Caray, Caray!

Amparo and Francisco discuss her progress with the confectioner’s classes. She says she is doing so well she wants to take a Mexican cooking class next. Francisco asks her why she has not mentioned Ramon for nearly a month now. She says she cares for him, but right now, she does not want to spend all her time doing for or being with him. She wants to continue these classes and feels that would be impossible if she marries Ramon. They agree she will need to tell him the truth and pretty soon.

Nuria sneeks into Florencia’s room that morning while she’s still asleep and picks up little Enrique. She hugs him and says she knows that Berta lied to her and that he really is Florencia’s, though she did do her part to help give him life. She puts him back down and quietly leaves the room. (Good! The girl is coming back to her senses. What a pain.)

Berta puts on one of Alfredo’s necklaces just to show off in front of Alejandro during the bail hearing. She tells Lucas that it will complicate her plans if Alfredo gets free on bail. She will then have to resort to drastic measures even though she does not want to. (Uh-huh. Sure.)

The judge interrogates Cesar and Bertha. Cesar lays it on thick about dear Charito and them racing in just at the very moment to see Alejandro stand there and mercilessly shoot his beloved godfather, Gonzalo, after hearing arguing and shouting so loud it could be heard from the garden. Bertha confirms that even her niece, Miranda, saw him pointing the gun at them when she came running into the living room. Then it is Miranda’s turn to testify. Lilana again advises her to answer exactly as they planned and if she does not understand a question, to let the judge know immediately.
Luis Alberto meets Julio for lunch. Julio mentions that he finally got the two last clients away from Luciano. Luis Alberts wonders if the SLI is finally finished. Julio says SLI is as dead as Gonzalo. Then L.A. asks Julio if he ever worries that Cesar might do the same thing to him as he did to Gonzalo. Julio refuses to believe Cesar would intentionally try anything against him, his own father. The camera pans up to the trophy head of a bull hung on the wall above their table. --Now I am not sure if they might have been implying what I was inferring from that shot of the bull right then. The “expletive” I was thinking of wasn’t “cow cud”, but more like “cow pies”, which is what cow cud eventually becomes anyway.

Cesar, El Guapo and Bertha meet elsewhere and discuss whom they want to get rid of next. Cesar mentions that Julio has become and insufferable old geezer who constantly wants to run Cesar’s business his way. He’d love to get rid of him. Maybe with his bad ticker the old fogey could be frightened to death. Bertha then has him reconsider because he’s his father, but Cesar says that was not his choice and he could care less. Bertha says then he can do whatever he wants with him. El Guapo lets Bertha know then that everything is now ready for what she was planning to do with Nuria. Cesar gets angry and reminds her he wanted a divorce and until Nuria signs the papers, Bertha was not supposed to touch her. He goes further and warns them that if anything happens to her before and the law comes after him, then he will point the finger at the two of them.

Miranda is before the judge and is asked if she knew Alejandro came to take vengeance on her father. She answers that she knew beforehand that yes he was thirsting for justice from her father, but he didn’t come to kill him. She knows her husband and he didn’t come to kill him. Vengeance and murder mean separate things. The other attorney asks her if she said that because she really knows him or because she is blinded by love. Miranda panics at that question. Then she answers angrily that she doesn’t understand the double meaning or obscene intent behind the question. Liliana’s face drops and she shakes her head in frustration. The judge tells Miranda to explain her accusatory answer or face the consequences.

They give Miranda a minute to talk to her attorney and Liliana snaps at her for the insulting statement she just made to the judge. (Brainless bigmouth!) Liliana reminds her that the idea is to get Alejandro out of jail, not to infuriate the court. Miranda snipes that she didn’t appreciate their intent to catch her with the tricky two-sided question. Liliana tells her she was just supposed to answer the questions exactly as instructed and not to say anything more. Miranda angrily replies that she is just as well educated as Liliana and she should not be scolding her like a little girl. (If the shoe fits, Miranda..... So what was Miranda thinking? She is as capable as any licensed attorney is simply because she is a San Llorente? --Miranda pay attention to the woman who IS the trained lawyer here and just shut the hell up, ‘cause there ARE people more powerful than the San Llorentes and you’re lookin’ at ‘em!) Miranda snipes back that knows exactly how to reply to the question. Liliana says she better because the way she handled it, the judge could decide to look into her being her husband’s accomplice. So she better go back, sit down and correct the stupid thing she just told the court.

Luis Alberto tells Julio that he was surprised when one day he came in and found out that Cesar had married Nuria to recognize their child. This surprises Julio because he says he always thought Cesar despised Nuria and he thinks back to when he fired Cesar for abusing her at the office. Then Julio lets it slip that Nuria lost her baby and is very sick. Luis Alberto says he didn’t know and Julio explains how it happened.

Charo accompanies Nuria to the church. Nuria stays with Santiago to discuss her anger at God for taking her baby away from her. If he wanted to punish her for all the bad things she has done to others, then he did it the wrong way. Santiago tells her God doesn’t play with people as if they were little toys.

Cesar tells Bertha that they can take Nuria far away and do whatever they like, but they cannot kill her until he gets his divorce. He stomps off and El Guapo offers to teach him better respect for Bertha. She says he absolutely will not touch Cesar with even a rose petal. El Guapo kneels down in front of Bertha and remarks about her new smell. She asks what does she smell like; he says she now has the smell of fear all over her. She is clearly agitated again and walks off. El Guapo says to himself that he’s been looking for a long while for that smell and now he’s found it.
Miranda clears up her statement by telling the judge that being blinded by love would necessarily keep her from being able to discern the difference between the two actions and that loving her husband has nothing to do with understanding the intent to murder. If she were blinded by love of her husband that would necessarily negate her testimony. The judge is happy with this mincing of what the meaning of “is” is and lets her retract her former statement. Liliana is smiling so she figures she answered it the right way this time. Liliana congratulates her on her answer and says she’ll talk to the judge to convince him to let Alejandro go free. Liliana looks up at Miranda and Alejandro kissing through the bars and it seems she wishes it were her and not his wife.

Juan and Renata get together at a restaurant to discuss their situation. Renata asks him when he’s going to give her the divorce and he says never. He says he won’t because he knows the two of them still love each other. He scolds her for throwing away what they had for a trip to New York and a few purchases. So she throws Carola in his face and he says what else could he do? She tries to lie about her and Cesar but Juan admits he saw Cesar and her kissing passionately in the waiting room. Renata says she and Juan are over and it will never work between them. She cannot adapt to his world and he refuses to live in hers. He asks if it would make a difference if he said he would. She says it would be useless because they don’t have anything in common; to live together and make it work they need to have had similar life experiences and they don’t. He wants to know how serious she is about Cesar and if she’ll marry him. She answers that she doesn’t know. Renata says Cesar always behaved well around her but she doesn’t love him. He grabs her and asks if she could ever feel with another man the way she does in his arms. She remembers the first night they ever made love and she cries. Then Juan begs her for one more chance, but Renata says it would be useless because they would only be prolonging a painful situation. Finally, she tells him through her tears she doesn’t deserve him, and if he really loves her just give her the divorce. She walks off and leaves him there stunned and in tears.

Back at Alejandro’s manse Luciano is telling Pamela and Miranda that Miranda’s attitude had put Alejandro’s case dangerously at risk. She has got to put aside whatever is bugging her about the lady attorney and let her do her job. She works hard, gives 100% effort and spends lots of time away from her little girl to do so. Miranda complains that Liliana treats her like a mental retard and that drives her crazy. Pamela chimes in that she agrees with her friend. This frustrates Luciano no end and he finally walks off in disgust. Pamela gripes that once again they are left as the villains of the story. Miranda has second thoughts and tells her friend that it could be Luciano is right about Liliana. Pamela thinks not and that the woman is arrogant, pretentious, and rotten to the core.

Miranda calls up Vicente and asks for any information about Liliana’s personal and professional life. Vicente comes back in with photos and information. He leaves and the two women are awestruck at how darned perfect Liliana appears to be. Pamela says she feels a bit inferior cause Liliana appears to be a jack of all trades, since she has so many accomplishments. Pamela adds, “At least, she’s not a home-breaker and she doesn’t seem to steal husbands.” However, they cannot find anything wrong. She in fact seems to be a wonderful mother. That word stings Miranda.

Bertha comes back to the house and asks for Nuria. Charo tells her they went to the church and she stayed to talk with Father Santiago. Nuria walks in just then and Bertha screams at her for leaving and disobeying her orders. She tells Bertha that Florencia has kicked her out and that Fernanda invited her to stay at her apartment and that she accepted. Nuria also screams back at her that Bertha lied about that being her baby Bertha slaps her silly. Nuria screams at that and asks why she hit her. Bertha yells back because she loves her and because she disobeyed her. Charo rushes in asking if something is wrong with her, but Bertha reprimands her for not knocking. Charo tells her Luis Alberto came to see her. Nuria gets up to go and greet him but Bertha forbids it and leaves her in the bedroom telling her that she will go down to Luis Alberto and to pack her things and leave right away.

Back at Alejandro’s place, Miranda concludes that Liliana is similar to her in all ways. That is why she gets so upset. They both have the same qualities that would attract Alejandro and win his love. The only difference she says, is that Liliana is a mother. Just then, Alejandro walks into the living room. They hug and he says he owes it all to his lawyer. Miranda says too bad she’s not there to celebrate with them. Alejandro says, “She is here. She brought me, but first we had to drop by to pick up her little girl.” Down the stairs walks Liliana with her sweet little girl. Alejandro picks her up in his arms and tells her that she should be proud of her terrific mother. Miranda sees Liliana standing next to Alejandro with the little girl in his arms and, the three together look like a portrait of the “perfect family”. Miranda is beside herself with jealousy.

Labels: heridas

• Marcia reams Lety out for slapping Fern in front of everybody. Lety says it wasn't planned - "He lost control, I lost control -" Marcia snaps: "You never lose control, you are the human calculator, everything's intentional with you. He 'gave you the hand and you took the foot.' You give orders and do what you want, but you have no class." She mocks Lety for being Fern's shadow. "You think you're special with your fancy sports car and expensive restaurants, but you're just an employee, and Fernando's procurer! The owners here are the Mendiolas and the Villaroels! We could throw you out tomorrow."
  
• Irma talks with her sad-sack bum of an ex, who showed up unexpectedly at her apartment. "Before you disappear for another 30 years, tell me where you live. And what about your brothers?" "Oh, I sleep here and there, wherever I fall. One of my brothers is in an asylum, the other has been dead 11 years, I don't even know where he's buried to put flowers on his grave." After this ultra-pathetic speech Irma says he can stay all day and have something to eat - she is going to work.
  
  She cries outside and then goes to Conceptos where she tells the surprised cuartel, "The cure (staying home) was worse than the illness."
  
• PM is now a receptionist, it appears, and Simon misses her. He says he'll take his computer classes at lunch so they can be together after work.
  
• Caro visits Lety in her office and asks if Lety's thought about going on the trip with her. "I want to go, get me out of here! My life is in pieces, I'm in hell."
  
• Fern, his parents, Marcia, and Omar are in the meeting room discussing the wedding. Humberto and Teresita reveal their surprise gift: the palacial house Lety found for the happy couple. Marcia is drooling. Fern stretches his face into a rictus of false happy surprise.
  
• Ariel overhears Alicia's call from the lawyer about the car and again proposes that he pimp her to his friends. She says she has solved her money problem. Ariel: "Are you getting the money in exchange for one night or several nights?" She takes umbrage. "It's not in exchange for anything, it's a loan." "You'll never pay it back, what's he getting in exchange?" "He's not depraved or sex obsessed, we have a pure relationship, we share everything." "Especially the bank account, how romantic!"
  
  Alicia calls Tomas, who is supervising his car being washed. She's been longing to see him, afraid he's forgotten her, crying, when can they get together? "Tonight. Can I pick you up at work?" "No! I'm going to the Conceptos party. Are you?" "No, I'd see that awful Mendiola and probably kill him." "Well, then come by at 10 pm, I'll cook you a delicious dinner." He mutters about the delicious and tasty - uh, dinner. "Tommy, any possibility you could send over the 500,000 pesos RIGHT NOW?" "Sorry, no, I'm playing golf."
  
• In the boardroom Ariel ignores Humberto's suggestion that business be left to tomorrow's meeting ("Today is purely social!"). He insists on talking about Filmo Imagen, which he has discovered is in Lety's name. Fern defends Lety, Ariel pushes on, saying "You've basically given control of Conceptos to your assistant, that's our patrimony she's controlling!" Fern denies weakly and says Ariel has always hated Lety. Humberto suggests they ask her.
  
  Marcia fetches Lety, who stands her ground coolly, saying Filmo Imagen is indeed her boyfriend's company but he "gave" it to her because she understands finances well and has a good relationship with banks. Ariel asks about the sports car and Lety responds that due to good investments, Filmo Imagen's wealth grew by 52%. Humberto is satisfied, but Marcia insists they should have been informed. Lety responds: "Nowhere in my contract does it say I have to tell you about my personal life."
  
  Back in her office, she calls Tomas and recounts this harrowing interchange, saying she was humiliatedc by the interrogation, but her plans for tomorrow's meeting will not change. She'll be quitting, and they will all be in hell.
  
• After the parental units leave to get ready for the party, Marcia tells Fern she is not satisfied by Lety's explanation. "OK, get out all the poison you carry around for Lety, just like your brother." "You're blind - you're so weak around her, she manages you like a puppet, and then hits you in front of all the employees! I can't believe you've fallen so low! What's happened to your image? You've become a clown! She's changed you, you're no longer the Fernando Mendiola I knew and loved. You spend your nights drinking and fighting..."
  
  "OK, you're right, I'm not the same man you loved, but you know what, this man right in front of you, this is the one you're going to marry. Does that suit you or not?" "Oh I understand, shall I serve it to you on a silver platter? Do you want to cancel the wedding? There's still time..." He weasels a bit and she says, "OK, you're not in love with me any more, but I'm in love with you and I want to marry the man in front of me." She leaves to get ready for the party.
  
  Omar says, "I thought you were going to cancel the wedding! How can you even think of that? You and I are in checkmate!" Omar's terrified of Ariel, but Fern says Lety saved their butts with her calm responses. "But the smell of suspicion is in the air! Tomorrow Marcia and Ariel will be combing over the balance sheet - it better be perfect." "Omar, haven't you noticed how Lety is winning the war over Alicia? It's because she's brilliant." Omar points out the Oxi is trying to suck 500,000 pesos out of Tomas and Fern broods over his money - passed to Lety, to Tomas, and now perhaps to Alicia.
  
• Alicia demands that Marcia lend her money - she needs to buy groceries for dinner. "You're inviting me to dinner? Oh wait, no, ... Tomas? Do you realize Tomas doesn't own FI, Lety does?" Alicia is muy impactada and says she's going to faint. She recovers when Marcia said it was a present (she no doubt imagines she'll be recipient of the next business.) Marcia: "I'll lend you the money as an investment, since this dinner is a business affair."
  
• Luigi tries to send Irmita home, but she refuses to go and says "I know without me you'd die." He admits it's true.
  
• Alicia comes through with the party invitations. She gloats: the cuartel has not been invited, not the penguins, not the giraffe ... they point out she hasn't been invited either. She plants in their minds the possibility of crashing the event.
  
• Caro repeats her offer to Lety and Lety again accepts. Fern badgers Lety about the balance sheet. She says she's worried about all the suspicion. He flatters her brilliant presentation. She says Ariel will keep investigating and find out about the FI loans. He repeats: only the perfect fake balance sheet will save their butts. After he leaves, she wonders if he deserves his help.

Labels: fea

Today's tale of woe begins with MA at her mother's tomb, she is sobbing about how the information regarding her new-found status as the daughter of Clemente & sister of BSC Joselyn is not sitting well with MA. She is praying for her heart to be illuminated.

Joselyn is vowing to Miriam that she will get custody of lil Lui, by proving Gabe is an unfit father. She has a plan, oh yes she has a plan.

Our happy honeymooners, the now not so hot juvenile appearing JC & his totally enamoured wife Paulina are having breakfast and discussing the "Freak Show" Family Dinner of the night before, like "Geez, Tiberto is my brother." "Yeah and his mother, Delores, whacked my stepsister's Dad, oh and by the way Delores is also Karen's Tia", retorts Paulina. Thank you Paulina for Family History 101, for those of us without enough time to check your Family Tree at the LDS website. Paulina dances off and oh no....she has burned breakfast...oh well JC tells her their love is sustance enough. ****These two continue to annoy me at an alarming rate****

MA now goes to Gabe's departmento, to take lil Lui to "LEG CLASSES", however he is already with Joselyn at the hospital.

We see lil Lui in a therapy tub and the nurse give him one of those gel eye mask things. He puts it on and exclaims it is cool (as in temp not as in hip), I am not sure why unless, they are trying to retard early eye bags. Anyway he is all comfy in his big tube, when Mommy dearest creeps in and turns up the heat from a comfortable 32C (thats 89.6F) to 44C(112F), oh and she does turn on the bubbles too. Oh NO, Lui is overheating he is crying for help....no one is coming, he is screaming, crying...Joselyn is standing around the corner with this really dazed look & I'm thinking (someone's been skipping their meds).

Now a quick cut to Gabe & MA, she has to be going....apparently without lil Lui there, things are awkward. Gabe brings up Leo and she says she is very happy, which is of course all Gabe ever wanted for her anyway..(NOT), there is a knock at the door and NO it is not Lobster Delivery, it is Clemente, now things are really awkward. Clemente wants to talk, but MA will have none of it and rushes out. Gabe tries to console Clemente with those cliches, like give it time.

Meanwhile flashback to the hospital, Lui is still flopping around and help is nowhere in site. I gotta say at this point, as annoying as I find this kid, this is a pretty disturbing scene and if it was on Law and Order, Joselyn's ass would be in jail before the next commercial. Alas this is telenovela world, where justice is never served until the Gran Finale. So Joselyn just keeps standing around the corner, twirling her hair in her red cocktail dress, with that cheshire cat grin. Finally, the nurse and an orderly or therapist run in. (hmmmm I wonder if they were playing hook-up while the kid cooked?) The kid is all red as they pull him out, he continues to scream, five more minutes and it woulda been lobster bibs and a keg of butter. Joselyn runs in and acts muy impacted.

Over at "Dos Hermanos Constructos", Paulina and JC show up giggling that they are a few minutes late, in that, "We're still on our Luna de Miel way", Tiberto can't wait to throw the term Hermano out there. JC is very cordial about the whole thing, when really you just know Tiberto gives semi normal folk that disquieting creep factor, like most zombies or living dead do, that thing where you just sense something is a little off, like right before they try to bite a chuck out of you.

Gabe gets a call while he is consoling Clemente...Yes the kid is still screaming. Meanwhile Miriam shows up at the hospital with her lawyer, they have taken pictures and you can see where this is going. They are going to sue for full custody of Lui. I don't really get how this could be Gabe's fault as he wasn't even at the hosptial and "Baby Jane...as in "Whatever Happened to" was, but this is not the first time this TeleNovela has defied logic as well as general laws of physics.

Mayeya the weight challenged cook over at the Former Gabe house calls MA, who is now hanging out with Candelabra; Chatty Cathy I mean Mayeya tells MA the news about Lui and MA and Candelabra rush off to the hospital. Regina too gets a phone call while she is at Los Dos Hermanos Constructos and she tell Demian where she is going and she too rushes to the hospital. TeleNovelas are great for hospital scenes, the waiting rooms become instantly full of hand wringing individuals who all have back stories with each other, great tension.

So once we are at the hospital we have Regina, Gabe, Nic, MA, Candelabra, Joselyn, Miriam, Clemente & Leo, plus the entire cast of Rebelde, the Mexican National Soccer Team and the entire Mexican Congress taking a break from that standoff they've been having. It seems Lui has first degree burns and should be okay, provided no infection sets in. There is glaring all round and Clemente tries to make nice with MA, who just can't deal with the whole situation. She realizes that Joselyn knows MA is Clementes daughter and MA does not wish to make Joselyn suffer for it. Yeah that's it worry about Joselyn.

Time passes, Karen shows up at the newlyweds apartment and they all decide to go out together. Once in the lobby she feigns leaving her purse back in the apartment and the dumber than dirt newlyweds give her the key and she runs back upstairs where she promptly presses the key into a bar of soap she just happens to have stashed in her purse. How could you grow up with either Evil Karen as a stepsister or Demian as a father and just trust people at face value...Hello?

Meanwhile over at the Dark Mansion Demian & Regina are in the same room in their night clothes, thing seem to be going pretty well as at least he isn't raping her. Regina tells Demian the tale of lil Lui and Demian looks all concerned. She is pleased with his change. There is no physcial contact shown, for those of you who care, I do not know if Demian has gotten his groove on. I for one hope so.

The next morning Leo bring Gabe some coffee, Gabe is looking all wrinkeled having spent the night in the hospital waitng room. Gabe has a little conversation about how happy he is that Leo and MA are happy, cause her happiness is all Gabe cares about (NOT)...Leo is thrilled to hear the news.

Later Leo is at home with Candelabra getting his daily blessing and a big plate of pans (mexican pasteries), while getting ready to do his Taxi job. Hmmmm see I thought he was using either Meth, Cocaine or prescription diet pills to be working 25 hours a day, but I guess not cause he is gonna chow down on like 15 pasteries. Wait my theory may be correct Leo takes the pasteries over to MA's one room kitchen schoolhouse, were he gives them to the kids and I think he is gonna take the kids to see Lui, while the kids are outside, Leo flirts outragously with MA, giving her a couple of besos and telling her Te Quiro, yep Dude's on a drug high. MA giggles like a school girl rather than a school marm.

This of course is an excellent lead in to Miriam talking to Ingrid (yes, I am happy to report Miriam hasn't whacked Ingrid yet), Miriam is lamenting the whole MA/Clemente situation and how she doesn't want him amending his Will and leaving anything to his little Bastard; MA, it seems she wants Clemente to leave everything to Frederico's little Bastard; Joselyn. The conversation then turns to Leo, now Miriam really has something to lament, you just know she wonders if she can trade Joselyn to Candelabra for Leo, maybe throw in a dress or something hey I've got it give her a plus size Coyote fur jacket like the one Elsa sports.
Chunker Mayeya overhears the conversation and she is all shades of muy impacted.....
Chatty Cathy now has the information on the real madre de Leo, oooooops, this will either lead to yet more stress eating or the info spreading thru Naco Acres like a California Santa Anna wildfire.

Gabe and Nic are at a Judges office and the Judge gives total custody of Lobster Boy, I mean lil Lui to Joselyn. Of all the disturbing scenes, I found this to be the one that seared itself in my brain the deepest, for the love of God, doesn't money always win out in Mexico? How did Gabe's fortune not win out....huh huh? I just don't get it. Now if Demian has really changed maybe he'll give Gabe a free judge whacking.

The sorry state of affairs closes with Gabe crying by lil Lui hospital bed telling the kid that he has to go live with Joselyn. Kudos to lil Lui's acting skills here, cause the kid looked terrified.

If money can't buy off Judges and what not....what is this world coming too? I feel I've lost my moral compass

Labels: mundo

While Luciano is trying to convince Juan to just divorce Renata to make his life easier later on, Juan tells him that he’s going to start a relationship with Carola. She has loved him for a long time and it’s time to give it a chance. Not much of a chance though, I guess, if he won’t get divorced from the wife he already has. I think he sees Carola still as a whore, if he’ll only give that much of himself to her.

Renata, she of the great knowledge of relationships, is counseling Miranda to not worry about Babe lawyer. She tells Miranda to put her in her place. Besides, she has a kid. Is she married? I don’t know. There is something about whether or not she is married, too much is being made of this. Miranda says it’s because the lawyer is hot (yes) and is able to have kids, so she thinks Al’s eye might wander. She confesses to Renata that she has fertility problems. Renata assures Miranda that Al only has eyes for his wife.

Al is trying to convince Babe lawyer that she and Miranda could be friends, Babe lawyer says she doesn’t think so. Al says he wants to work with her when he gets out, file some lawsuits, she can work for SLI, etc. Babe lawyer asks if Miranda knows all this. Al says “uh, no. But it won’t bother her.” Yeah right Al, way to know your woman. Babe lawyer stands up to leave, I see she is wearing a very form-fitting very un-lawyery dress that looks great. She says it all depends on how Miranda reacts to his ideas.

Fern, Julio, and Santiago discuss how easily Rebeca is influenced by Bertha, Julio wants to call her right there and straighten her out, Fern says to wait. Julio gives a little speech about how much he loves Fern as a friend, that Rebeca’s jealousy is unfounded.

Flor storms in on Bertha and says that Nuria has to leave right away, and for that matter, Bertha along with her. Nuria claimed to be the mother of Flor’s baby, she’s going crazy! Bertha insists that she only said that Flor’s baby ‘was dying of hunger’, not that it was dead, stupid Nuria just didn’t understand. Flor says that Nuria keeps letting herself into the bedroom to see the baby, acting like she is the mother. Bertha says she should see Nuria as a nursemaid, someone to make being a mother easier. Flor doesn’t WANT it to be easier, she wants Nuria out. They go back and forth for a while. Also, Flor has managed to keep off the baby weight she lost 30 seconds after giving birth, she’s back in her skinny fashionable clothes already. Clothes that anyone with an infant would never wear around a baby for fear of getting puke or poop on them. Bertha manages to throw in a couple bits about not being appreciated for good measure. At the end Flor makes some faces like she’s having heart trouble.

Babe lawyer in her un-lawyerly dress get an extended shot coming into the next scene. Something for the men watching. Charo comes out and says that Miranda won’t meet her, Babe lawyer insists that she needs to see her and complains that she can’t work this way and starts to raise her voice, Miranda struts in and says “the only person who raises their voice in this house is ME.” They stare at each other. Miranda should be jealous, Babe lawyer is hotter than her. Babe lawyer apologizes for yelling. Miranda says that while Babe lawyer usually does whatever she wants, in this case Miranda is paying the bill, so she gives the orders and Babe lawyer isn’t allowed to just show up unannounced. Miranda talks to her like she’s a kid, “is that clear?” Bertha was eavesdropping and realizes right away that Miranda is jealous and thinks “the enemy of my enemy will be my friend.” She does her evil smile thing. The ladies continue to piss on each other’s shoes. Babe lawyer asks Miranda what her problem is anyway, Miranda says her attitude, she treats everyone like employees. Babe lawyer disagrees and they snap at each other a little more and Babe lawyer leaves. Babe lawyer mutters to herself outside about how Miranda pisses her off and is stopped by Bertha. She says “what can I do for you Senora de Aragon?” Bertha says “no no call me Bertha, can I call you Liliana?” Babe lawyer replies “what can I do for you Senora de Aragon?” Ha ha I love that. Bertha apologizes for Miranda and says she’s like that, she thinks anyone close to her husband is trying to steal him. Ha even me, like a mother to her, she thought I was in love with Alejandro! Ha ha they share a laugh over that. Bertha stokes the fire, says that Miranda said bad things about her mothering skills, etc etc. Babe lawyer appears irritated, Bertha’s work here is done. She invites her to meet her for coffee soon, Babe lawyer accepts. Bertha turns to go back to the house, Fern comes out from hiding and stops her. What the hell is going on outside this house, how many hiding places are there? Bertha stops the lawyer, Fern stops Bertha, next Juan will find Fern, then Santiago will be hanging around somewhere telling everyone “it will get better, just wait” and finally the ghost of Gonzalo will scare them all off. Jeez. Bertha asks what Fern is doing there, Fern reminds Bertha that it is her house and Bertha is supposed to leave. Bertha says nothing, this is where I should say she is impactada but she isn’t really, just kind of impatient.

Charo prays to her statue of the virgin. She doesn’t know what to do, Bertha could kill her, etc. She takes a bloody rag from her drawer and has a green flashback of El Guapo coming through and making her help him, creating the bloody rag. Then the part where Bertha comes in and tells her what to say. Back in the present, she puts the rag away again. She is sniffling and crying. There is a knock on the door, Nuria comes in, also sniffling and crying. She tells Charo that her baby is missing and then tells her what Bertha said about switching the babies. Do we know yet if Bertha actually did that, or just told Nuria that to make her all the way crazy, instead of just halfway like before?

Fern is confronting Bertha about what she told Rebeca. Bertha says forget it, they aren’t going to accuse her of anything. They argue a bit, then Fern says she’s coming back to her house to live, so Bertha has two days to leave. Bertha says “you’re kicking me out?” “No, I’m inviting you to leave.” Fern also says to stay away from the house and her daughters. Then she insults the dog and Bertha goes on about how great Lucas is. Man, the women in this show have pissing matches way more than the men do. The men just hit each other, the women have to go nose to nose and bitch at each other endlessly, in the end doing nothing. Bertha tells herself after Fern leaves that there is no way she’s leaving the house, she hasn’t done all this to be left with nothing.

Miranda and Pamela are raking Luciano over the coals for not telling them that Babe lawyer works for SLI and has an office there. Luciano swears that he just forgot to mention it. Miranda says “what is Vicente for then?” Luciano says for financial and fiscal issues, the other things they need Babe lawyer for. Pamela of course sides with Miranda. This is just like girls in college who suddenly have iron-clad evidence of philandering just because somebody’s lab partner is hot. The girls here are really letting their ugly sides show. Pamela gets so worked up that she leaves the room, poor Luciano covers his eyes and mumbles “por dios, por dios.” I want to make the point that with all other things being equal, but Babe lawyer not being such a babe, or being a man, zero issue would have been made of any of this. It’s all about these insecure women being jealous. But don’t tell THEM that! That would make it worse. How do you get out of this mess anyway? Let’s see what Luciano does. Miranda says, “who ordered you to not tell me about her? It wasn’t just you forgetting.” Luciano, of course, says it was Al. What else can he do? We are in for fight number 435 between Miranda and Al.

Renata is giving Flor gifts for the baby. Renata looks strange, Flor and Pamela get right to the point – did she get busy with Cesar in New York? Renata is saved by Fern coming in to see the baby. Fern asks what they were talking about and Flor tells her that they want to know if Renata was bumping uglies with Cesar in New York! Yes, let’s talk about this in front of MOM. Fern says, did you? Renata says it’s too personal. They all say she looks sad. They say Juan is broken up about the divorce, Renata says screw you guys and leaves. Fern tells them that she’s moving back and Bertha is leaving, Flor says great, let me go kick Nuria out now too, she walks out. Pamela and Fern look like, “what the hell was that?”

Miranda finally gets back to business, they discuss business stuff. They talk about the cacao harvest, Luciano says she’s going to have to choose between saving the hacienda and helping Al.

Al is playing handball in the prison yard. Sanson’s boys, that Al converted to himself, tell him that someone paid off the court or whoever to make him guilty at his hearing, that person is Cesar Beltran, of course. Al breathes heavily, which is like being impactado, but also out of breath.

Flor says she wants Nuria out, Miranda says come on, her husband abandoned her and her baby died. Give her a break. They talk about Bertha having Alfredo Luque’s papers, then about Nuria’s papers, then Flor says she’s still kicking her out. I didn’t really understand all of that. Flor says she has to ask Charo something and leaves.

Nuria is holding a pillow like a baby and crying, Charo says she should go see a doctor. Nuria says the pillow is her baby. She is completely nuts. Charo says she has to leave her room. Flor comes in and Charo tells her what’s going on. Flor tells Nuria she has to leave. She’ll give her a little money, but she has to go. Nuria doesn’t appear to hear any of it.

Flor finds Miranda and Fern. Flor says “Do you know who kidnapped Fab?” The others are impactada that she knows and hasn't said anything. She tells them it was Bertha and El Guapo. The others are even MORE impactada.

Francisco, Amparito, Carola, and Raul come back home after being gone for a month, they say. They feel bad for the people who died in the flood again. Eventually Raul mentions to Francisco that for a month, Amparito never mentioned Ramon. They agree that this is strange, maybe it isn’t really love.

Fern and Miranda want to call the cops, Flor says it’s too dangerous. They go over it all again. Miranda says Fab is the only one who can make the accusation. Flor acts as if she has heart problems again. Miranda has whatever happens to be the magic medicine right there on hand. They are all happy that Fern is moving back home, they sure forgot about Fab’s kidnapping in a hurry. Fern wants to protect Nuria, she tells the others that Bertha convinced Nuria that she (Bertha) is her (Nuria) mother.

Miranda tells Gabino what to do with all the cacao, Gabino says that it will be the best chocolate in the country. Miranda says she’ll be there in a couple days. Miranda hangs up and tells Fern and Flor that she has to rest up for Al's hearing tomorrow.

Renata and Bertha return from some fancy dinner out, Bertha raves about it. Bertha comments on Renata’s face, does she feel guilty about going away with Cesar? Bertha says it isn’t the first time she’s gone away with Cesar anyway, right? Renata says this was different, yes, they got busy this time. She feels guilty because she’s still married to Juan. Bertha says whatever, Juan has been screwing Carola anyway. Renata says no, Bertha insists that she saw evidence of that at the hacienda. Renata says she shouldn’t have done it, Bertha tells her to go screw whoever she wants and to keep doing it. She’s like a mother to her? This is how mothers talk? Bertha continues to tell her that she should just be a big slut. What a nutjob this woman is. Renata leaves, Bertha gets on the phone and calls Cesar. She tells him that she knows what happened in New York. They say they need to make more plans. See you tomorrow at the hearing.

Labels: heridas

Labels: fea

Clemente finally reveals the truth of their relationship to Mariangela. Both cry. Mariangela says to herself, “No! No! It can't be true!” Then she screams at him aksing why he never went to seek her mother out and just abandoned her. He tries to explain why he never knew about her, but Mariangela doesn't want to listen. She sends him away saying that she must work through the mental confusion the shock has caused her. Clemente returns to Candy’s for tea and consolation. Candy tells him to let Mariangela have time to absorb the news and she will be fine with it all. He breaks down and cries in Candy’s arms.

Mariangela tells the picture of her mother that she admires her even more for the hardship she went through not having Clemente by her side while trying to raise her. Later she too visits Candy for tea and consolation. She wants to know why Clemente did not come back for her mother and abandoned her. Candy explains that his parents separated the two of them and that when the two met again they consummated their love. However, when Aurora realized she was pregnant, he was already married to Miriam. He never knew about Mariangela because Aurora forbade Candy from ever telling him. She assures Mariangela that the only thing Clemente lacks is strength of character, but he is a good man.

Leo gets the agreement from the hospital to stay on with the taxistas as well as begin his new hospital assignment during the night shift, provided he can fulfill his hospital obligations or he’ll have to choose between them. He is obviously stretched thin with two fulltime jobs and the ER duties exhaust him. (Time to grow up, Leo and to transition from that old life into the new.)

Mariangela seeks out Leo and tells him about Don Clemente being her daddy. She says she does not think of him as a father and probably won’t ever think of him as her daddy. Leo tells her to look a bit deeper into her heart and she will find the love of a daughter for her father. It is better to fill her heart with love, he tells her, than to fill it with bitterness as it is far more difficult ridding one’s heart of resentment and hate.

People start arriving at Demian and Regina’s manse for dinner. Drably dressed Delores is there also, but she tells Regina that even though she is part of the family, being Ti’s mother and all, she prefers to work along side Simona in the kitchen and serve the guests their hors d’oeuvres. In an aside Dem warns Tiberio that he’d better behave respectably or else, which Ti promises to do. (This house is decorated in such dark colors and the living room is so small compared to Gabe’s manse or his new apartment. Watching Regina and Demian with that Hitler haircut of his standing side by side next to the stairs was strangely like watching an extended Addams Family on parade with the first family freaks to arrive being Miriam, Jos and Karen. I almost expected Hand to come running out to greet them.) Demian continues to surprise Regina as he warmly welcomes his son and new daughter-in-law who arrive a bit after. He even kisses Paulina’s hand.

Clemente has gone to see Frederico, who apparently is his personal lawyer, to request Freddy adjust his will so that half his fortune goes to each of his two daughters, equally. Clemente leaves for Demian’s dinner party and Freddy immediately calls Miriam to let her know Clemente’s been there to change his will to include Mariangela.

The three fatal fems sit rather stone-faced, drinking wine, and preening for most of the night. (This little scene reminds me of some of those painfully boring business and extended family dinners we’ve probably all had to sit through at some time.) First shock of the evening for M, J and K is seeing Delores come out to offer them a tray of hors d’oeuvres. “What is she here for? What a mistake Demian has made allowing that woman in here.” Everybody watches in amazement as Demian shows himself to be the perfect, if not so charming host to all that enter. In come Pedro and Rogelio. A bit later Demian is put to the final test as Gabriel arrives. Gabe apologizes for his tardiness. It seems to take forever, but finally Demian appears to restrain his inner demon and he gets up and walks over to Gabe. The two brothers stare at each other as others hold their breath, watching and waiting. Demian offers a truce and hugs his brother in front of them all. Miriam sucks in a breath and Karen drops her maw... uh jaw. (Me too, cause I’m wondering just where the heck this is leading. Those battling brothers and Dem’s murderous scheming are half the draw for me in this dopy mela-novela.)

Clemente arrives afterward with Nicolas and tells Gabe that he has now told Mariangela that she is his daughter. Gabe is amazed to hear he told her.

El Coyote is drinking at Tiberio’s strip joint and enjoying a blonde on his arm. Of course, the louse forgot to pick Elsa up outside the shop after work as he had promised her, and she was waiting for ages it seems for him to show. Silvestre sees her that evening out there by herself, waiting on the deserted street corner so he stops and talks to her. She lets him take her to a bar for a drink and while they eat and have a beer, they discuss “for love” versus “for money”. She says she will choose money every time. He asks her to give him an opportunity to win her over, because he loves her and he will treat her the way she deserves, not like El Coyote. Then he talks her into visiting her mother for a bit that evening. She agrees if only under the pretext of picking up the rest of her things.

Later in the evening Demian, Jos and Miriam discuss how Delores’ being there is a risk since she presents a danger to all three of them. Demian reminds them he doesn’t see her as a threat at all. If she discovers anything about the murder, it will all appear to be their doing not his. (Chacal certainly won’t be telling tales out of school!) So Jos nods over at Gabe and Regina laughing and talking together. She tries to get Demian upset by mentioning how Regina obviously still is interested in his brother who has been so attentive towards her. “Reminds me of the old saying that where there was fire, ashes remain.” Demian looks over at his wife and brother and replies that the party and the family reuniting was totally his doing and not Regina’s. Then he walks off. Miriam tells Jos she did well and that trying to make him jealous of Gabe and Regina this way will be their way of eventually controlling him again in order to bring back the Demian they used to know.

Tiberio cannot let the night pass without making an announcement to the entire group that he and Juan Cristobal are in fact brothers. He hugs JC who looks bewildered and a bit disgusted with the thought. Everybody there is impactado. Demian picks up and without missing (more than) a beat, adds that Delores is Ti’s mother and so is a part of this family. He then takes the opportunity to apologize to Ti and the family for not having recognized him long ago. Regina takes it a step further and tells everyone that as Ti’s mother she is officially part of this family and has the right to be there tonight. Of course, Karen bursts out in disgust, “If she is then I’m leaving. How could you? Why is she here? I cannot stand her! She murdered my father, after all.” Regina sticks up for Delores and Delores once again denies having done anything. Demian quietly (“mum” is sure the word here) glances at Miriam and Jos who then call attention to the fact that Delores was alone on the yacht with Edgar, “so it only could be her.” Nicolas stops all the finger pointing and bickering by telling everyone that he has been looking into the facts of the case again and will soon have some information that will put a new twist on it all. Miriam and Jos are more than a bit astonished at this revelation.

Regina tells Demian how happy she is with his behavior. She says something about it being so much nicer doing things with love in one’s heart. He looks her straight in the eyes and says it is all for love. She seems almost to believe him.

El Coyote goes home drunk and expects to find Elsa there waiting on him. When he sees she isn’t there, he wonders where else she could be at that late hour because he knows the beauty shop closed hours ago.

At Candy’s Leo, Silvestre and Elsa are chatting – well they are chatting, while Elsa looks on, grumpy as ever. Candy and Leo tell them the news that Mariangela is Clemente’s daughter. Elsa has a snicker at that and tells Leo that now Mariangela is the daughter of a rich man she can have anybody she wants. Leo will be only a little thing to her now. About then El Coyote barges into Candy’s house, screaming, yelling, and threatening Elsa. She’d better go back with him now! Leo grabs him and yells how dare he just barge in like this into his and his mother’s house. (Coyote is just an animal anyway, so why ask? Throw his sorry rear out, Leo!) It’s time for Leo and Silvestre do a little bit of soccer-style drop kick and head butt with him but Elsa finally stops their arguing and leaves with El Coyote. When they get back to his apartment, though, El Coyote drop kicks Elsa instead, picks her up by the hair and tells her she isn’t going to do that to him ever again.

Back at Candy’s Silvestre swears to Leo and her that he loves Elsa and will not stop until he gets Elsa to change her mind.

Rogelio plays the depressed deserted husband (but not too well) to Paulina. Pedro pipes up, “I’m going to look for her.” Rogelio tells him to keep his nose out of it and then complains to Paulina that Pedro is in love with his wife. Then he insults him by telling him that aside from being ugly he is only a house-servant. Ti comes over to tell Rogelio that the club is going great and says Karen has lost a great investment opportunity. She dislikes any idea of involving herself with strip clubs.

It seems Saraya, Diana and Otilia have gone on a ladies’ night out that night at that strip club of Ti's and they are all knocking back tequilas, feeling no pain. Diana is thankful to have this new job as her model. Otilia explains to Diana that she hired her because she would be great as a model, she’ll help her destroy Miriam and she knows it will really get her husband, Rogelio’s, goat. Diana wonders what the family will say if and when they find out she’s working there for Otilia. Saraya says Miriam will send spies to their shop and find out sooner or later. Otilia tells them they don’t need to be frightened of Miriam.

Gabe and Demian have a private chat in Demian’s office. He reminds his brother of all the times he suggested he set aside his bitter feelings but that Demian refused. Gabe promises to let things continue as they might and will hope for the best. Demian will have his support because he feels it’s never too late to start over. Demian says he will take that all into account and hugs Gabe again.

At breakfast the next day Miriam makes Clemente believe that Jos still doesn’t know that Mariangela is her sister. He is off to tell Jos, but Miriam stops him cold. She tells him that Jos just barely got released from the psychiatric clinic and doesn’t need another upsetting bit of news. So Clemente decides not to discuss Mariangela with Jos after all.

Mayeya has become the new cook there in place of Candy and Cortito has been hired as the new chauffeur.

Jos tells Miriam that she has decided to follow her advice. She has a plan that will take care of Gabe and get back at him for divorcing her. She says she’s going to have Gabe declared an unfit father.

Labels: mundo

That's right - Yazmin finally suffers a disfiguring accident.

Okay, not really. But she does get fired. Irma doesn't have such a great day either.

I am super-exhausted. It's been a long, strange week, and it probably shows in this recap. I'll edit this a little bit over the weekend to clean it up.

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Fernando wears another orange necktie

After reading the Card of the Day, Lety says, "Are you going to tell all the world the things you've written in this card?" He says yes.

"Really, Fernando?"

He says "Yes. Right after the Big Meeting."

"Of course," Lety says, with a touch of bitterness. Fern protests that that's the way it has to be. It's not the right time for everyone to find out what's been happening between them.

Lety recovers her composure, tells him not to worry, and says she likes the card very much. She doesn't want to cause trouble. But they're going to need to coordinate what they tell people about what happened last night. Her story is that Fern tried to force her to work, and Tomas didn't like that.

Fern looks like he wants to talk some more about this, but doesn't get a chance because they are interrupted by the screeching of a love-starved harpy in Fern's office. He paces nervously, not wanting to see her, and not wanting her to see his bruised face. He goes out to see her.

She wants to know what happened to his face. He admits that he was fighting. She says, "Fighting again? Was it another run-in with a taxi driver, or were you so drunk that you can't remember?"

Fern tells her that he was fighting with Lety's boyfriend. (Lety is listening at her door.) Because he went to Irma's house to see how she was, and he ran into Lety, and he wanted her to come back to work because they had things to finish. Yes, even at that hour. There's lots of work to do. He wanted them to finish a report for the Big Meeting. That's all, but the boyfriend didn't like the idea, he defended her and they came to blows.

Marcia stomps into Lety's office, with Fern right behind her trying to do damage control. Lety scrambles to her desk and hides the Card of the Day in a drawer. "Congratulations, Lety - what a marvelous boyfriend you have," Marcia says sarcastically. Fern tries to interrupt, saying he started the fight and it was his fault. Marcia turns on him and says that he must be the one she should congratulate, then. He's made some incredible spectacles. Going around drunk, looking for fights with all kinds of people. One of these days, he could get killed.

Fern tells Marcia not to worry, that's not going to happen, and that's exactly why he's offering apologies to Lety and her boyfriend. Marcia suggests that it'd be even better if he would kneel and beg their pardon. Lety politely says that won't be necessary, because Fern already put his apology in writing!

Marcia turns to Fernando. Fernando is startled. Lety smiles that evil little grin. Babbling, Fern hurriedly explains that he couldn't face Lety so he sent her an inter-office mail, and blah blah blah... Marcia interrupts and says that's sufficient for an apology. She storms out of the fea-cave, and Fern slams the door behind her! He chastises Lety for hinting about the card in front of Marcia.

Lety recalls Psychic Guy's words: "I see those two tangled in a knot of confusion." (Or "knotted in a tangle," if you prefer.) "Of lies, of deceits; that's why you can't understand nor clarify your situation."

Lety denies wanting to show the card to Marcia. How could he think such a thing? She knows that they need a great lie to solve their problem.

Offended, Fern asks if she is calling him a liar who solves his problem with lies. Lety says no, don't worry, she knows perfectly well what he told Marcia to justify his fight with Tomas, although he forgot to say that Lety was the one who punched him.

She apologizes for hitting him and says it was the only way to stop the fight. He says it doesn't matter, because he deserved the punch and more.

Lety says she's about to finish the balance sheet and print it out. He thanks her and leaves.

Lety takes the card out of the drawer and reads where he said he was going to go public with his love for her right after the Big Meeting. "Great," she says sarcastically, glaring hatefully at Fernando's door. She shoves the card into her trashbag. It gets stuck and she punches it back impatiently.

Lety finishes the balance sheet and shows it to Fern. They are joined by Omar. She tells them that the first page is the summary of all the numbers. Fern takes one look and is impactado. "What's this??" he sputters. It's the real numbers. He and Omar panic. "But you were going to make something up!" they protest. "Sure, but first I have to do the real numbers." (She's only told them that a million times.) Fern wants to know when the fake numbers will be ready. She says at night. Fern says that's too late because they need to study the numbers and learn them because they have the Cannes event today. She tells him it won't be possible to finish any sooner. She says she thinks the time has arrived for his parents to learn the truth.

Fern says, "I get it - you want to blackmail, right?" Lety says no, of course not. Omar says Lety is completely right. They should pay her for her work. Lety protests. Fern says he wants her to destroy every copy of the real balance sheet - all the paper, all the disks, everything - it's too dangerous. She says yes, and goes back to her desk.

"The little gargoyle draws her claws," Omar snickers, but he is worried that they still don't have what they want. Fern is more worried about the real balance sheet, showing no profits and filled with debts. They have less than six months to pay debts and lift the liens to save their business from disaster.

Fern's parents walk in. Fern drops the report on the floor and coughs to hide the sound when it hits the floor. Fern says "hey, what are you doing here?" Humberto says he's already reserved the right to visit his own business any time he wishes. He's not happy that Fern never came by the house last night to say hello to them. Fern apologizes and said he had some problems last night. (He and Omar keep staring at the report on the floor.)

Fern says he's nervous talking to his parents on the other side of his desk, and invites them over to his side. Then he changes his mind, realizing they'll see the report. Humberto doesn't seem to notice Fern's nervousness. Teresita seems more suspicious and asks what happened to his face. Fern gives them some cockamamie story about running into Omar with a coffeecup. This satisfies them. They ask about Lety.

Lety comes out to greet them (she was probably listening at the door). They ask her how the business is doing. Her eyes get big. Humberto says "I just asked her to bug her." They all laugh. Well, Lety smiles uncertainly, while Omar and Fern laugh hysterically. Humberto says he knows that with Lety, Conceptos is in good hands.

Ha! Ha! Ha!!

Humberto asks if they're ready for the Big Meeting tomorrow. He wants to go to the boardroom and discuss it. That, and today's Cannes event, and especially the wedding. Fern and Omar nervously point the way to the boardroom, which is funny, since Fern's office was Humberto's office just a few months earlier.

Fern's parents leave. Fern hands the report to Omar and tells him to guard it carefully. Omar passes it to Lety and tells her to guard it carefully.

I wouldn't hire those guys to sell lemonade on a hot day.

Lety goes back to her office and sulks, remembering the Psychic Guy's words again. "You are going to be lost, woman; all that has sustained you thus far will disappear, and then you will begin your true fight to survive." I think that was from her first encounter with him, not the one from this week.

Carolina enters, looking more awesome than usual, which is saying something. She asks Lety if she's spoken with Fern, or told him that she's leaving the company? Lety admits that she hasn't. Caro wants to know what Lety plans to do. She says she's going to leave after the Big Meeting without telling anyone. Caro wants to know where she'll go. Lety says she doesn't know yet.

Caro says that her stint at Conceptos will be done after today's party. After that, she has to travel, because she needs to work on an out-of-town event. Lety should come along. The change of scenery would be good for her, meeting other people, going to the ocean.

Lety says she appreciates it, but she can't afford it. Caro says no, this would be a job for Lety. She needs someone to help out at the event and she'd be paying Lety as a personal assistant and covering all of her expenses. She tells Lety to think about it, but she won't have much time because she needs to make airline reservations.

Weird things happen in the executive lobby

To be fair, some of this was pretty cool.

Marcia tells Alicia she's not interested in hearing about Tomas's adventures. Luigi rushes up and explains that he's late because he was caring for Irmita. He shows off his ugly new yellow wristwatch and Alicia insinuates that it's a counterfeit (I think).

Lola, Sara, and Juana gather around him (nearly touching him!), asking about Irma. He tells them she's doing better - she's bathed, dressed, and had papayas for breakfast. She's alone now and doesn't want a nurse, but one of the cuartel should go look in on her. (Alicia suggests that they all should go.) He tells some goofy joke like "Irma's place should be called 'Irmesia'" which for some reason gets a lot of laughs. Sara playfully shoves him, and Luigi is offended.

With much unwarranted excitement, PM (who is wearing an orange skirt), Juana, Lola, and Sara draw bits of paper out of a cup to decide who will go to Irma's house. Juana wins.

The phone rings. It's Martha. She's got salmonella poisoning.

Meanwhile, Alicia bursts into Marcia's office, wanting to know what Fern told her. Annoyed, Marcia complains that he told her the same thing that Alicia did; he fought with Tomas because he was very drunk. (Marcia hates it when Fernando tells her the truth as much as when he lies; it's quite a time-saver.)

Marcia tries to change the subject, except, not really. She slyly asks if Alicia was visiting Irma. Alicia denies this vigorously. Marcia asks her how she knew about the fight. Alicia says it's firsthand information. Tomas came to her apartment and she tended to his wounds. Marcia asks if she nursed him all night long. Alicia brags about what a good job she did. Grossed out, Marcia says she's not interested in that at all.

Later, Lopez paces around the executive lobby triumphantly in front of Lola, Juana, and Sara. He cannot conceal his glee over Martha's absence - he'll finally get to fire one of the feas of the cuartel. Lola spoils his party by revealing the cause of Martha's absence.

"Salmonella," he spits in disgust - literally. On his hand. Then he wipes it on his jacket. Marcia passes through and asks what's going on. Lola explains. Marcia repeats, "Salmonella?" Lopez scratches his hands, shudders, licks his hands, draws them down the sides of his head and the front of his jacket, shudders again, and gags. (His mannerisms remind me of a housefly.) He does this again, even more elaborately, while the women discuss Irma and Martha's prognoses. Marcia tells Lopez not to bother Martha. He says of course he won't, she should rest and be late any time she needs to. He excuses himself, saying he needs to find a good replacement for Martha. He spits on his hand and sort-of crosses himself while coughing. Then he does the head-squeak thing and scurries away.

And he makes fun of Lety's little facial tics?

Lola tells Marcia what a creep Lopez is, and how he's probably going to try to replace Martha with a 90-60-90 (that's the metric version of 36-24-36) bimbo, etc. PM enters, wanting news of Irma. Marcia looks at PM and says "Relax. I'll take care of Martha's replacement."

(Martha is Lopez's secretary, so this is kind of a big deal.)

They call Irma and tell her that Juana is coming over to hang out with her. Juana gets ready to leave, and PM heads back to her desk. Marcia says "no, Paula Maria - you're coming with me." PM assumes she's in trouble for something. So does everyone else.

Lopez is already interviewing a bimbo for Martha's job. She flirts and wiggles her boobs at him. He tells her that it's a very important, difficult job. She'll have to work very late. If she has a boyfriend or anything like that, she'll have to tell him... but she interrupts, saying she doesn't have a boyfriend. (She must really be desperate for work, because she's still smiling.) He tells her that one of the benefits of working late is that he'll take her home each night. Oh, I get it - she's like a Yazmin Jr.

He gives her some literature to look at, and stands much too close while she reads it. Marcia comes flying through the door (with PM behind her) and Lopez quickly backs away from the bimbo. He happily introduces her ("Susy") to Marcia. Marcia says nope, PM is going to take Martha's job. (I assume they're only talking about a temporary replacement.) Marcia sends Susy home. Susy tells Lopez she'll wait for his call.

Lopez complains to Marcia that they still need a replacement for PM as receptionist. Marcia tells him she'll say who will replace PM, and marches out. Flustered, she closes the door behind her, and PM bumps into it after making a face at Lopez on her way out. Alone in his office, Lopez says something rude about chickens and tacos and roosters.

Marcia tells PM to tell Saimon to take over Reception while Marcia finds someone else to do it. She notices that PM doesn't look enthusiastic, and doesn't understand why. PM tells of her past "encounters" with Lopez. Marcia says she won't tolerate that kind of behavior and goes back to her office.

Omar passes through, and PM suddenly cheers up. (Ugh, is she still thinking about him after the way he treated her??)

Fern's parents step off the elevator. They are warmly welcomed by the cuartel, and Alicia rushes up to greet them more effusively. Then she asks for a chance to tell them about her "situation" if they have a moment. They don't. :-) Teresita says they want to see Fern and take a look at a certain little business report. Alicia offers to call Fern and Marcia, but Fern's parents go directly to Fern's office.

Yazmin mopes around Luigi's office. Luigi scolds her for playing with the costumes and tells her to get to work. She's supposed to be getting trained in the salon (I think) but she complains that it's not a job. He reminds her that her job is whatever he tells her to do. He tells her not to be a lazybones (holgazana) and says he can't do everything himself.

Saimon assures PM that he'll watch out for trouble with Lopez. Lola says that she and Sara can take care of that, but Saimon insists. Whatever. Marcia sees him and tells him to leave PM alone and go cover the receptionist station.

Luigi and Yazmin bring their disagreement into the executive lobby. He is telling her to go away. Yazmin begs him to listen to her. (Why would he want to do that when the only noise she knows how to make is a whine?) Marcia asks what is going on. Luigi explains all the things he needs to do to prepare for the event, and says he has to do them all alone, because this señorita won't help him at all.

Yazmin pouts and claims that this is a lie. She says she was helping him, but he didn't like the way she did it. (She makes the sad face and does the sad voice, but until she learns how to turn on the waterworks, she's not going to fool anyone with a brain.) Luigi is aghast that she called him a liar.

So is Marcia. "Beat it," she tells Yazmin. Yazmin is shocked. "Are you firing me?" (The eavesdropping cuartel cheer silently.) Marcia asks Luigi if he needs Yazmin for anything. He says yes, to strangle her.

"Leave and come back tomorrow for your dismissal," Marcia tells Yazmin. Yazmin begs for mercy, saying "you can't do this to me." Marcia answers, "You won't work, we won't let you work." She and Luigi join hands. Marcia tells Luigi they'll resolve his problem.

"Satisfied?" Yazmin asks Lola. Lola indicates that she has plenty more problems with Yazmin. Yazmin blames Lola for her firing. She says that her precious Flaquito is sick and it's all Lola's fault. Lola scoffs. "Satisfied? Yes. Content - no. I'm HAPPY!" PM is happy too. They look forward to breathing pure, clean air in the office tomorrow.

Yazmin warns that Lola will not believe what Flaquito is going to take from her in the divorce. Lola warns Yazmin not to spend her last paycheck too quickly because Flaquito might need it for the divorce. Yazmin is outraged that Lola thinks she'll get her hands on any of Yazmin's money! (Seriously! This is the woman who wanted El Cheque to sell Lola's house so he could buy Yazmin a new car!)

Alicia sticks her big, uh, nose in. Yazmin tells her she's been fired. Alicia just watches her leave. She tells the cuartel that she can get anyone fired because she is a personal friend of Don Humberto. (That's funny. I think Humberto and Fern were absolutely the only people who were in favor of hiring Lety rather than Alicia.) And the friend of Teresita, and Marcia, and Ariel.

The cuartel share a hearty laugh over this.

In Luigi's office, Marcia urges Luigi to let someone help him with the Cannes event. He says he'd much rather work alone than with bad company, even if it gives him a heart attack.

Caro comes in with her own assessment of the preparations thus far: it's not going well. Marcia thinks they need to tell Fern. Luigi is afraid that Fern will beat him up just like he did to the boyfriend of the platypus. Marcia says she knows about the fight - she's seen Fern's bruises. "Imagine, picking a fight with that woman's boyfriend."

Luigi is only to eager to clear up Marcia's misunderstanding. Those bruises didn't come from the boyfriend, he tells her. The platypus hit him too. He is surprised that Marcia doesn't know this. Lety gave Marcia's boyfriend a tremendous punch.

Marcia is shocked and enraged that Lety dared to slug her boss. Luigi says it was the only way the platypus could keep her boyfriend from getting beaten up. Marcia asks if anyone else saw. Luigi says no, they all covered their eyes. (Marcia gets madder.) He says of course they all saw, the only thing missing was a TV camera.

Caro tries to change the subject back to the Cannes event. She wants to help him, but he wants to worry about Irma. He asks God why did he make him gay if he was just going to end up depending on a woman anyway! He'll die without his Irmita!

Irma's action-packed and highly relevant subplot

Irma is puttering about the living room when the doorbell rings. She wonders who it is and reminds herself not to rush, as she answers the door (doesn't check to see who it is first, or anything like that). She takes one look and staggers backwards in shock, wondering if she's seeing a ghost.

"It's me, Rafael, your husband," he says, although from the look on Irma's face, the introduction wasn't necessary.

Irma can't even look at him. She talks to herself as if he isn't there. "It's not possible," etc. He assures her that he's as real as she is, but she keeps her back turned, as if she thinks he'll disappear if she doesn't look at him. She wanders listlessly around her living room and he slowly follows her. He apologizes for showing up so abruptly without giving notice.

"But then you got sick, and I had to come."

Irma turns sharply to face him and asks how he knew she was sick. He says he saw her last night when she was brought home, and a bunch of people came to visit. Alarmed, backing away, Irma asks if he's been watching her. He says no, but sometimes he comes by. He always leaves soon afterward because he can't get up the nerve to knock.

Irma says he's already dead. He says no, but he's ashamed of his life. Irma reminds him (I think he knows) that he left her more than 30 years ago. As far as she's concerned, he's dead and buried. Why did he come back?

He says he wanted to know how she was doing. (Read the recaps, you jerk!) And he wants to see his (he says "my," not "our") children. To tell them that he's here even though he's not good for anything.

Irma agrees that he's worthless. Absolutely worthless. Rafael repeats that he just wants to know how she was and tell the kids that he's always carried them in his heart. And in spite of how cruel he seemed, he's always dreamed of them. "Please tell them," he begs Irma. (The captions actually say "diselos," but that's not in my dictionary, so I'm assuming it's "dicelos.") "Tell them so I can die in peace."

Irma is taken aback.

"It's okay that you hate me and won't forgive me," Rafael continues. "That I don't deserve your pardon. But please tell them, tell them. How much I need you to pardon me. God can send me to hell if he wants, but I don't want to go without your pardon."

Irma is moved to tears... of pity, or contempt hidden behind a sad smile. "Rafael, deeds are lovers and not good reasons [this must be some idiomatic way of saying "talk is cheap"]. Get out of here. Leave!"

She stands. He begs. "Leave," she says, "and I hope God forgives you, because I can't." He gets up and leaves, disappointed.

Wow. That was excruciating to translate. Damn, there's more. Fortunately it's repetitious and can be summarized.

Irma asks herself why he had to return, just when she had forgotten him. She was getting used to the idea that he had left without saying goodbye and would never come back. Why couldn't he leave her in peace, when to her he was a dead man without a tomb?

The phone rings. It's PM. Irma tells her she's doing well - there's no better healer than time, but there are things even time can't cure. Then she excuses her seemingly cryptic comment by saying that old people talk to themselves. They tell her that Juana will be spending the afternoon with her, but Irma says no, please, she just wants to be alone. She promises to call them again later so they won't worry about her.

Marcia takes the phone and says of course she's worried about her. Marcia says, do me a favor and let Juana visit you. She's finished all her work and if you don't, I'll punish you. (She is smiling as she says this. They all laugh.) Irma tries to protest, but Marcia insists and tells her to wait for Juana. She hangs up.

Irma hangs up too, but doesn't look happy.

Hmm. I guess Rafael didn't leave after all. Maybe he was just in the bathroom when Irma got the phone call. Now he's looking through a photo album. Irma comes out of another room and is just as surprised to see him as I am. "I thought you had left." He says he'll leave, but first he just wanted to look around at the house and see the photos. He asks who the girl is in the photo album. Irma says it's their grandchild, Sarita, daughter of Rebeca.

Raf is impressed. He asks where their children, Rebeca and Jorge, are now. She tells him they left a long time ago, to LA and Boston. They never came back. Rebeca has a family and calls once in a while. Raf says he would have liked to have met them. Irma scoffs. He says it's getting late and he'll leave. He says he feels he's bothered her and although it probably seems ridiculous, he worries about her. She laughs derisively.

He asks her to give everyone a kiss even though he's sure they don't want want him to visit. Boy, this guy is pathetic and I have a hard time with his sentences. I hope he kacks next week before I have to recap him again.

The last word

Marcia goes into Lety's office with steam still shooting out of her ears. She asks Lety to explain why she punched Fernando in front of the world. Lety says it wasn't on purpose. Marcia asks if it was an accident, she raised her little hand and Fern happened to fall on it? Lety tells her that Fern lost control, he was killing Tomas, she didn't have any other way to stop him, and then she too lost control without wanting to.

Marcia says that Lety doesn't do anything she doesn't want to. She always knows perfectly well what she's doing, she's a human calculator in every sense of the word and with just as much nerve. She always knew Lety had a mean streak, but this is incredible. Fernando gave Lety a hand, and she took a foot?? And some more stuff that I don't get... but then she gave him a punch in front of the employees...

Lety says she only wanted to stop the fight. Marcia claims that she could have found another way. Isn't she smart enough? Or doesn't Fernando's shadow care enough about him? She couldn't think of any other way, because she has no class.

This is where the episode ended. Too bad. After all the nasty things Marcia said to her, I was hoping Lety would come back with "yeah, it's funny - in spite of all those things, Fern still doesn't like you anywhere near as much as he likes me."

---

Next week
Ariel has some questions about Filmo-Imagen.

Labels: fea

Nicolás is threatening Jos with a world premiere of a video…starring her. In order to keep the video under wraps, she signs the divorce papers. He’s a really good assistant and who knew he could be such a bad-ass. She gets the disk, but he tells her he has another copy at his house (uh-oh…probably shouldn’t have told her where it was Nic) and will show it to Gabriel if she makes him. The decision is all hers, if she tries to do anything against Gabriel.

Luisito is eating his ice cream and telling his friend that he just heard Coyote’s voice but doesn’t want to tell Mari.

Leonardo is chatting with his taxi buddies about his job offer (why is this a struggle?) Gabriel comes to chat with Leo about Mariángela’s happiness.

Otilia and Soraya are at the Televisa studios and they see…Miranda (Jacqueline Bracamontes)!! There’s a light breeze blowing in the courtyard so Miranda has to hold on to Otilia so she doesn’t blow over. Fortunately she’s an actress so she makes it look like she’s holding her hand because they’re really good friends. Otilia tells her about her clothing boutique and they share fashion ideas. Otilia continues with the meet and greet of Televisa stars asking them to wear her clothes and share the name of her boutique when they are interviewed. Otilia tells Soraya that Miriam is going to be shocked when she sees these stars recommending her boutique. Take that Miriam!

Miriam and Ingrid are discussing Clemente’s fortune. Miriam has discovered, much to her surprise, that she doesn’t control all of Clemente’s fortune, like she thought she did. Federico told her that Clemente has other investments and now she wants to know where Clem keeps that will.

Clemente, drinking and daydreaming out the window (poor Clem, he’s going to be drinking out of the bottle by the time this novela reaches its end), is thinking about his promise to take care of Mari and to tell her he is her father. He decides to do it right away.

Mari's school seems to be doing well. The group of students is outgrowing her kitchen table. Her new student’s mom tells her how lucky she is to have a boyfriend like Leo. Mari agrees (halfheartedly) and then changes the subject to say that she’s really lucky to have a job with such great students such as these. Ugh.

Leo and Candelaria are admiring her sequined handiwork. Leo hands her a cup of tea (or coffee?) and when she asks for a roll to go along with it he says no, she needs to lose weight (I guess this is one of the bad parts of having a doctor for a son). He tells her that Gabriel is still planning to divorce Jos.

Miriam is contemplating the astounding possibilities for sibiling rivalry if Jos and Leo found out they were brother and sister. Enter Jos, who tells her that she had to sign the divorce papers. Miriam says now they have to get Luisito back—in order to be able to control Gabriel (and presumably his money)--, and the way to do that is to prove that Gabe is a bad dad. Ingrid comes crashing in with a letter from the director of the psychiatric hospital. It says that Jos has completed her therapy (?). She gives a crazed chuckle in joy.

Babyface JC and Paulina are in their sparsely furnished apartment discussing whether or not and when to get out of bed.

At the office, Gabe is remembering Leo’s determination to marry Mari. The phone rings and it’s Pau sharing the news that Demián visited them on their honeymoon to apologize.

Regina & Demián are discussing the same theme. D suggests having JC and Pau over for a family dinner. Regina couldn’t be more shocked, or could she? Then D says he’s also going to ask Gabe over as well. She could and she’s thrilled to hear it.

Back in the boutique, Otilia & Soraya are discussing their recent marketing ploy. Apparently in exchange for appearing on the show, the Televisa stars expected a little positive PR and Otilia starts in on how not only are these ladies very lovely, they are also intelligent. With a smile on her face, Otilia then eviscerates poor Soraya, telling her to dress in a more decent and presentable way.

Miriam gives Nic the psych documents and he dismisses them, saying that it’s too late because Jos has already signed a voluntary divorce paper. He adds that very soon, this little problem will be over. After he leaves, Miriam mutters, that’s what you think.

Regina tells Simona that a miracle is taking place with Demián’s change of heart. His apology to JC and Pau and the upcoming visit of Gabriel and his family for dinner is wonderful, she says. Clearly, this is a build-up to more bad stuff happening.

Nic gives Gabriel the good news. When Gabe asks how he got her to sign it, Nic just tells him that it’s a professional secret.

JC & Pau finally got themselves out of bed and are at the office. Pau is happy that things are going well and she loves her mother-in-law. But when she sees JC & Regina together, she can’t stop thinking about her birth parents abandoning her. JC tells her to forget about it.

Mari & Leo are acting all flirty. Leo tells her about his job offer at the hospital and that he still isn’t sure if he should take it since it would mean leaving his taxi-driving friends in the lurch (I’m sure it’s practically impossible to find a replacement taxi driver in ALL OF MEXICO CITY!). His stupid idea is to drive taxis during the day and work in the hospital at night. Mari tells him he’ll get sick if he does that…Leo thinks it’s cute that she’s worried about him (actually she’s worried about erratic driving skills and patients being given the wrong dosages of meds).

Pedro is visiting Gabe and they discuss Diana’s leaving and how strange and sad it is.

Otilia & Soraya are discussing Diana. Soraya tells her that she fell in love with the wrong man. Otilia blah blah blahs about women and men and ends up telling Soraya to tell Diana to come by and she’ll help her out.

Karen, dressed as though she was auditioning for a role as a slutty clown, is telling Miriam and Jos that she discovered that Otilia’s boutique is growing and that she’s planning to launch a line of clothes. Miriam scoffs but doesn’t want to underestimate her and sends Karen on another scouting mission. Later, Regina chirpily comes in and invites them to dinner. Jos doesn’t want to go, but Miriam says don’t be dumb…this is a good opportunity to plant seeds of doubt in Demián. They discuss their evil plans…Jos says she knows that Regina is in love with Gabe, and Miriam says we’ll take advantage of that fact.

Demián comes into Gabe’s office so that they can talk with out rancor or hatred. He invites him to dinner, saying that he understands Gabe’s apprehension, but he has good intentions. Demián says he thinks it’s best that the two families are united and peaceful. Gabe agrees to go but says he hopes it’s not another one of his tricks.

Luisito (who is looking more like Eddie Munster every day) tells his friend that he is going to tell JC about Coyote. Later his friend says don’t tell anyone we can investigate it and nothing bad will happen because he saw it in the movies that nothing ever happens to the good guys, just to the bad guys. Apparently, this kids needs to watch more novelas! They tell Pancho their plan to become jr. detectives.

Tiberio, in his efforts to make sure that he gets more than his brother, goes to Rogelio to stir things up. He tells him that since Pau isn’t even his sister, it’s not fair that they get the same. A good seed to plant in the mind of that snake.

JC & Pau are going to go shopping for their house…a great opportunity for another video music montage to show us how in love they are. They eat non-stop and twirl around the market and then set stuff up in their house.

Candelaria goes up to Mari’s apartment and asks her to deliver a letter to Elsa. When Mari delivers it, she tells Elsa that her mother is really suffering and that since she has moved into her own apartment, Elsa could return home. Too late, says Elsa, besides she loves stupid adopted Leo more than me. Mari tells her that a mother is the greatest blessing in the whole world and she should just love and respect Candelaria.

Gabe & Rogelio are talking about the family dinner that night. Rog doesn’t want to go, he’s still too broken up over his recent losses. Gabe tries to talk some sense into Rogelio about Diana, but he’s not having any of it. When Gabe suggests that they look for her together, naturally Rog says NO! don’t do anything (since then she might tell you what a rat-fink I am!)

Soraya introduces Diana to Otilia. She’s going to work as a model...but first Otilia has to insult her and teach her to walk like a crazy person.

Leo tells the head doctor that he wants the new job if he can work at night. The doctor’s like, and when are you going to sleep. Leo tells him not to worry, he can do it…he’s Super-Leo!

Pedro got a job for Cortito as Candelaria’s replacement. Hmmm…that ought to be interesting.

JC & Pau are trying to get ready, but first they have to dance around and kiss in their bathrobes. One last shot of how completely happy and in love they are before everything comes crashing down?

Demián is telling Tiberio that since JC is done with his other project, he’ll be starting full time at his firm soon. Tiberio asks if he should he treat him like a real brother, or like you treat your brother, with a growing hatred and with a desire for vengeance. Should I follow your example in how I treat JC? This makes Demián angry, but since Regina is coming down the stairs he has to hide it. He starts hyper-ventilating as he looks at Regina, telling her that she’s more beautiful than ever.

Nicolás tells Gabe he still doesn’t believe that D has changed. He suggests that Regina is still in love with him, and asks Gabe if he would consider renewing his relationship with her if she weren’t married to D. No time to answer, here comes Eddie Munster.

Jos, sporting her best Farrah Fawcett ‘do, is getting ready for the big night. Miriam is wondering where Clemente is. He’s at Mari’s apartment, telling her the big news. She’s shocked and can’t believe it.

Labels: mundo

In her bedroom, Irmita tells the cuartel, Saimon, and Luigi about her daughter Rebeca, who moved to Boston, works as a nurse, married a gringo, and has a daughter. Irma laments that she has never met her granddaughter. But she is happy that both of her kids are fine, even though they are so far away. She’s been on her own for 18 years now, “You’re born into this world alone, and you die alone.” Everyone is sobbing. Luigi says the party is over. They argue over who gets to stay to take care of Irma. PM says she will stay and Saimon says he will stay to take care of PM and Irma. Luigi protests that he knows that as soon Irma nods off, PMS will sneak off to reproduce like rabbits.

In the swiggle-mobile, Tomas is excited about Alicia offering to nurse his wounds. Lety warns him again about taking Alicia seriously, and about giving her money. She also warns him that the story he gave Alicia about a bunch of thugs jumping him will fall apart tomorrow when the whole company hears the gossip about what really happened.

It’s decided; Luigi will stay the night with Irmita, and in the morning the cuartel will do a lottery to decide who will miss work to watch her.

The doorman calls Alicia to tell her Tomas has arrived. She squeals with delight, dances around, and sprays herself and her apartment with about half a bottle of perfume.

Tomas, all beat up, has to drag himself to get to Alicia’s door. He gargles. Remembering he has the Filmo Imagen checkbook, decides he can’t take it into Alicia’s apartment because it will be too tempting. He hides it in under a table right outside Alicia’s door. Alicia lets him in. She gives him and excited "Ay Tommy!" She pretends to be concerned about Tomas’s bloody state and leads him to the couch, but Tomas makes a beeline for the bed. Alicia purrs into Tomas’s ear that she will go get the first aid stuff. As Alicia walks away, Tomas gets comfy on the bed. He takes off his shoes and taps his feet together, and a cloud of talcum powder rises from his socks. Alicia comes back and asks who he got into a fight with. Tomas says that he will tell her the truth, because she is going to find out anyway; it was Fernando Mendiola. Alicia offers a surprised “Aaaaay Tommy!” He goes on to explain that Fern showed up at Irma’s house, where he got into a work-related argument with Lety. Tomas defended her and that's how he got in a fight with Fern. He adds that he almost killed Ferm. Alicia says that Fern almost killed Tommy, too. She stuffs a big piece of cotton up Tommy’s nose. Ich! Tomas puckers up for a kiss. Gross! Alicia moves away. She gives a sympathetic “Ay Tommy! You poor baby… Oh yeah, where’s my money?” Tomas says that he has secured a loan for her. She rewards him by bringing his face to rest on her overstuffed gozangas.

Luigi tucks Irmita in and says he will wake her up when it’s time for her meds. Irmita is on cloud nine. She lies back in bed with the same contented look my kids get when I let them sleep in my room. Luigi sits in a chair and watches her sleep.

Tomas tells Alicia that the loan will be ready maybe next week. Alicia cries that it will be too late. She says this bad news has spoiled the evening. Tomas offers to lend her the money himself. Alicia joyfully accepts and wants the check right now. Tomas says he does have his checkbook. Alicia searches all his pockets and finally accepts that the checkbook is not there.

Lety is home, thanking her mom for the great dinner. She wants to take Moty for a walk. Mom wants to come along. Lety prefers to go alone; she has stuff to think about.

Alicia, realizing there’s no salvation for her car tonight, suddenly feels ill. She wants to be alone. She rushes Tomas out of her apartment, but not before asking if he will get her the check tomorrow. Tomas agrees. He exits the apartment and remarks that his date almost cost him $500,000, and that Alicia’s kisses are very expensive. He pulls the checkbook from its hiding place and tells it that, just as he predicted, it would have been a bad idea to take it with him into Alicia’s place.

Lety is out on the street and carrying Moty [Hey, isn’t the point of walking a dog to let the dog walk?]. She remembers how she slapped Fern and thinks aloud that it’s ironic that, after loving him so much, today she just wanted to strangle him. Suddenly, a there's voice calling her “Woman!” It’s the Psychic Guy! He continues “So because of that you don’t believe you love him anymore?” Lety remembers that this is the same PG who warned her about The Letter. The PG confirms that, yes, it is him. She says the letter told the story of a great treason, and it changed her life. It sent her from heaven to hell in an instant. He says that yes, he already knows that. He raises a single brow for effect and says that they have met again because he has something to tell her. Lety is scared. She starts to walk away, but the PG stops her. He says that she wanted revenge against that man caused her so much pain, but her plan did nothing but intensify that pain. Lety nods yes. PG says he can see the two of them tangled in a web of confusion and lies. That’s why they do not understand each other, and that’s why they have not been able clarify this situation. [Very insightful… He must watch a lot of novelas and Three’s Company] Lety says that everything is clear; He (Fern) is using her to secure his company. PG thinks that that company is the trap that unites them, and at the same time divides them. Lety says that she’s leaving the company. He says "You’re going to lose yourself. Everything that kept you going will disappear, and then your fight to survive will really begin." Lety says “What does it all mean?” PG tells Lety that, throughout the difficult phase that is waiting for her, she must remember that the solution to her problems is within herself, and she will not succeed until she discovers her inner strength. He says that her desperation and “his” are the same, and if they don’t accept that, then they both will always suffer. He promises to see her again “after the storm” and walks away. Lety is left alone, and she asks herself “My desperation is the same as Fern’s? Why?”

Next morning. Fern arrives at work. In the main lobby, Omar wants to know why Fern asked him to come in early. Fern enunciates “CA-TAS-TRO-PHE!” Just then, the elevator opens just in time for the guys to hear Lola, Juana, and Sarah gossiping about the fight. They realize they are busted, and Lola pretends they were talking about a movie. Fern and Omar go into the office for the daily rehash. Omar chastises Fern. Of course Tomas was going to defend Lety against a drunken lunatic. Fern denies that he got into the fight because he was jealous. He says he knows he went overboard, but it felt so good to hit that Tomas that before he could stop himself, he was hitting him over and over. But when Lety slapped him, he froze.

Lety arrives and PM wants the scoop. Lety evades the topic.

Omar says that Fern has officially hit rock-bottom. He offers to murder Lety. Fern sarcastically says that would be great, because then Lety’s family would inherit the company. Omar says Fern must publicly and profusely apologize. He hands Fern a blank card of the day.

Lety makes her way up to the executive lobby, where the cuartel corner her for gossip. Lety says is was a misunderstanding. Juana points out that Lety slapped her boss; doesn’t she remember? Lety causally turns away from them so that they don’t see the GIGANTIC grin that spreads across her face as Juana says this. They want to know what happened. Lety turns back and explains that Fern wanted to go discuss some business stuff, but Tomas took offense because he was waiting for her. She says that things got out of hand because of the alcohol involved. She asks them to be discreet about the whole thing.

Irmita wakes up before Luigi. As he wakes up in his chair, she brings him a cup tea. She wants to shower, he doesn’t let her. She says if she’s going to feel better, she needs to shower and change. He jokingly offers to shower with her.

The cuartel ask Lety how she will face her boss. They think he will fire her. She says if he fires her that’s fine with her.

Fern is done writing in the card but won’t let Omar read it. Omar asks if Fern brought his kneepads.

In the lobby, Fern runs into Alicia. He mockingly thanks her for showing up early. Alicia asks about the bruises on his face. He says he beat up an Oxi last night because she wouldn’t mind her own business. Fern heads for his office.

Marcia arrives, and it takes 5 seconds before Alicia gives her the gossip. Marcia is impactada “Lety’s boyfriend?” Alicia reminds her “He’s my boyfriend too!”

Fern enters Lety’s office. He is so, so sorry. Lety says he has nothing to apologize for. Tomas and her dad are putting together a full accounting of Filmo Imagen’s expenses. Fern says that’s not necessary. Lety says that he thought differently last night. Fern says his behavior was not due to the expenses, but rather to his jealousy. He wants her to please, please believe him and forgive him. Lety says he shouldn’t worry about her, he should worry about the gossip. She asks whether he is willing to announce to everyone that he was jealous because of her or that he's upset about Tomas’s management of Filmo Imagen. Fern says he has a hard time expressing himself and gives Lety the card. Lety reads:

"Don’t fault me for what I did, don’t fault me for what I am, because I don’t even know who I am anymore. I am full of anguish, and it’s because you have rejected me. You don’t seem to hear my desperate scream. My love for you does not move you. Nothing matters to you. But don’t ask me to be indifferent when I see you with him, and don’t ask me to suppress my rage when someone is snatching you away from me. I won’t stand for it. I still consider you mine, despite your detachment. Don’t fault me, because you have thrown me into a dark and deep tunnel and you won’t tell me how to get out. Give me back your kisses. Say that you are mine again. Give me peace. I love you.”

Fernando paces back and forth as she reads. The look on his face is … well, he really needs a hug. Lety’s face is somewhere between unbelieving and hopeful. She asks, “Does this mean you will tell everyone that the fight was due to your jealousy, and that you are in love with me?”

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