to herself more or less continuously. I guess the medicine isn't working yet.

Rodrigo, Gustavo's son who used to be pure evil back when I watched this show, is perhaps being rehabilitated. He actually went to apologize to Daniel for something and was surprised and saddened to hear he was dead. He has a chat with his grandmother. She says, "you're growing up."

Manolo and her dad (who whacked Omar, can anybody tell me why?) get on a plane to track down Gustavo, who mysteriously fell off the back of a truck. Just as they are discovering where he is - and that he hasn't yet spoken and hence has not given them away - and while they pile into a car and get stuck in a traffic jam while racing to the hospital - Victor (by a coincidence too labored to explain) arrives in Gustavo's hospital room and recognizes him.

Finally, Andres' mentor gets back from Spain and actually DOES offer him contracts in Spain and Portugal? Will he accept?

Labels: barrera

Miranda and Father Santiago are in the chapel. She tells him that it seems strange that her father would not have known Alejandro’s father since everyone else seemed to have known him. She says she feels someone is hiding something. Father Santiago thinks back to the scene in his office when his nephew, Alejandro, and Fernanda were begging him to help her stall for time enough to win over her 3 daughters and not to tell Miranda or the others that she is really their mother. Then Miranda says that Alejandro knows Bertha has a briefcase of papers of his fathers and he’s ready to get it back at all cost. Bertha wants to take advantage of this in order to keep him at her side.
Miranda shocks the priest by telling him Bertha is in love with Alejandro.

Back at Amparo and Francisco’s house the brother and sister are joking about her being stood up by Ramon. Raul walks in and argues with his dad about wanting to go with Lizania to a friend’s hacienda for a couple of days. Eventually Francisco gives in, but warns Raul to behave respectfully around Lizania. He’s in no mood to become a grandpa so soon.....

Back at the mansion in Mexico City Bertha is buckling up the briefcase when Miranda knocks, enters, and orders her aunt to tell her the truth about what happened between her aunt, her mother, and Alejandro’s mother and father years ago. Bertha warns Miranda never to dare lay a hand on her again and never to try ordering her around, either. Miranda answers that she knows her aunts characteristic tricks and she’s not playing that game with her anymore so not to avoid answering the question. Bertha warns Miranda that she’s getting dangerously close to finding out a truth that she will not like and to just let the dead rest in peace. At that moment she sees Miranda’s eyeing the briefcase on the bed there. Miranda asks for the truth again but Bertha just smiles evilly and whispers for her to “search” herself. “You’re so close to it you’re butting up against it. So look!” she whispers again, smiling like the cat who ate the canary. Miranda walks out disgusted and wonders what all her aunt’s riddles meant. Right then her cell rings and it is Alejandro telling her he couldn’t go to bed tonight thinking she was still angry with him. She laughs and asks him if he’s actually serious and he says yes. Tomorrow he’s going to visit her dad and ask for her hand formally. Nothing should ever come between them. She accepts his proposal this time and tells him she knows where Bertha is keeping the briefcase of his dad’s as she’s just seen it. She tells him she’ll get it back for him.

Juan is tucking Florencia into bed and she’s depressed because Fabricio was gone all afternoon and evening. She figure’s she’s alone in this problem carrying the baby to term and all. Juan says absolutely not. Florencia admits she’s behaved badly around Dr. Fernanda and she only wants to bless her these days. Juan assures her Fernanda doesn’t hold grudges, then leaves the room. He’s entering into the hallway when Renata comes by and begins insulting him telling him if he were so decent he’d be long gone by now. He gives it right back at her telling her she’s the rude, low class person there, not him. He’s been the gentleman all along. Besides, if he's so awful, why’s she staring at him? She stomps off and Tomasa walks by asking him if he’s interested in Renata. He tells her he’s absolutely charmed by her. He never imagined his madrina might have a daughter as beautiful as Renata. Tomasa warns him not to set his sights so high because Renata will no doubt never return the feeling. He agrees and says not to worry about him.

Fabricio finally returns home to bed very late in the evening. He lies to his wife about having been at his mothers ranch all this time, but he’s guiltily remembering how he’s spent the time making love to Veronica in some hidden corner of the hacienda. Unwittingly Florencia tries to make love with him and they begin kissing, but he can’t continue and leaves the bed to take a bath. He’s “tired”.

Veronica is confiding in Erica about the time she spent with Fabricio earlier when Renata comes in. Veronica and she argue about how ridiculously rude she’s been toward Juan. Renata tells her the next time she says something mean about her she’ll kick her out and back she goes to Mexico City. After she leaves, Veronica tells Erica that she’ll do what she pleases and stick around just as long as she has a mind to. Renata has picked on the wrong person.

The next morning Fernanda tells Julio he’s being discharged. Julio thanks her for her wonderful medical care. He asks her where she’s been and why she really left so long ago. Nobody knew anything of her after that. She responds that Gonzalo certainly did and he made her life Hell all those years. Julio says he never could believe her morals were as lacking as that. She tells him they weren’t. The man wasn’t her lover and he was kissing her by force when Gonzalo appeared. He sent her off without letting her explain a word of it. Julio says he figured this. He says their friendship ended long ago and they only continue together because of the demands of the business. “Anyway, Gonzalo is hardly the one to cast the first stone!” He shocks Fernanda by telling her that before they got married, Gonzalo and Bertha were lovers first.

Luciano and Alejandro are at the gym first in the sauna and then getting massages and swmming. While there they talk about whether Alejandro should continue with his plans for vengeance. Alejandro says he’s definitely not going back on the idea. In fact, he plans on also asking Gonzalo for Miranda’s hand. Luciano warns him that she will hate him if she ever finds out. Alejandro says he figures she won’t find out and if she does, by then she’ll be married to him. So Luciano advises him he’ll start preparing the prenuptial agreement, but Alejandro says he doesn’t want that. Miranda will baulk and he could very well lose her over something like that. Luciano says that he has no choice because his dad’s will stated that one had to be drawn up and signed or the inheritance passes to Daira and Lizania. Alejandro says, well, if he doesn’t get back that briefcase of his fathers there won’t be any inheritance to give over!!

Bertha sits down as Miranda is finishing her breakfast on the patio. Miranda is going back that day to the hacienda to deal with the employee problems. Bertha tells her that when she finds out she had nothing to do with any of that she expects an apology and given at her feet. Miranda answers that “neither that nor the face of God will you ever see, Bertha!” Miranda then leaves and sneaks into Bertha’s room to look for the briefcase, but she hasn’t got enough time to look further. She figures she’ll wait till Bertha is gone.

Bertha physically abuses Charo while Juan tries to get Florencia to exercise in the pool. He goes swimming and Renata insults him again. Then Veronica and Erica show up and she begins flirting with him also! At the same time Roman shows up with flowers at Amparo’s door and apologizes for standing her up the night before. She invites him in for coffee and asks him if he’s married, single, divorced, or a widower. He’s single but doesn’t figure for long, and later he tells his story. She tells him Florencia’s story and how she suffered all those years and why.

At the prison Gonzalo tells Alejandro how someone tried to attack him and will probably again. He also complains that Miranda came there with Cesar, who has convinced her that he’s totally innocent and a victim of her father’s; Gonzalo worries that the miserable wretch will try something with one of his daughters. Alejandro tells him not to worry and then asks for Miranda’s hand, saying he wants to marry in a short while. Meanwhile, Luciano is conducting the council meeting of the shareholding associates. He tells them that the company is bankrupt and to sell the shares, the company must go up for sale. Miranda overhears this and comes in to say, never! The company is not going to be put up for sale ever. Luciano tells her she’s twenty minutes early and must leave. She goes out to wait for Vicente.

At the prison Vicente comes in with the news that Juilo’s sons just called saying they’re withdrawing the complaint. Gonzalo will be getting out on bail now while they try to discover who really committed the fraud at the company. Alejandro quietly observes while Gonzalo tells Vicente that he must stall the meeting of the shareholders until he gets out of the prison and can meet with them and must avoid Miranda’s involvement there. It’s obvious that Gonzalo is hiding something. Alejandro agrees that Gonzalo should arrange a meeting with Julio’s sons. After Vicente leaves, he asks Gonzalo what the problem is. Gonzalo avoids answering straight. (He remembers that Miranda is the true owner of the company and if this becomes known at the meeting because of the clauses in the company rules and mandated proceedings, she will be put in jail in her father’s place to face trial.) Instead, Gonzalo asks him to help him financially by becoming a partner in order to infuse the company with the cash it needs to become solvent again. Alejandro smiles at this.

Veronica insults and angers Renata again while at the pool. She tells her that Renata and Juan are both alike and thieves. She’s overplayed her hand and Renata kicks her out and says the driver will take her to the airport as soon as she’s packed. She is no longer welcome there.

Luciano is trying to buy up shares for a fraction when Alejandro calls up to ask if Miranda’s entered the meeting room yet. He instructs Luciano to demand the clauses be acted upon and that under no circumstance is he to give in on any negotiating point. Miranda and Vicente enter the meeting room. Luciano demands the official meeting and proceedings begin. He asks that because Miranda is not an associate she must comply with the rules and leave the room. She gets up to do so but Vicente stops her and says precisely because of the rules in these proceedings Miranda must stay. Luciano is confounded. He stands there wondering what shoe is going to drop next and where Vicente is going with this.

Labels: heridas

I thought since Promiscuous Reader will be blogging Heridas tonight, I'd drop in on Barrera de Amor, which is in its final episodes. Its death throes, you might say.

A fax is extruded from Unibrow's machine. It's actually from Federico! A notice of Andres' bull-fight, which is this very afternoon. Federico and Jacinta are trying to foment disaster.

Unibrow commences shouting and does not stop all night. "Everybody knew, everybody betrayed me, you all went behind my back and helped Andres do this thing which I had forbidden!"

Daniel and a miscellaneous henchman (named Severino, wearing a hot pink shirt) rush off to the plaza to warn Andres that he has another raging bull after him.

Valeria spends the entire night sequestered in a nunnery somewhere, praying ardently for Andres' safety. Evidently they're on the outs - though she still loves him - no doubt Jacinta has successfully engineered some piece of business to separate them.

Veronica was completely unseen. She is in fact in a mental institution and Maite and Victor are only allowed to see her once a week. They pray for her, then go to the bullfight.

Jacinta and Federico go to the bullfight too, to see the results of their mischievous intervention.

Somehow, Manolo and her dad have lost Gustavo! It seems he recently almost managed to strangle Manolo to death, so I guess he's been recovering. But even though he was still helplessly confined to bed, now he's disappeared. It seems he somehow got onto a truck, and then somehow tumbled out of the truck into the road, which wasn't so good for him. Now he's in a hospital and nobody knows who he is (I saw from the previews, though, that tomorrow night Victor will arrive and recognize him). The doctor is puzzled as to how a guy who is confined to bed could throw himself out of a car. "How his family must be worrying about him." Tee-hee: yes, Manolo and her dad are desperate to find their near-corpse before he rats them out.

After preening thoughtfully in the mirror for a long long time, Andres prays, invoking Nuria's name (I gather she's dead). He is driven to the plaza; people crowd around to get his autograph and there are tv reporters and cameras. He looks pretty spiffy in his suit of lights, which Maite bought for him after selling her famous necklace. He thought-bubbles: "I hope that after today I never have to lie to my father again."

There is a trick horse in the bullfighting ring, it can dance the Charleston. This is the best sight in the episode. I want to see more of that horse. The guy on the horse is pretty spiffy too.

Andres puts on his stupid bullfighting hat to the sound of emotional, soaring ... synthesizer riffs. And, here comes the bull! And, here comes Severino! and bringing up the rear, here comes Daniel! He is puffing, sweating, gasping, and staggering. "Oh, are you OK?" Severino, you moron, it would be clear to anybody that Daniel is definitely not ok.

Andres does well in the ring. The bull loses his ear (don't worry, we don't see how it happens).

And here comes the other bull: Unibrow, huffing and puffing as he jogs ponderously down the tunnel looking fierce. He emerges, becomes ashen when he sees his son in the ring, and Maite sees him and then she becomes ashen, and Jacinta sees him and is pleased because her mischief is working well. Unibrow shouts at everybody in sight: "If anything happens to Andres, it's YOUR FAULT!" That's mature, Unibrow.

Andres comes backstage after the first round and everybody is clustered in the dust and there's lots more shouting and then Daniel faints and, as they call the medics, he tells Andres to be a great bullfighter and then dies. Unibrow and company take Daniel to a hospital, where attempts to revive the poor boy are futile, and now Unibrow shouts more, and blames Maite, and also blames Andres. Then Andres says: "I'm leaving forever, you lost two sons tonight..."

... and then goes back into the ring for round two! And succeeds some more. Pardon my lack of bullfighting terminology to describe his little waves and feints and whatnot. Anyway, at the end, he brandishes completely clean and tidy and bloodless bull body-parts at the crowd. In fact not a drop of blood has been seen today, it's the cleanest bullfight you could imagine. He dedicates his victory to his brother.

Labels: barrera

After Fabricio stomps away from the pool, Squeaky gets on Florencia’s case a little bit for being such a whiny bitch. Pot, meet kettle.

In the prison visiting room, Miranda tentatively approaches Gonzalo, who is sitting with his back to her. She says “Papa?” and he gets up and emotionally hugs her. Remember they haven’t seen each other in a long time, since Gonz was arrested. Gonz tells her “I didn’t want you to see me here, this way, that’s why I asked Alejandro to….” He stops when he sees Cesar walk in behind Miranda, doing his best innocent little kid look. Gonz immediately tries to go after him to wring his neck and wipe that smug bastard look off of his face, but Miranda stops him. She tells Gonz that there isn’t any proof that Cesar was behind everything, that he has been a big help to her during this time, etc. Gonz doesn’t want to hear any of it, he knows better. Cesar whines and blames everything on Julio. Gonz tells him rudely to get out. Now. Miranda asks him to wait outside so she can talk to her father alone. Before leaving, Cesar delivers a disgustingly magnanimous speech about how he’s taking care of everything, he’s keeping the family together and safe, he’s looking out for the company, etc. Gonz restrains himself from killing Cesar on the spot and Cesar leaves. Gonz tells Miranda to stay away from Cesar. Miranda again protests Cesar’s innocence. She’s a real dumbass sometimes, she is supposed to be capable of running the company but she is taken in by the simplest of lies again and again. Gonz tells her to stay away from Cesar anyway – regardless of proof or whatever, just stay away from him! Then he takes a deep breath to change the subject and asks how Florencia is doing. Miranda completely lies and says Flor is fine and happy with Fab. If those two are happy, I don’t want to see a couple that doesn’t get along. Gonz asks Miranda if she still loves Fab – she says she has been with him since they were kids, how can she forget so fast? Though – there is a new special someone in her life. Gonz completely ignores that remark, surprisingly. What dad doesn’t want to know who his daughter is in love with? He says he doesn’t want her to spend time with Fab either, his actions confuse her and give her hope.

Alejandro and are playing golf. To me this guy is bad hair Santiago and I can’t remember his new name, so I’ll use to refer to him. As soon as I can get his new name in my head I’ll use it. They talk business. Alejandro has a legitimately decent golf swing (I’ve spent most of my career in the golf business, so watching people on TV or in movies who pretend they can golf but have horrible technique is grating) but ’s swing is awful. At least his character is supposed to suck at golf. They talk about the reserved shares, more biz stuff that I don’t entirely understand. tells Alejandro that there is still time to call the whole thing off, but Alejandro says Gonzalo needs to pay for what he did. He says in a couple days he’ll make Miranda an offer.

Back in prison – Gonz and Miranda argue about Fab, Miranda says to not worry about it! They argue about Cesar. Again. Miranda says Fernanda is at the Hacienda to help Florencia, Gonzalo snorts and sneers at the mention of her name. In the end he says to her, “just stay close to Alejandro, have confidence in him, no one else.” Miranda promises to get him out of jail soon. How, with magic?

Fabricio is sulking, shirtless, I’m sure you ladies all loved that. He’s no Luis but there is a little beefcake moment for you. Then for me and any guys watching, Veronica (who wears a bikini very nicely) shows up to comfort him and bring him a towel. And doubtlessly to move in on him. Fab whines, Veronica agrees with him of course and touches him and moves closer as much as possible. Basically she is giving him the “you deserve better” deal that the other woman/man always gives. Tomasa and Gabino burst in, causing them to separate. There is an emergency, all the women employees (wives of employees?) are causing a riot and they need Fab to come help. He rushes off. Veronica has a “I’ll see him later” look. She’s not very pretty, but like I said, she wears her bikini well. I think the young female cast members were chosen for their bikini wearing skills, because while they aren’t all pretty, they all look great by the pool.

Cesar is in his office smoking a lot. He rehashes everything with his associate (what’s his name?) They talk business and Cesar tells the guy about his plans to conquer Miranda.

Back on the golf course, ’s phone rings, he tells Alejandro “it’s the guy who is calling about the stock!” (It’s Cesar on the other end) Alejandro tells him to answer and pretend he’s alone. answers and hands the phone to Alejandro, who hears Cesar ask for a meeting. He hands the phone back and says “tell him tomorrow night at the club for dinner.” relays the information and hangs up. Cesar looks smug as usual, thinking he is such a hot shot. Alejandro says that tomorrow night he can finally find out what Cesar wants. Back in his office, Cesar and the other guy plan their attack.

Fab, who got dressed, is trying to calm down all the ladies, who are all dressed indentically. He convinces them to wait until Miranda arrives before they riot. He takes charge with Gabino and Tomasa, arranging security at the hacienda. Then he is on the phone with Miranda, who thanks him for everything and asks him to keep an eye on the girls. Oh he’s keeping an eye on one girl at least. This is the first time Fab has done more than stand there, sulk, or whine.

Charo asks Miranda what is going on, then tells Miranda about what Bertha said before, blaming the lack of raises on Miranda. Miranda yells at her for not telling her before. Poor Charo, she gets fired and yelled at constantly. Miranda calms down and thanks her for the information.

Cesar and the other guy are talking to Julio’s sons. He tells them that they have to go to Gonzalo and say that they believe Gonzalo about Julio being guilty but they have to say that Cesar is the one who convinced them of that. They are conflicted until Cesar finds some way to dangle money in front of them, then they start to come around.

All the girls and friends are at the table when Juan enters looking for Florencia. He is there to take care of her until Fernanda arrives. Squeaky screams that he isn’t a doctor he’s a dirty thief! The hens all start clucking until Flor sends them all away. Last to leave is super slut Veronica, who eyes Juan up and down three times before finally leaving.

Miranda storms into Bertha’s room and starts to try and beat her up. Awesome! But Alejandro shows up and stops it before she can put a fist in her face. A man would have walked in and just started hitting, but Miranda decided to grab her and shake her instead. Give her a bloody nose! Ah well. Miranda tells what happened, Bertha denies everything, sobs and looks pitiful, Alejandro tells Miranda he’s disappointed in her. I know he’s the good guy, but he’s kind of a self-important prick sometimes, like he’s better than everybody else. They all argue some more. Bertha lays the victim act on THICK. She tells Miranda that it’s a good thing the dog didn’t see what happened, he would have torn Miranda apart. She then tells Miranda, how do you know Charo isn’t telling you this to get revenge on me for firing her? Bertha always has an angle. She leaves. Miranda fumes at Alejandro, “Now you defend Bertha. I see it, but I don’t believe it!”

Julio’s sons are still on the fence. Cesar finally gets angry and says “You are either with me completely, or against me completely!”

Florencia tells Juan that she believes him about the alleged thievery and that she’s glad he’s there to help her. She takes his hand to make him feel better, he is upset at being treated so badly by the rich bitches. Fab walks in and sees this and is immediately jealous. He, the two-timer, is jealous. He demands to talk to Flor alone. Fab and Flor stomp off to have yet another fight.

Fernanda is back at the hospital/care center/whatever and is yelling at everyone “how could you let Naty get out!” They make plans to put the place on lockdown and find her.

Tomasa is now talking to Juan. Juan tells her that he will now be in charge of all of Florencia’s medication, diet, everything. Tomasa does her best Adalgisa imitation, wringing her hands, worrying about him stepping on Bertha’s toes. Juan starts asking questions about Renata. Obviously the next subplot will be Juan and Renata, I’m saying it here first.

Fab and Flor fight, Fab stomps out, super slut Veronica swoops after him to move in for the kill.

Fernanda visits Pamela and her mom at the hospital. Mom is babbling on about having spotty memories, etc. Turns out that mom’s condition is from emotional stress and she’ll be ok. Pamela also doesn’t need to worry about some virulent strain of family insanity. But she has to be careful, she could be susceptible to the same emotional problems as her mother.

Lasagna storms into the living room where Alejandro is working on his laptop computer, she starts whining like a 12 year old about how she wants to bring Raul to the hacienda but Mom said no! She’s hot but the whiny little kid stuff certainly takes away from that. Alejandro says fine she can bring him, but she has to be responsible. Whatever that means. Use a condom? Daira asks Alejandro about him and Miranda, he says it’s complicated. No it’s not, they are just crazy. He won’t tell her about his plan with Bertha, he says she should just trust him anyway. Yeah right. If my wife sees me kissing some other woman, she isn’t going to think “hmm he must have a really good reason,” she’s going to pull a Lorena Bobbitt on me.

Miranda prays at the church, the Padre comes in. She asks him a lot of questions about who knows who, who was where, they both have flashbacks about different stories from way back when. It’s all a little confusing.

Amparito is at the table, upset because she has been stood up for her date. Francisco comforts her a little, a complete 180 from his asshole behavior previously. Raul comes in to ask about going away for a few days. Francisco yells at him, saying this isn’t a hotel where you can just come and go as you please. Raul stomps out.

Miranda stomps into Bertha’s room and tells her “You are going to tell me everything that happened with you, my mother, and Alejandro’s parents.” They stare at each other until the credits roll. I still want a fistfight but I don’t think I’m going to get it.

Labels: heridas

Permalink posted by Ferro94 @ 10:22 AM 6 comments

A dialogue-heavy episode takes forever to recap. Here were three dialogue-heavy episodes, so here is a long recap, preceeded as usual by corrections and a boring preamble from me.

Corrections:

• Alicia's pepper spray turned out not to be illegal (she would have been in a lot more trouble if it had). However, it was still illegal for her to use it since the gang did not attack or threaten them (but it's perfectly okay to get into someone's car uninvited?).
  
• The false name Fernando gave at the hotel was Alberto Moradia. I'm not sure if that's significant or not (maybe a joke or pun of some kind). "Morar" means "to dwell."

Boring preamble:

In the Comments, someone said she needed assurance that Lety won't be ugly for too much longer. I can't give a specific answer, but I will say that you'd better not hold your breath. It'll be a while. Long enough that you need to get used to her the way she is. If Fern can do it, you can too!

This comment reminded me of something my mother said when we went to see ET many years ago. She said, "I guess it was a cute movie, but why did they have to make him so ugly?"

Sigh. Totally missing the point.

Now, who wants a recap? I do!

---

Main story

Lety greets Fernando and Marcia. She awkwardly asks how they are doing. Marcia, bemused to be addressed by this impudent creature, says they are doing about as well as they can, or words to that effect. Marcia excuses herself, and Fern tells Lety "we need to talk." He throws his car keys at Celso, but Celso misses. Fern scolds him for letting a hangover interfere with his work. He also asks if he has alcohol in his coffee cup (not that Fern ever drinks on the job, LOL). Lety giggles. She self-consciously walks several paces behind Fern as they go into the building. Fern sarcastically praises PM for being on time.

PM wants to know how Lety's date went. Lety said it was divine, and how was PM's? PM said it was horrible. Just then, Saimon comes in. PM greets him. He replies cheerfully... to Lety. He says what a beautiful day it is, as opposed to last night, which was horrible.

Up in the exec suite, the feas want to know how Lety's date went too. They are interrupted by Marcia. She tells Lety to say where Fern went last night. Lety is speechless. Marcia says she knows what they did last night. She slept with Fern! The feas all clap in support of Marcia, who waves triumphantly.

Lola is clapping in Lety's ear, trying to snap her out of a daydream. Lety excuses herself and goes to Fernando's office. Fern tells her that he's concerned that Lety must think he lied about going home by himself. She tells him it's okay, but he wants to explain. He got home and Marcia was there, because she had worried about him when he didn't answer his phone, but they didn't do anything. Again Lety says don't worry, and goes into her office. She mutters happily, "he's mine, and only mine."

Marcia summons Lola into her office and tells her to keep their conversation to herself. Marcia wants to know if Fern got any calls last night at Lety's party. Lola says no. Marcia asks what did he do at the party? Lola tells how RoboPop occupied Fern for a long time with a story about his Uncle Lazaro. Lola laughs, remembering, but Marcia is not in a sociable mood. She asks if, at any time, he (??) at Lety's party. Lola says no. Marcia says thank you and dismisses Lola abruptly.

The feas beg Lola to explain what that was all about (Juana even fakes a heart attack, saying that her heart is breaking because Lola won't share her gossip). Lola uncomfortably refuses.

Fern is wrapping up a phone call with Luigi when Omar comes in (he is wearing a striped shirt with a striped tie; this bugs me). He says he's been waiting all night for this moment. He wants to know about last night. He's being crude. They go into the boardroom so they can talk without Lety hearing them. Omar says "tell me everything. Was it horrible?" Fern says no, it wasn't horrible. Reluctantly, he adds, it was romantic - for both of them.

Omar doesn't pick up on Fernando's pensive mood. He tells Fern that he's his hero. What an effort! He's like the Karate Kid! Fern is offended. He says it was nothing like being with a model or a casual friend. He talks about his assistant, and his right hand (I don't think that was supposed to be as funny as it sounded), the woman who can save his life. She is so in love with him. He says lots more that I don't understand. He says it affectid him deeply. Omar says fine, don't tell me everything. He is still flippant. Fernando said it was without jokes or lies. Or he wished it was without jokes or lies. Or Lety deserves no jokes or lies. Something like that.

He describes how it went. He had whiskey, she came out of the bathroom and sat on the bed, looking fragile. He couldn't do it. It was a terrible moment, and he felt like he was dying. He describes how she cried and she kissed her, etc. (Not much about the "etc.") Omar is still rude, asking did he have to look at the photo of Patty Manterola, or think about Sharon Stone. Fern says nope, it was all Lety.

Omar is horrified. He says something about Halloween. Fern is angry. Omar keeps joking, but Fern said it wasn't so bad, except for the way it's hurting his conscience. That woman is truly in love with him. He could feel it. And he says it was sweet.

Omar is worried about the way the encounter has affected Fernando. Fern says the idea of love is important to him. He's been with lots of people who meant nothing to him, but "yo quiero a Lety" (platonically, of course).

Meanwhile, in Lety's office, PM wants to hear every juicy detail, but has to settle for Lety's little giggle, which tells PM all she needs to know. Lety adds, "he said he loves me." PM seems sincerely happy for her. Lety says, "it was magical." She adds that it was sweet.

PM speaks enthusiastically about all the hard work Lety must do to maintain the relationship. Fern walks in behind her, and PM does not see Lety warning her to be quiet. She says she must seduce her boyfriend everywhere - in the car, at home, in the living room, in the bathroom. Fern excuses himself sarcastically. Paula is mortified. She gives Lety a hug and leaves.

Fern pretends to be concerned about what he has just heard PM say about Lety and Tomas. Lety giggles. After all, it was his idea that she should pretend to be seeing Tomas, and PM is interested in these things. She puts her hand on his arm.

Just then, Luigi bursts into Fern's office. He is wearing an unbelievably flattering muscle shirt. Wowiee!! Lety and Fern hurriedly step apart. Luigi asks if he is interrupting something. Fern tells him he should knock if he's so worried about manners. Luigi mischievously asks what they were doing. Fern says they're looking at reports, that's all. Luigi just came in to continue their earlier discussion about Bella Life. (He waves his hands around in a certain way whenever he says "Bella Life." It's funny.) He says he's sorry. "Excuse me," he says in English, and leaves. Fern is flustered by this near-miss. Lety sits at his desk to do something on his computer. They discuss the big huge meeting that's coming up - I believe this is the meeting that will make or break his future as president of the company. They agree they're not prepared.

Marcia gives Alicia a gift - a bag of makeup to replace that which was destroyed by Luigi's dog. Alicia whines that it's not her brand, but generously agrees to accept it. (I don't hear a "gracias.") She says something about the 15th, and Marcia says she's not going to give her any money. Alicia changes the subject - what time did Fern get home last night? Marcia says 3 AM. Alicia's loud exclamation gives Marcia a headache. Al tells Marcia to inspect Fern's clothes for perfume or other evidence. Marcia says that's not necessary, she's sure he had "relaciones" last night. "You mean he told you?" Al asks in horror. Marcia says no, but he didn't want to be with me. "Oh, that's normal," Alicia says knowingly. She describes how Mauricio was like that all the time (sounds like he couldn't stand her). Marcia says that's not normal for Fern. In fact, arguing just seemed to increase his passion. This time, he was cold and distant.

Lety is still at Fern's desk a while later when his phone rings. She answers the phone. Fern, who seems to be telephone-challenged, reaches for base of the phone and holds it to his ear. It's the publicity person from some big company. Fernando panics. She hands him the phone and he takes the call very suavely. (They switch seats so he can feel more presidential.) This company wants Conceptos to do the ads for their line of sports apparel. YES!!! They hug spontaneously. He's crazy with happiness. He wants to call a meeting right after lunch.

Fern tells Omar the good news. Then Fern tells Omar and Lety that their numbers may still need "restructuring" for the big upcoming meeting (not the one this afternoon). He wants this information kept from Marcia. He says something about Filmo-Imagen and putting on makeup (I don't know what this is about). She very reluctantly agrees to cook the books for them. After she goes back to her office, Omar warns Fern of the danger of Lety's involvement. He needs to keep her happy.

During lunch hour, Omar goes out and buys some flowers (peach-colored tulips) for Fern to give Lety. (Alicia and Marcia see Omar bring the flowers into Fern's office.) Fern wants to talk about business, but Omar wants to talk about giving Lety a card and gift for last night.

The feas have gone out for lunch. Several feas are angry and I'm not sure exactly who's mad and why. I think the gist is that Lola hopes Saimon will lure Yazmin away from El Cheque, while PM was hoping to lure Saimon away from Yazmin - in any case, Martha is grumpy from hunger, and angry with Lola for not sharing her gossip about Marcia. Lety is intrigued to know that Lola has had a secret meeting with Marcia. They vote that Lola should tell. Only Irma disagrees.

Finally Lola relents. Lola says that Marcia asked about Lety's party. She wanted to know if he got any calls, etc. They ask Lety some questions, and she gives nervous answers. Juana says something about Lety's boyfriend. Lola says Marcia seemed very emotional. Confirming that he has a lover, and he was with her.

They go back to the office. PM goes with Irma to Luigi's studio, looking for Saimon and/or Yazmin(??). Luigi complains to Irma that this impromptu afternoon meeting is inconveniencing him. He asks where is Yazmin. PM excuses herself, unhappy that Yazmin and Saimon are apparently out together. Later she intercepts them as they get off the elevator, and they have an unfriendly but probably irrelevant exchange.

Alicia answers the phone. It's Roman, looking for Alicia! She tells him that Alicia no longer works for Conceptos. She's gone to Jakarta! Alicia goes whining to Marcia, who is feeling pretty moody. She says she doesn't have time for this, she's getting ready for a meeting. Alicia mentions Jakarta, and Marcia kicks her out.

Lety scolds Fern for skipping lunch. She finds the flowers and mushy card in her office, and is delighted. The card says "our night confirmed that you need me" (or maybe "I need you" - I don't remember). It also says something about the US which I don't get. She gets all swoony.

Lety and Juana prepare the boardroom for the meeting. They have a conversation that I don't understand at all. Juana seems to have a problem of some sort. They talk about cleaning, and something about money, and Lopez (the HR guy).

Fern is mad at Saimon for being so late. He asks, where were you? Saimon says please yell at me. Fern says something about Yazmin, and she mistakenly thinks he's paying attention to her. He quickly disabuses her of this notion. :-) He says they are the West Side Story of Conceptos. She keeps trying to get Fern to look at her boobs.

Omar flirts with Carolina before the afternoon meeting. He asks when she will go out on a date with him, and she says something about the apocalypse, and something about his teeth. He laughs, and they all clap. Carolina greets Lety warmly. Luigi comes in and greets Carolina warmly. Kiss kiss kiss. Something about the new Bella Life (swishy hands) commercial.

Luigi wants the meeting to begin ASAP. Fern says not yet - one of their executives is missing (Marcia). Luigi rudely suggests that the fly (??) go fetch her. Fern and Carolina scold him. Lety calls Marcia's office, but Marcia doesn't answer, so she goes to look for her. Luigi says more mean things about Lety. Omar laughs, and Lopez begins laughing until Fern and Carolina give him disapproving looks. Then he frowns!

Marcia and Alicia are talking about Fern's lover. Alicia asks if Marcia thinks Lety could be his lover. Marcia says he'd more likely be gay than get with Lety. Lopez's name is mentioned too for some reason. Alicia says something else about the "tlacoyo bigoton" (corncake with a mustache) and they laugh. Lety hears all of this. They are still laughing when Lety comes in and says everyone's waiting in the boardroom. After Lety leaves (but is still listening outside), Alicia asks Marcia if she thinks the mustached corncake was listening. (There's more, which I don't understand, but I assume it's bitchy.)

Back in the boardroom, Lopez is attempting to flirt with Carolina. He says something about how she likes her coffee. Luigi makes a condescending remark. Lopez says he was just trying to be nice. Luigi says the men of Conceptos are all dogs. (He holds up his wrists and pants.) Lopez scratches Luigi's arm in a suggestive manner (accompanied by that sound effect from when he rubs his forehead). I have NO idea what that's about, it's gross and Luigi brushes his arm off. He says something about cookies and sugar while Lopez regains his composure.

Marcia finally gets there. She apologizes for being late and practically shuts the door in Lety's face. Luigi does the dog thing again. Fern shakes his head. Luigi says something about English setters and rottweilers. Marcia agrees with him and keeps glancing at Lety.

Fern steers the conversation back to business. He talks about the ads for the Bella Life jewelry line. Luigi invites them to applaud their great director. Only Lety claps. Marcia just looks pissy. Fern sarcastically suggests that they applaud each person in the company - Marcia, Omar (Omar applauds himself), Lopez, Lety, Carolina... he asks Lety how many employees they have. He suggests applauding each one. Most in the room clap, including him, except he's being sarcastic. Marcia's still being pissy, so she doesn't clap, and Carolina just sits there looking amused and detached. Marcia tells Lety not to encourage Fern. She also scolds Fern.

Fern says fine, let's talk about work without any further interruptions from Luigi. He talks about the sports clothing deal. Luigi is excited by this - little shorts, etc. Fern says something about a Fifi. He says the Bella Life contract is for one year, those commercials will be important, and the upcoming Big Meeting is going to be VERY important. To his family, Marcia's family (even Ariel, he adds in a jesting tone), their friends... so they need to be very well prepared.

Luigi mentions the wedding. You know, between him and Fern. ("Un 'jokey,'" he explains apologetically.) Lety looks grim. Luigi says this man is not just in love, he's REALLY in love. He reviews the publicity of their engagement. M and F seem awkward. Carolina asks about the timing of the wedding vs. the Big Meeting.

Luigi goes on and on about the incredible event, which will be bigger than any Conceptos project. Lety looks sick. Fern looks depressed. Carolina asks about the preparations.

(Carolina, Lopez, and Luigi are at one end of the table, looking cheerful. Fern, Marcia, and Lety are at the other end of the table, looking unhappy. Omar is seated between these two groups and never gets to be in frame, so I have no idea what kind of face he's making!)

Marcia tells Fern to talk about the preparations. He stammers and tries to steer back to the business conversation. Lopez excuses himself to do HR stuff. Fern angrily gets up and says the meeting isn't done yet. Marcia stands too and says he doesn't like to talk about the wedding... EVER. He has no interest in it. Everyone looks horrified. Luigi's mouth is in an O. Fern tries to lighten the mood and talks about Lety preparing the reports for the Big Meeting and Luigi doing the jewelry ads for Bella Life. Luigi wants to show off his work and invites them to his studio. Fern says they have to wait for Ariel. This annoys Marcia (I don't know why). She leaves the boardroom, followed by Lopez. Carolina says something about business worries and priorities and weddings and love. She tells Luigi to invite her for coffee, and they leave.

Lety remains morosely at the table and Omar and Fern stand behind her, gesturing to one another. Omar indicates that he wants to leave, Fern indicates that he wants him to stay. He isn't ready to deal with Lety. Lety startles both of them by getting up and saying she's going to her office.

Omar flippantly tells Fern that it was a complicated meeting. "Ya think?" Fern replies sarcastically. They talk for a long time, I miss most of the details but it appears to be yet another rehash of all that's going on. The upshot is that it's now even more important for Fern to keep two potentially dangerous women happy. He also suggests that Fern postpone the wedding. Fern responds with more sarcasm and strangulation. "I'll be back" he says in English, imitating the Terminator.

Lola and Sara have overheard Alicia having a conversation with Tomas (more about that later). They tell PM. PM blames herself (I don't follow her reasoning). The agree they have to help Lety. They tell Lety that her boyfriend is cheating on her. She is momentarily confused until she realizes they mean Tomas. They say yes, with the airhead. They describe the conversation and assure her they're going to take care of it. (Sara's solution seems to involve a lot of violence against Alicia.) Martha, who's been ostracized for cheating on her diet (more on that later), balls her fists too, although it's not clear whether she's angrier with Alicia or with Sara.

Lety says she wants to take care of it herself. PM says she needs their combined experience to deal with this boyfriend-thief. They discuss this some more, and Luigi bustles up to tell Irma they have lots of work to do. She says no, the Bella Life stuff is all ready. He says no, he means Marcia's wedding dress.

Carolina and Luigi check out the gorgeous dress or fabric (it's in a box, we don't get a good look). Carolina sadly says something about a disaster with "tus novios" - I'm not sure if she means Luigi's boyfriends or if she means Fernando and Marcia. She says it's a shame.

The feas discuss the wedding too. Lety says it'll be around the time of the Big Meeting so Fernando's parents can be there for both. Then she either says their wedding will be a compromise, or it's been compromised... I'm not sure. The whole thing seems to be in doubt, and the feas wonder if the wedding and/or relationship is a bad idea. Lety says she doesn't know.

Lety takes a break from moping in her office to call Tomas to yell at him for flirting with Alicia. He is surprised by her ambush and I think he asks if she has bugged his phone! She says no, she has a much more primitive system in place - gossip. Everyone knows about him and the airhead. Tomas protests that Lety had asked him to give the impression that he's rich and handsome, and Alicia is fascinated by that. He promises to cut the relationship off, though. More talking, and they hang up. Tomas complains to himself that she's ugly and irritable.

In Fern's office, Fern and Omar hear most of this and wonder if Lety is more serious about Tomas than she admits. They don't know who the "airhead" is. Fern thinks Tomas is not a threat. He tells about the serenade at her party (I'm not sure how this supports his claim). Omar is not convinced.

Lety interrupts them with some Filmo-Imagen info. Fern asks her what's going on. She says it was just a problem at home and retreats to her office.

Marcia comes in and Omar makes himself scarce. Marcia confronts him about the wedding. He doesn't want to talk about it here. She says he doesn't want to talk about it here, there, or anywhere, at any time. Marcia either issues an ultimatum or cancels the wedding outright. Lety does a happy-dance in her office.

Fern panics and tries to weasel. Lety's name is mentioned. I'm not sure exactly what they say about her. I think Marcia is tired of Lety always being around and hearing everything they say. She says it's black or white - either they marry or they don't.

The littlest mermaid and king of bad timing, Ariel, interrupts them. (Lety hurries to her desk to look busy, just in case he wants to check on her.) Marcia takes Ariel away to the studio.

Fern goes into Lety's office. He asks, doesn't she want to see Luigi's presentation? (I think he just figures Marcia's less likely to confront him if Lety is there.) She says no, she's too busy. He offers to help her, then. (Plan B - avoid confrontation with Marcia by hiding out in Lety's office. This is just the sort of behavior you want in a company president.) She says no.

(During this conversation she has been pulling heavy binders off the shelves and piling them up on her desk. Then she starts loading them all back onto the shelf. She is blatantly giving Fern the cold shoulder.)

He bows and "con permiso"s about a million times on the way out of her office, as she often does to him. After he leaves, she mutters, "what is he, Oriental?"

In Luigi's studio, Luigi and Carolina have an incomprehensible conversation about novios, someone named Alexis, and danger. Ariel and Marcia join them. Ariel is obviously hot for Carolina, and it's not mutual. He flirts with her. She's polite and charming, but at this point we know her well enough to read the look on her face - she'd just as soon kiss a Wookiee.

Meanwhile, Marcia stares vacantly into space.

Yazmin and Saimon

Rewinding to the beginning of the day...

Outside the Conceptos building, Yazmin and El Cheque argue about Lola's house. He says it belongs to Lola - it's Lola's family's house. He doesn't want it. Yazmin is very angry with him. Saimon watches from a distance - I don't know if he hears what they're arguing about, but he sees that El Cheque has disappointed Yazmin. His heart fills with hope.

Later, shortly before lunchtime, Yaz is on the phone with El Cheque. She tells him she wants to be alone. From the look on her face, she wants to be alone with Saimon. She turns the phone off.

Two actress/models hang out in Luigi's office while he argues with El Cheque on the phone. No, Luigi says, you cannot speak with Yazmin, and stop calling her on my phone. Call her on that cell phone. Uh-oh, you're breaking up! Hiss [that fake static noise]! He hangs up on El Cheque. The models giggle.

Yazmin and Saimon are walking around in a beautiful park. He says something about 24 hours per day, 365 days/year sugar. She is pouty and irritable.

Saimon tells her how much he likes her. She allows him to hug her, and he says he's dying of joy. She pushes him away, pretending to be flustered. Then she kisses him on the mouth, big-time. (Obviously, she's read the chapter in her high school psychology textbook that talked about intermittent reinforcement.)

Yazmin checks her watch during their embrace and pushes him away again. She says it's late - they need to get back to the office. Saimon says they'll have to do the rest of their kisses on another day. She tells him no more kisses - it was a mistake.

After lunch, Luigi scolds Yazmin for her chronic tardiness. He reminds her that Conceptos is a place of business, mentions the constant phone calls from El Cheque, and adds that everyone dislikes her. She doesn't seem to believe this, but the loafing models smirk in agreement. He says lots more, including the word "cuckoo," but evidently gives her another chance. (Backstory: he hired Yazmin mostly out of spite, because so many people in the company didn't want him to, knowing it would cause problems for Lola and lots of disruption. He hired her as a way of throwing his weight around. If Luigi fires Yazmin, it'd be like acknowledging that he was wrong about her. He needs to find a way to fire her without losing face.)

Yazmin is thrilled that Flaquito has been worrying about her. Irma warns her not to push her luck.

Tomas and Alicia

Lety's mom brings a snack and some orange juice to Tomas, who is working in his Les Nessman-like office. He asks her to please open and close the "door" when she goes in and out of his office. She gamely asks whether the door is currently open or closed. :-)

Tomas needs to call Lety, but she's not answering the phone (she's at that meeting). He decides this is a great excuse to speak to Alicia!

Alicia has been crying in the hallway about her misfortunes. Might she have to sell the jewelry her mother gave her? No, forget it! No one will help her. If someone does help her, (I don't catch this).

Her phone rings. It's Lety's mom, posing as Tomas's secretary, asking to speak to Lety. Alicia snottily replies that this is not Lety's line, it's the president's. Mom says Lety's not answering her own phone, and this is important. Alicia says they're all busy in a meeting and mustn't be interrupted. She asks who is calling, and Mom says she is calling for Tomas Mora of Filmo-Imagen.

Predictably, Alicia makes nice after hearing this, offering to take a message. Mom and Tom confer loudly so Alicia can hear them. Tomas plays the bigshot, trying to decide which of his many phone lines she should route the call to. Mom refers to Alicia as "the secretary," and Alicia looks offended.

Mom hangs up, I'm not sure whether on purpose or by mistake. Tomas calls Alicia back himself. At this point, Mom discovers that this horrid woman is Alicia - Lety's enemy. Alicia tells Tomas she's not really a secretary. (Lola and Sara are eavesdropping on Alicia's side of the conversation.) Alicia says she's very close to the Mendiola and Villaroel families, and has had six semesters of finance at an excellent university. (Tomas replies, "wow, six whole semesters" without a trace of irony.) Alicia says, "I don't know if Lety has told you this, but..." and goes on to describe some of her highfalutin', mostly fictitious duties at Conceptos. Lola and Sara stifle their laughter.

Tomas tells Alicia that he and Lety don't talk much about Conceptos. Mom looks shocked by this lie. Alicia asks if he and Lety are novios, because the whole world knows about that relationship... or was that all just lies? He downplays the relationship, saying it's in early stages. Al asks if it is serious, and Tomas tells her it's not formal at all, so there's no reason he and Alicia can't have a nice chat on the phone.

Alicia wants to meet with him in person. Tomas takes a break to compose himself and order Mom around (just to make sure Alicia knows what a bigshot he is). Mom is offended, and slaps Tomas and scolds him. Alicia hears all of this, and tells Tomas he should get a new secretary. He jokes that she could help him modernize his equipment. Al says that she can't leave Conceptos - she's too important, and too beloved. (Lola and Sara laugh some more.)

He says he has no time to meet. He has meetings, business meals, trips (actually he first says "viejas," which elicits an ugly look for Mom, then corrects himself "...viajes"). Alicia suggests meeting at his office for coffee and a chat.

Tomas says, "you want to meet HERE??" Mom is incredulous. She tells him to hang up the phone, that woman is not coming into her house. She yells into the phone that Tomas is needed in a meeting. They exchange friendly goodbyes and hang up.

Mom twists Tomas's ear and yells at him for spending the afternoon (actually about five minutes) talking to that woman, Lety's enemy, and flirting with her. He protests that she flirted with him, and he couldn't help responding in kind. Mom says how could he invite her over. He says no, she invited herself, but Mom says "and you accepted." He says it's all just negotiations and diplomacy, but Mom is not impressed.

He doesn't want her to tell Lety. She tells him not to fool himself.

Martha's "diet"

Alicia is whining to her father (on the phone) that no one will help her with her financial problems. Her car, her apartment, etc. She is crying. She quickly ends the call when the feas come into the lobby on their way to lunch - she tells her father she doesn't want everyone to hear all of her personal business.

While waiting for Martha to come out of the bathroom, the feas taunt Alicia - she should try Martha's autosuggestion diet. Instead of imagining that she has food, she could imagine that she has money, a boyfriend, and gas for her car.

When they get back from lunch, Martha goes into the bathroom again. Sara and Lola harrass her about her frequent bathroom trips. They have another run-in with Alicia later - Paula Maria and Alicia exchange comments about Omar and Saimon (I'm not sure what they say, exactly) and then they trade insults about hair color. The feas mock Alicia's hair-stroking and her whiny "Aaaaaaaaie, Maaaaarcia." (Alicia strokes her hair self-consciously while they do this.) She waves her makeup bag at them. She tells them she can fix herself up in five minutes with the help of cosmetics, but there are no tools that can fix their lives. They all clap sarcastically at her maudlin cliche.

Alicia hears moaning coming from one of the stalls. She drags a bench across the floor and peeks over the wall - Martha is pigging out on a bag of chips! Alicia hurries to fetch the feas. She tells them she wants them to see the autosuggestion diet at work. Sara says don't bother us, airhead, go do some work. Alicia again invites them to see a cow (something about a cow).

Sara, PM, and Juana follow Alicia into the bathroom. Martha is still moaning over her illicit meal. Sara peeks over the wall to confirm Alicia's claim. Juana yells into an imaginary bullhorn, come out with your hands up.

Martha comes out of the stall with her arms raised. There's a big sandwich in one hand and a bag of chips in the other. Alicia strokes her hair in satisfaction, gloats, and leaves. Paula Maria looks in Martha's locker, and it's full of food. They say no wonder she's been gaining so much weight!

The feas emerge from the bathroom with armloads of Martha's stash of food. Lola arrives, and they update her on the situation. Martha complains they have no right to seize her personal stuff.

Alicia tells Carolina (who has just come in for Fern's meeting) how pathetic all these people are. Sara interjects that that's nothing compared to getting stranded because you can't afford gas. She offers some food to Carolina, who graciously refuses.

Martha is treated like an outcast for the rest of the episode.

Up in the executive lobby, the feas inventory Martha's mini-bodega. Yazmin, passing through, tells Lola she shouldn't be stealing other people's food (I think). Lola replies something about El Cheque and food for her kids. Martha is crying. Lopez tells them to stop. Yazmin gets all teary and says they're picking on her. Lola says something about her private life. Yazmin complains that Lola is always so aggressive with her. Lopez says he doesn't want to witness any more personal problems between them.

---

Does Marcia see something interesting on the ceiling, or is she just averting her eyes from the horrifying spectacle of her brother flirting with Carolina? Will Yazmin suffer a disfiguring accident (I'll keep asking)? Will Tomas's secretary pencil Alicia in for a visit to Filmo-Imagen? Will the feas forgive Martha for eating? Tune in next week to find out!

Labels: fea