Caray, Caray!

Well, here we are at the next to the last episode and I think it was one of the most languid I have ever seen for the end of a novela. I am going to be out of town tomorrow night so I won't be able to post the recap of the grand finale until Friday night.

Marisela and Genoveva are surprised by the sudden appearance of Cabos Blancos without bridle or saddle.

Santos continues to stonewall the Inspector.

Marisela tells Geno that she can tell that CB has been in the quaking bog (tremedal) by the smell. She leaves.

DB goes over her catalog of people she didn't like or killed: Danger, BP, Lorenzo and the rapists and says that she doesn't regret what she did. She tells those that she loved: Eustaquia and Melquíades to wait for her. She doesn't ask God for forgiveness because if he exists, he is as guilty as she for making DB the way she is.

While Marisela drives to the bog, she flashes back to various situations with DB. She says that she is sure that DB loved her. The spirit of Eustaquia tells her to hurry.

DB kisses her gun goodbye and walks into the bog, which appears to be a pond covered with duckweed.



The Inspector is about to have Santos put in a cell when Antonio arrives and orders him released.

Marisela finds DB up to her neck in the bog. She ties a rope to a tree and goes after her. DB says that she has nothing to live for and tells Marisela to leave. Marisela says that if DB doesn't want to be saved, they will drown together.

Antonio tells the Inspector that he has been promoted for his good work in breaking up the narcotrafficking ring and he can leave Progresso right away. He leaves much to everyone's relief.

Marisela asks DB's forgiveness for all that has happened. Then she starts to sink and DB tries to save her.

DB tells Marisela that they have to live and they start to pull themselves out of the bog.

Genoveva tells Santos about how Marisela went to the quaking bog. He and Antonio go after her.

DB and Marisela come out of the bog arm in arm.

Juan Primito comes running up and asks why Marisela and DB are all dirty [although they don't look dirty at all, just wet]. DB tells JP to uncover and clean up a canoe and to tell anyone who asks that she is dead. She tells Marisela that she is leaving the Arauca forever. Marisela asks if she has gotten her mother back just to lose her again. DB says that she has won her mother forever.

Santos and Antonio find the rope that does into the bog and see the tracks coming out. Santos, for once in his life, doesn't jump to a wrong conclusion. He tells Antonio that good things are happening and they should go home.

DB and Marisela give each other baths and make up for all the years they were estranged. DB tells Marisela that they wouldn't get along on a day to day basis so DB has to leave. Marisela tells DB that she wants to have lots of children after she finishes her education.

Melesio holds his new granddaughter. He asks Cecilia when she and Antonio are getting married. Cecilia says that she is getting married soon. María Nieves and Altagracia come in to tell Melesio that they have set a wedding date. Melesio wants to know when Genoveva is going to get married. She says that will never happen.


Santos explains to Antonio how it is that he loves Marisela and DB. He says that the two women have a different part of his love. He says that Marisela is the one he loves as a wife, friend and confidant. Santos says that he still has a great affection for DB. He says that no one made him feel so powerful and so weak at the same time. He couldn't stay with her because she creates chaos, violence and destruction. He tells Antonio that Marisela brings out the best in him while DB brought out the worst. He says that when he was with DB, he acted like his father.

Santos sees JP and asks what he is doing. JP is not a good liar but once again Santos doesn't junp to idiotic conclusions. He understands immediately that DB is leaving.

DB tries to give Marisela the earrings that Asdrúbal gave her but Marisela says that she appreciates the gesture but they are DB's. However, Marisela takes DB's whip and DB tells Marisela to kick butt sometimes to show whose daughter she is. She tells Marisela to wait outside. She takes one of Santos' shirts and says that she is taking his smell with her.

Labels: barbara

Capitulo 66 – Sorry if this is a little disjointed, but I watched it first on You Tube and then watched it “live” and realized the You Tube version cut some stuff out.

From last night: We have to live through the invitation to Errorika about the party again. Babs hands over the necklace to Lucio.

Gardenia show Fr/Ed his passport that she found on the dead body. He wants to know who this guy was who tried to defend her against being raped and died tryin’. Gardenia says it was the man who came to Las Animas the other day saying it was a matter of life and death and Fr/Ed remembers it was Agent Manzanares. Gardenia says she’s doesn’t think he was really a cop because he was hangin’ out with Jairo.

Bitch Barbie gives Lucio the necklace and also gives him a business card of a place he can go where he can sell it. She tells him he’ll get $8,000,000 pesos for it. (At today’s current exchange rate of approximately 13 pesos per US Dollar – Lucky Lucio will wind up with about $615,385.00 – hell – give me the necklace! Lucio’s lickin’ his chops at the thought of this kind of money and Barb tells now it’s time to “Larrrrrrrgate!” or in other words, Get the F Out!

Babs talks to Gonzo about how bad Lucio is.

Gardenia wants to know how she’s supposed to address Fr/Ed now, Don Santorito, Eduardo or Don Eduardo. Fr/Ed tries to apologize and says he’s sure she’ll understand once she hears what he has to say. Gardenia, with big ‘ol alligator tears running down her face, also wants to know why Fr/Ed never answered her letter telling him she loved him and would wait for him. Fr/Ed doesn’t know what to say to her and just then there’s a knock on the door. Gardenia opens the door to find Fernanda coming to pick Fr/Ed up for their “date”. There is very tense moment when it seems that Gardenia has realized that Don Francuardorito is still in love with Senora Fernandita. Fernanda comes bouncing in like a happy little puppy and Fr/Ed says he’s been waiting for her. Gardenia stands and watches and finally asks if they’ll be returning for lunch. Fr/Ed says no, but she should ask Esteve if he’d like anything and if not, to take the morning off. Fr/Ed and Nanda decide they’re going to ride their horses over to the old barn.

Margs and Jacinto argue about Gardenia shooting her mouth off and that everyone will know who Franco is. She says she’ll be happy about that, doesn’t Jacinto see that Eduardo’s lies are affecting everyone?

Of course, Nanda and Fr/Ed are on matching white horses. They arrive at the barn and he’s almost frozen by memories. She opens the door and it’s almost as if he wants to cry from happiness at the thought of returning to the barn with Nanda, his love.

Vlad has made a date over the phone with Prisci. He tells Dam that he knows Prisci will tell him everything’s ready for his job at Grupo Lactose Intolerance.

Fernanda begins to explain her “vision” for what they want to build. She finally stops to ask his opinion, but he’s mesmerized in front of the wooden post where he carved their initials all those years ago. He says the initials must be there for many years and while caressing the initials with his fingers, he says it’s incredible that something so simple, done by a child could last so long. But he thinks it’s impossible that a love that inspired that heart couldn’t exist anymore.

Margs wants to drag Jacinto to Dona Soledad’s house. Just then Lucio is skedaddling outta town on foot with his little duffle bag.

He asks if she can imagine what the two people would think if they could see the heart with their initials again – it would be like finding something that had died. Nanda starting to get that drooling, catatonic look on her face like she had when he told her the story of the Jinete Justiciero. She asks what makes him think that their love has died? He says it would be a miracle and he doesn’t believe in miracles. She asks whether he doesn’t believe in miracles, or whether he doesn’t believe in love. He answer that he thinks you have to believe in love in order to believe in miracles and unfortunately, he doesn’t believe in love. That’s why he’s sure that the two lovers are not together.

Barb goes running down the steps and tells Gonzo the Gullible Dope that someone has stolen the necklace he gave her for their anniversary – she’s putting on quite the show.

Nanda thinks Fr/Ed’s a pessimist when it comes to love. He says he’s seen too many relationships end up in tears. She offers to tell him the story of the carved heart. He asks if the two are still together and she says no, but not because they their love was over, but because destiny was cruel to them. He asks how she knows and she says the “F” stands for Fernanda.

Margs and Jacinto arrive at Dona’s casa to find the open-faced grave with Manzanares looking a bit stiff. Margs cries.

Nanda and Fr/Ed are now both feeling up the poor molested heart! Their hands are almost touching. She tells him it’s been there for 15 years. He asks if she ever saw the boy again. He says it was probably just young love and that it was probably just a “travesura” – mischief. Nanda says it wasn’t just a travesura that actually kept them from seeing each other again. She tells him how the boy/man sent flowers to her wedding, doesn’t he remember? He says maybe the man’s reaction was because he was still in love with that little girl. He comes closer to her (she’s drooling again) and he asks if she stopped loving him and why, because she fell in love with her husband. She agrees and says it’s possible that’s why he sent the flowers and the card. Fr/Ed starts getting a little too annoyed for a supposed “third party” and tells her if the woman he loved were marrying another man is that she had stopped loving him. She gets angry and says the boy never answered her letters – Eddie looks a bit shocked. He asks what the boy’s name was and she says Eduardo, el Jinete Justiciero, he knew him. She says she feels responsible for what’s happened. Fr/Ed says maybe Eduardo never received the letters. She said it’s impossible, she gave the cards to his mother to send to him. Eddie knows something’s fishy here.

Margs is screaming at Jacinto about what they’re going to do about the dead body. She says they have to tell Eduardo what’s happened. They leave the scene of the crime.

Tomasa is taking the heat from Gonzo about stealing the necklace. She keeps saying she doesn’t know anything about it. He tells Babs to call the police. Babs all of sudden realizes that it was probably Damian that stole her necklace.

Vlad’s ready to leave for his date with Prisci and Dam hands him an envelope - I didn’t catch what was in it. Damian is getting ready to send BadBabs an e-mail saying it’s not over yet, and he’s going to give her a fight and she’ll be hearing from him soon.

Babs explains that she’s sure Damian was in their room the morning he left. She’s “remembering” how Damian left in a hurry and he was nervous. Tomasa cannot believe the lies Babs is spinning off the tip of her tongue. Gonzo finally apologizes to Tomasa. Exit stage right for Tomasa. Gonzo is frustrated that his daughter’s husband turned out to be nothing but a petty thief.

Fr/Ed thinks the barn is a great place for the community center. He says he thinks the place needs to be torn down. She stops and remembers the childhood kiss, and we have to remember with her – AGAIN. Yeah, yeah, it was magical, sun was streaming through the windows, blah, blah, blah. Fr/Ed comes over and asks if she’s really serious about trying to salvage the building. She says she thinks she’ll be very sad if they have to get rid of the walls. He asks if she’s talking about all the walls, or just the “viga” (beam) that has the heart on it. She asks if he thinks she’s ridiculous and he says no, just the opposite he’s surprised at how something so small could have such significance. They almost KISS!!!! Nanda realizes this and pulls away, but they’re still smiling at each other just like those two little children.

Barb doesn’t know how they’re going to hurt Nanda again by reporting Dam again for stealing the necklace. She says even though the necklace meant so much to her she can’t use it to hurt his daughter. He thinks they have the best love in the world – dope. He leaves for the office, but not before telling her she’s a saint – yeah right!!!! Barbs calls the jeweler from the business card. She says she thinks the person who stole it will be trying to sell it to him, that the chauffeur overheard her. Jeweler Guy laughs and says her chauffer must be one dumb criminal. She says if the guy shows up with the necklace to call the police and return the necklace to her.

A-Bore-A is playing with the horses at the stable. Santiago shows up. Santi thinks horses are better than people, especially most of his family – and he’s right. He’s ashamed of his family. She says she’s the one that should be ashamed – she has no family. They hug, and Sleazy Cad looks on.

She says she has to tell him something about her brother Cadmilho. She says it wasn’t fair of Fr/Ed to have fired Jacinto because he let Cad into the house. She goes on to tell him that Cadmilho mistreated Jacinto when they were younger to the point of leaving scars on his back and Jacinto let Cadmilho in the house out of fear of the Dreaded Cad. She says she sure that he’ll want to cancel all their plans now that he’s heard her, but it doesn’t matter because now her conscience is clear. He grabs her by the arm and says she’s a baffling woman (desconcertante) and that El Jinete Justiciero was right that she was the most wonderful woman he had ever met in his life. He says El Jinete Justiciero spoke of her with all the enthusiasm of a man in love, but now he’s envious of El Jinete Justiciero because to be loved by her would be a privilege to fight for to the death.



Peeping Cadmilho looks on and eavesdrops on the two young lovers. He comes out of the shadows to annoy them.

Nanda admits to Fr/Ed that she thinks she’s responsible for Eduardo’s death, and that his suicide was the most cruel revenge. It’s the only way she can explain his committing suicide. He takes her head in his hands as she weeps and she says she feels nothing but eternal hatred for Eduardo.

Previews: Fr/Ed tells her that the woman he came back to Mexico to marry is Fernanda and that he loves her and they KISS!!!!!! Can you imagine how angry Errorika is going to be when she finds out?????

Labels: manana

From inside the confessional, DB listens to Marisela and Santos saying how much they love each other and then she sees them kissing. She cocks her gun.

Antonio carries Cecilia into his bedroom and babbles about what happened in Progresso until Cecilia points out that Don Encarnacíon is in his bed.

In a very funny scene, the Inspector asks Pernalete and Mujica why they never investigated any of DB's crimes. They hem and haw and make excuses. He says that it appears that the whole town is protecting DB and asks for an explanation.

Watching Santos kiss Marisela, DB flashes back to kissing Asdrúbal. She jumps out of the confessional points her gun at Marisela and Santos and calls them traitors.

The Inspector asks if Mujica and Pernalete were aware of DB's crimes. They deny it. The Inspector points out that DB is Federica's godmother. Pernalete says that DB baptized her as a favor since Federica was an ugly, spoiled child that no one else wanted anything to do with. When the Inspector asks if DB did any favors for Mujica, he angrily protests that he never took any bribes.

Cecilia, Antonio and DE sit down to eat as a family.

Marisela tells DB to go ahead and shoot them. She says DB will only need one bullet because she will never be separated from Santos.

DB lowers her gun and says that she can't kill them. She says that she will leave Santos and Marisela in peace. She leaves the church and steals a car. Marisela tells Santos that he has to help DB get away. Santos asks if Marisela wants DB to go free so she can continue to kill people. Marisela replies that DB's vengeance is finished she won't kill again. She urges him to help DB get away. Santos agrees.

DB abandons the car she stole and goes to El Miedo on foot. Santos takes DB's money and goes after her. DB writes her last wishes in a letter to Marisela. She says that she is leaving everything to Marisela. She says that she would rather die than have anyone see her humiliated and asking for forgiveness or mercy. Eustaquia's ghost appears to say that DB couldn't shoot Marisela because finally she realizes that she loves her daughter.

DB says that she will leave Marisela a clear field with Santos. DB hears Lorenzo laughing at her and then Santos shows up.

Santos tells DB to get away before the police show up. He says that situation hurts him, too and DB asks how. Santos says that it hurts him that DB is suffering and he can't make her happy. He says that it hurts him deeply that his love wasn't enough to heal her wounds; that their child wasn't born and that he had to leave her to save himself from the abyss. DB slaps him. She says that he is a miserable bastard and asks how he could go away with Marisela. Santos agrees that he is whatever DB wants to call him but she should get moving before the police come.

Antonio, Cecilia and DE decide to return to Progresso the next day.

DB asks Santos why he doing this.

The police come to search Altamira.

DB demands to know why Santos is helping her. She asks if he has feelings for her. He says that he doesn't know. DB says that Santos loves her. Santos admits it but says that he can't be with her because she is an abyss while Marisela is his salvation and his light. DB says that Santos loves both of them and Santos doesn't deny it.

The Inspector is heading towards El Miedo.

Mujica asks Federica to marry him. She accepts him much to Josefa' s disgust.

Santos tells DB that they have to stop this conversation. She has to escape. DB says that they are out of time. She doesn't even have the consolation of hope. She tells him about the good-bye letter she wrote leaving everything to Marisela. She tells him to have the paper legalized after she is gone and to make Altamira one estate (again). She asks Santos what to do with the love she still has inside her.

Antonio says that he won't call Cecilia his butterfly (mariposa) any more. He will call her his 'sweet bee ('abejita dulce') because she conquered DE with her sweetness. Cecilia says that DE is a good person ('un pan de dios,' literally, 'bread of god') and was just terribly hurt by his daughter's death. They are interrupted by a call for Antonio from the Minister of the Interior.

DB tells Santos that he is her only love. She only wanted to be good because of him. Santos tells her to get moving because the police are coming. DB says how much she loves Santos and that she will love him until the last day of her life. She hugs him and Santos begs her to leave. She asks him to love her daughter and take care of her.

Antonio asks the Minister to recall the Inspector since the drug trafficking ring has been broken up. The Minister agrees.

The Inspector arrests Santos for helping DB to escape.

DB has escaped from El Miedo and is sitting under a tree. She says that all that she loves and everything that makes her what she is is in the llanos. This is where she buried her dead and gave birth to her daughter. She says that deep in her heart there has always been a healthy part and that part has been Marisela's and that is what saved her. That part made DB separate herself from Marisela so she could grow up to be a good person. DB says that it's a beautiful new day - her last day in the Arauca. She frees Cabos Blancos (with some difficulty).

Labels: barbara

The previews for tonight's show were sexy, weren't they? Mario digging his own grave while Paulina shouts "Kill him, kill him!" Santiago and Candy in the church, getting married in "the eyes of God". Soooo promising but honestly, the plot wasn't advanced much tonight. Still, the trip was a pleasant one. So let's look at what happened...and what didn't.

After the brief rehash (which you don't really need, do you?) we see Patricio and Arturo talking over why Patricio is sure Santiago's connected to the local mafia and why it's dangerous to Arturo's grandchildren for him to stick around. Arturo agrees to go.

Switch from there to the Alizée concert. Our French chanteuse looks more like a mom and less like that enchanting nymphet that danced so bewitchingly in the video Sylvia linked last Thursday. But no matter. Santiago is wild with enthusiasm and jumping up and down like a teenager. Candy is looking embarrassed. (Lord! what a wet blanket she's going to be in this relationship.) Fortunately, he ignores her and goes on shaking and baking.

Soledad, Cece and Barbara are back at the apartment commiserating that they can only buy the Alizée CD. Lucky Candy is actually at the concert. (But not enjoying herself. He should have taken someone else, honestly. Like maybe Lulu...or Hortensia. Oh well.) Anyway, the talk soon turns to men. Soledad's raving about how tender and thoughtful Raúl is. Cece's trying to douse her enthusiasm and Barb weighs in with some therapy. Soledad's earlier hurtful relationships were "her fault". Jorge left because Beto wasn't actually his son. And she should never have fallen for Patricio because he was married. Sooo...upshot. No reason for her to be afraid to fall in love with Raúl. Follow that? I didn't, really, but whatever.

Back to the dressing room. Santiago's babbling his praises of Alizée in Spanish and Candy's translating into French. Some words she pronounces well, others badly. Then she pulls a fast one on Santiago and makes him believe Alizée wants him to take her around Mexico for 2 weeks and show her the sights. He gets nervous; plants a big kiss on Candy to show he's taken, and off they go. Just as well since our French chanteuse was tired and needed a break.

Now, shades of MEPS. We have another partially dug grave and tough gunmoll Paulina is ordering Mario into it so he can finish digging his final resting place before Lozano shoots him. As if! He manages to talk his way out of it by handing her his cellphone and pointing out that he calls his lawyer every three hours. If he misses a call, the lawyer has the papers of a full confession which he'll deliver to the authorities. Paulina and Lozano decide to let him live (they'll fake his death by taking a picture of him in the grave with blood all over him) but tell him he has to get out of Mexico.

These scenes are broken up with some humor. Eduardo's drooling at the thought of Santiago being in the same dressing room with Alizée. Seems he's not getting any at home and he's feeling....well....deprived and depressed. Santiago fakes a gay accent, then a French accent and pretends to be Alizée dancing. Dancing superb. Accent not so much.

The last scene before we break for the first round of ads is Patricio confronting Candy in her office. He's convinced Santiago has mafia links and insists on keeping Chava away from him. Candy threatens him that if he tries to take Chava from her he'll be sorry. We've had this conversation before and will probably have more of the same in the future.

When we get back, Isabella and Donato are pondering Jaime's lack of recognition of the photo. Donato has it all figured out. Men don't like their wives going through (hurgando) their affairs and their secrets so maybe Jaime really did recognize the lady and is just faking confusion. Isabella is the one looking confused now! (But I agree with Donato.)

Same office, same lady, different galan. Santiago is now talking to Candy about the threatened custody and has a plan. They get married pronto! As a stable family, they'll have a much better chance of custody as opposed to a single guy. He tells Candy "no tengas miedo" (there's that theme again) and to come with him. They're off to the chapel and gonna get married...if only in the eyes of God.

Romance is in the air elsewhere as well...at the study table. Chayo's tutor has brought her flowers but she wisely refuses them (how do I explain this to my husband?) and vamooses, leaving him with the posies and the bill.

So back to church. Candy loves the idea of getting married but remember, she's not yet divorced. Santi assures her that God sees, not the laws of man, but the hearts of men...and their hearts are so full of love right now that they're in the perfect condition for getting married. The romantic music swells and so does the emotion. Santiago begins to pray....Lord, I haven't always been a good man (Candy interrupts...What? I need to know more about that...) Santi brushes that aside. This is just "in general" and goes on quickly to inform God that he loves this lady with "locura" and pasión (he's crazily, passionately in love!) and asks God to watch over them, protect their children, and help them to be as happy as he and Candy are together. Now it's your turn, Candy.

But you've already said everything replies our sweetheart. But she manages to add Thy will be done. I love this man with all my heart and please God, take care of us and help us. Amen. Short but sweet.

In the meantime, less happy scenes are taking place. Arturo is bidding good-bye to Margarita, giving her a letter for Patricio, and adding sadly, Tell the children they had a grandfather who loved them very much but wasn't able to stay around to see them grow up. And Lucia and Charlie are feuding again. He wants advice on how to handle this icky new friend of Meño's and she manages to spill the beans about Fede being in her room kissing her. That does it! When Fede calls, Charlie grabs the phone as says If you're ever in her room again, I'll kill you! (Go Charlie! We're on your side.)

We next see Lucia coming home, spotting Paulina and Rocio playing on the lawn with a dollhouse and standing up to Paulina quite effectively, swearing that she'll "never help Paulina stay at the house". Of course Paulina later uses this confrontation to manipulate poor Rocio some more. Your "sister" is just jealous because she doesn't have a mother. She's all alone and wants you to be alone too. Rocio tearfully vows that she won't like Lucia anymore. What a clever witch this Paulina is! Comes out smelling like a rose no matter what!

Brief restaurant scene with Lalo and Mario. He's telling him to relax, he's getting out of Mexico, all will be well for Eduardo and Santiago. As far as Gambino knows, Mario is dead.

Brief office scene with Meño and Candy. She's babbling on a mile a minute about the secret wedding and the promise of true love they made to each other. Simpers and 7th grade giggles. On both sides.

After the ads, we see Fede again. Ugh. He's still trying to seduce Lucia. She's still resisting. Good.

Now we're in Santiago's office and Alicia has handed him the baby while she discusses the possibility of a boob lift. Does she take some kind of fiendish pleasure in watching Santiago hold his own son? Dunno. But the interaction is great. The bambino has an enchanting smile and is radiating comfort and well-being in Santi's arms. Santi however, nixes the idea of being her plastic surgeon. Not with the current unpleasantness between him and Patricio. Better that she see another doctor. At this point, a hostile Candy walks in and wants to know what Alicia is doing there. Why, lining you up as Patito's godparents, quips Alicia. Dubious as they are, she assures them she'll talk Patricio into it.

Switch to Arturo loading suitcases into his trunk and the omnipresent Gambino catching him at it. No running away, Arturo. If you do, I'll pick off your grandchildren one by one. Which one do you want to go first? Guess he's make Arturo an offer he can't refuse.

Candy stays after Alicia's exit and does her usual blah blah about how Santi will find his son soon and everything will be okay. (True of course, but she has no way of knowing that) She offers to stay with him the rest of the day but he (perhaps remembering those hives of the other night) begs off, saying he has to see some patients and pay the rent after all. So off goes Candy and in comes his true love, Eduardo....who gives Santi the hugs and the comfort he needs by reassuring him that Mario has left and ain't nevah coming back. Santi muses that Mario sure has changed. He didn't used to be like that. Wonder what happened?(In a word, the evil Paulina.)

Patricio's talking with his mom, feeling guilty about running off his dad but recognizing that it was for the good of the children. The Institutas, meanwhile, are planning their next radio talk which will be about domestic abuse and how to escape from it. The Abandonados are planning theirs as well. What is the place of women in the universe? The kitchen! says Carlos. And he suggests talking about divorced women....they know what they like, they know what they want, there's no wasting time...there's always Susy Spencer. This isn't going over with Raúl who's definitely feeling romantic about women now that he's in love with Soledad.

On to more serious discussions. Patricio is dumbfounded that Alicia wants plastic surgery. There's nothing wrong with her!...he's noticed...even if they're not getting it on together. He's even more dumbfounded that she's asked Santiago and Candy to be the godparents. She digs in the knife, pointing out that they're a marvelous, solid, stable couple (dig dig!) and besides, he'll only have to see them at the baptism ceremony. Well, aren't you sweet?! he snarls back.

Two more scenes wrap up tonight's episode. First, Santiago shows Candy his new prescription pads and then the old ones which should have been the ones used for the prescriptions he supposedly wrote for the botched plastic surgery. She's relieved at the proof but both wonder WHO could have put this shady lady on to Candy.

And the last is the police investigator who confirms that Santi's private detective Leonardo, was also investigating Gambino. And was no doubt killed by him. As to Santi's son's whereabouts....no clues.

So....what happened? Arturo planned to leave but couldn't. Mario was slated to die but didn't. Santiago and Candy got married....but not really. Fede tried again to seduce Lucia but failed. Cece tried to discourage Soledad from falling in love with Raúl but was unsuccessful. The tutor tried to make some headway with Chayo, but she discouraged him.

The only person who seemed to make any headway was the execrable Paulina, who is turning Rocio away from both her father and her sister. Ugh!

Previews: Paulina threatens Isabella and tells her to get out, and take her husband with her....or she'll tell Santiago that Rocio is not really his daughter. Lucia overhears this.

Candy gets tough with Patricio and tells him to get out of her office and out of her life!

Vocabulary:
Algo que no me cuadra = something's not right, Donato, musing about Jaime not recognizing the picture.
hurgando nos secretos = burrowing into our secrets
no hay gato encerrado = Isabella stating that there's nothing fishy going on
meto las manos al fuego por él = I'd put my hands in the fire for him (using present tense)
yo di de más= I gave more (to the relationship) Soledad complaining before Barbara set her straight.
jugar chueco =playing dirty, Gambino threatening Arturo
burdo intento de fuga = stupid attempt to flee. more Gambino to Arturo
el tiempo es un cruel amigo = Santiago musing on the changes in Mario (time is a cruel friend)

Dicho of the Day:
Siempre se rompe el hilo por lo más delgado (lit. the thread always breaks where it is thinnest) We say "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link."
So who's the weak link in episode?...this story? We shall see.

Labels: Tontas

Ferro wrote: I apologize profusely, readers, but I am quite under the weather and won't be able to put up a recap tonight. Whoever wishes, please feel free to leave comments with what happened tonight, tomorrow if I feel better I'll copy anything recap-ish into the main post. Sorry again and thanks for understanding.
===========
Ferro, I hope you don't mind, I hope I'm not being presumptious, I'm writing an emergency recap. This is bare-bones, and I'm just writing what I caught on the first pass. Readers, don't be afraid to correct anything I heard wrong, or to add any important points I missed. It ain't pretty, but it's functional.
-Paula

At Rene’s grave, Lucio threatens Gardenia, waving his gun at her. She is beside herself in panic. Grasping at any hope, she tells him, “I have a secret about Franco Santoro.”

Margarita and Jacinto. Margarita misses Gardenia, because she has stayed away since they fought. Jacinto leaves the house to go find Gardenia and make things right.

In her room, Aurora changes into her jammies. Cad quietly opens the door a crack and leers at her in her undies. He says under his breath, “You’re not bad at all.”

Ed is reflecting on his day. Fernanda was right there so recently, and already he misses her. He says aloud that he loves her so much.

In her room in the big house, Fernanda almost hears him. She is fretting about what she will wear for their meeting/date tomorrow. Smart Nanda shows up and points out that Dumb Nanda sure is worried about looking good for a business associate. Admit it, she says, you want to please him. Dumb Nanda claims it’s just because Franco knew Ed, and talking to him makes her feel closer to Ed.

Damian with his mama. He tells her he’s innocent, and the Elizaldes set him up. She says he should go to the police. He says the family would make sure he takes the fall, and he’d go to jail. Mama says Fernanda loves him. Dam demands to do things his way, and orders his mama to keep silent about him.

Lucio with Gardenia at the grave. She tells him that she has an important document about Franco. Lucio keeps terrorizing her with the gun, and she’s sure she’s about to die. Just then, KABLAM, Lucio gets a shovel to the head, thanks to Jacinto, and falls into the grave next to Rene. But it looks like he’s still breathing.

Ed considers his course of action. He recalls that Ciro told him the white king’s head will give him the weapons he needs for battle. And the letter from his mother has his mission. His mission is to free Lil, and in the process he will free Ciro. It was his mother’s last wish. He needs Ciro’s money so he is equipped for the battle. He cinches up his calzones and determines to accept his mission. The first thing he needs is his passport to get the money, but when he looks for it, he discovers it has been taken.

Jacinto takes Gardenia back to the house. She’s crying a lot. She’s overwhelmed because, had Jacinto not shown up in time, she’d be dead right now. She tells them about her very bad day. The three men abducting her, Rene breaking into the house, Lucio tried to rape her, Rene saved her, and the shooting.

Fr. Rumpole, at his desk, realizes that it’s midnight and Rene still hasn’t arrived. Something must have happened to him. Yeah, I’d say.

At Jacinto’s house, Margarita and Gardenia make up. She tells them she found the passport on Rene’s corpse. She’s angry because Margarita and Jacinto kept the secret from her. Jacinto says it’s a matter of life and death. What do they do now? Margarita wants to go to the police. Gardenia wants to go to Ed’s house. Jacinto says it’s a dangerous night. When Lucio comes to, he might try to kill her again. Nobody’s going nowhere tonight.

In the morning, Lucio uses his gun to convince Tomasa to go waken Barbara. Barb tells Luc to get lost. “We talk when I want to talk, not when you want to.” Luc pulls the gun on Barbara and orders her to listen.

SECOND HALF STARTS HERE

Lucio wants money from Barbara. She tells him she doesn’t have that kind of money at the house. He waves the gun in her face and says that if he doesn’t get it he’ll shoot her. That helps her remember that there is money in the safe in the library.

At Las Animas, Ed is ostensibly doing his morning work-out. He’s actually doing what Japanese Anime calls Fan Service - content that has nothing to do with the plot, but it gives the audience a thrill. But hey, I’m not complaining! Maybe it was meant to be educational. An anatomy lesson on all the upper body muscle groups.

Tomasa comes into the kitchen to say that Gonzo is up and he’s in the library. Lucio swaps hostages. He says if Barb doesn’t come back in five minutes, he’ll kill Tomasa. Barb pretends to care.

Margarita can’t believe Gardenia’s going back to Las Animas. Isn’t she afraid Lucio will find her? Gardenia is determined to ask Ed why he never answered the letter she wrote him when he got sent away to school.

Ed comes to breakfast. Steve reports that Gardenia never came home. Ed reports that his passport is gone. Steve thinks Camilo took it when he broke in, but Ed says Jacinto was with him the whole time.

Erika comes to invite Franco to go riding to the club. Ed says he has an appointment. Steve asks if Franco has told her about the party yet. Steve says that she was the first one Franco wanted to invite. Ed squirms. Erika asks if she’ll be going as his pareja (date? partner?). When Erika leaves, Ed is mad at Steve for creating problems with Fernanda. Steve says it’s strategy – it will wake up the jealousy and show how she really feels. Ed is ready to call off the party, but Steve tells him the party is no game. It’s an important battleground in their war.

Lucio keeps threatening the crying Tomasa, while Barbara is upstairs lazily brushing her hair. When she comes down to the kitchen, she says Gonzo was in the library so she couldn’t get to the safe. Instead she gives him a diamond necklace and says this should keep food on his table for ten years.

Gardenia comes home. (I’m not sure I understood this scene.) She’s ready to leave her job because he never gives her any work to do. He says she’s there in case he needs her. Her job is to wait. With fire in her eyes, she asks, “What is Eduardo Juarez’ job?”

PREVIEWS
Ed and Fernanda have a date in the barn. The barn won’t be used for the community center – the look Ed gave Fernanda was so hot, the barn caught fire!

Labels: manana

I apologize profusely, readers, but I am quite under the weather and won't be able to put up a recap tonight. Whoever wishes, please feel free to leave comments with what happened tonight, tomorrow if I feel better I'll copy anything recap-ish into the main post. Sorry again and thanks for understanding.

Labels: manana

Freed from the church, Santos tells the Inspector that he was hit on the head and doesn't remember anything that happened in the ruined church. The Inspector doesn't believe him.

DB is running along the river where she starts to cry and has flashbacks to everything that happened. She tells herself that it's finally over.

DB gets back to El Miedo where she continues to cry. She says that she doesn't know why she is so sad. She has flashbacks of Eustaquia, Melquíades and Lorenzo. Juan Primito comes in and DB hugs him and cries.

DB has JP get her money out of the wall.

Santos tells Antonio what happened in the church. He says that he understands DB now and believes she was justified in what she did. He says that he feels sorry for her and wants to help her. This exchange: what DB did was horrible but she had a right to avenge what was done to her and she had guts to do what she did - we will call 'the conversation.'

Both Santos and Marisela head for El Miedo.

DB tells JP not to tell anyone where she went.

The Inspector sends men to search for DB and tells them to shoot her if she doesn't surrender.

Melesio and all the terneras except Genoveva have 'the conversation.' Marisela arrives and says that she is sad that she can't find DB to help her.

Pajarote, María Nieves and Cósme are chatting about what happened in the church and noting that Santos seems to want to protect DB when she appears looking for Santos. The police are arriving and the ternera men help her hide. Pajarote tells DB that they are helping DB because Santos is helping her.

The ternera men take DB to the river but there are men with dogs there. She jumps into the river. When the one-eyed alligator comes after her, Pajarote and MN kill it with Marisela, Santos, Antonio, Andrés, Genoveva and Altagracia watching.

DB escapes across the river but she starts to cry again. Melquíades' voice tells her to get up and find a hiding place.

Santos and Marisela find DB's horse with all her money.

All the guys celebrate the death of the one-eyed alligator and express admiration for DB's bravery in jumping into the alligator infested river. They think that DB is gone for good. They leave. Genoveva tells Santos that Marisela went to church to pray for her mother.

It turns out that having escaped from the ruined church in town, DB has returned to town and is hiding in the confessional in the active church.

Father Pernia and Genoveva have 'the conversation.' He tells Marisela to pray for her mother. Santos shows up. He and Marisela have 'the conversation.' DB is listening.

Labels: barbara

Santiago is reading to his daughter under the vulture gaze of Paulina. Isabel comes in with Jaime and announces, “I’m sorry, son, we’re moving. I don’t want to live here anymore.” Santiago sends Rocío to put her books away and play in her room. Why doesn’t he ever send Pau away for these conversations, if he wants to get the truth from his mother? He asks mama why, and she blurts out that it’s Paulina’s fault. Santi clarifies, “If you’re having trouble with Paulina, she’s the one who leaves. You stay with us.” He tries to get to the bottom of the problem, but of course Pau interrupts and says that if Isabel wants to leave, she can leave. Santi tells Pau to shut up (YEAH!) and reaffirms, “My mama isn’t going anywhere.” Pau agrees to leave, but first she will (something). Santi tells her he’s not about to let her use his daughter for blackmail. Pau covertly threatens Isabel, and Isabel backs down. She says Roc really needs her mama with her. She insists that they don’t make Rocío suffer.

Mario and Gabino are having a lovely chat in the car. What, no cucumber sandwiches? Santiago had specifically told Gab that he didn’t do any surgery, and Mario says Santi is a liar. Gab says Mario is the liar, and a traitor too, considering that Mario ran off with Pau. Gab suspects that Mario betrayed Santi both then and now. Mario informs Gab that Luzano, his driver, saw the whole thing. Gab puts the squeeze on Luzano, and Luz confirms that Santi did the operation. But Gab still thinks Mario is lying, and he tells him to get out of town. He doesn’t want to see him again.

Jaime asks Isabel how long she’s going to let Paulina threaten her. Isa says she has no choice. She can’t let Pau destroy her family. That’s all that matters. Jaime says she shouldn’t just move out, leaving Pau to wreak destruction. She needs to fight back. But Isa is afraid of the damage that will cause. Jaime sees the picture on Isabel’s desk, the picture from Zamora’s cottage. He doesn’t recognize the woman.

Santi gives Pau two days to get out (stupid move). He tells her to tell the truth about why she’s leaving (he believes in Santa Claus too). Pau turns on the tears to talk to Roc. “Your dad kicked me out of the house.” She claims she doesn’t want to leave because she’ll miss Roc so much. Pau checks that no one is listening at the door, and then she tells Roc, “It’s all Candy’s fault. She told your dad lies about me. But don’t tell your daddy I said that.” She goes on to twist Roc with more lies. Boy oh boy, I can’t wait for Paulina’s pie cart of scorpions! Or maybe the steamroller treatment.

Santi unloads his problems on his therapist, Donato. “I have a son I can’t find. My woman distrusts me. My mom wants to leave. Where did my secure family go?” Donato suggests a relaxing night at the clubhouse. He’ll arrange everything. Then Don calls Candy and tells her Santi is doing badly and they need to give him a welcome surprise.

Fred tries to apologize to Luc about last night. Luc says, “The only thing you want is to get me into bed.” You go, girl! But Fred begs some more, and Luc falls for it.

At the restaurant, Sven and Ole are doing all the work while Chris chats on the phone. Charlie comes in and doesn’t like what he sees.

Chava wants to know why his mom and dad are fighting, and Candy says, “We’ll talk about that later.” When “later” finally arrives, Candy sure will have a whole bunch of things she has to talk about.

At the clubhouse, Don sets Santi up with milk and cookies. Don quietly lets Candy in and leaves. Candy says, “You’re doing badly and so am I. We can keep each other company.” Santi gives Candy a look that says he is fully aware that it has been two weeks since their night on the beach.

Pat and Alicia meet with an attorney who assures them, if they can prove that Candy claimed to be dead, they can get custody of Chava. Pat clarifies that he doesn’t want to hurt Candy. He only wants to protect his son. Gregoria walks in and hears Ali telling the lawyer that Candy has done psychological damage to Chava. Gregoria lays into Pat for trying to take Chava for revenge. Alicia defends him, so Gregoria lays into her next, saying she always was the selfish one. Pat is between a rock and a hard place. Art and Margarita enter from opposite sides and join the fray.

Santi and Candy pillow talk while they dance. He loves her more every day, he wants to do the little things with her: wake up next to her every day, or watch movies, or cook. Candy asks, “How would it be, living with you?” He doesn’t know, but living with her would be paradise. More dancing, more kissing. When they lie down to watch a movie, Santi makes advances and Candy plays coy. Santiago says, “I want to be with you because you make me very happy” (Cervantes, he’s not!). While she’s in the bathroom, he does a little tango solo, then he tries to strike a sexy pose. I say he should stick to tango – works for me. Meanwhile Candy hides out in the bathroom. She calls Barbara and says she’s very uncomfortable getting romantic in the clubhouse because Santi and the other abandonados have brought so many women there. Santi starts to wonder if she got lost in the bathroom. Candy’s nervousness makes her break out in hives and she can’t stop scratching. Santiago gives her an antihistamine and she falls asleep. He tries to waken her with the sounds of Puerto Vallarta – the surf, the birds, and the sea lions. Silliness ensues. Hmm. Telenovela love scene meets I Love Lucy. It’s not working for me.

Meño and Gregoria talk about Pat’s latest move. Greg is worried that Candy will leave town to keep Chava. She asks for the chisme on Meño’s new friend. Charlie walks in at that moment and says he distrusts Chris. He warns his dad to be careful.

Paulina meets with Gabino in the car. She insists that Santiago is innocent and Mario lied.

Santiago takes the sleeping Candy home and puts her to bed. Chava dreams that he wins the soccer game and Rocío kisses him. He wakes up and goes to his mama’s room, where he sees Santi on the bed, giving his sleeping mama a kiss. Chava demands, “DON’T KISS MY MOM!” and rudely tells him to get out of the house. Chava climbs into bed with Candy to protect her from Santiago, and he refuses to leave when Gregoria tells him to.

Ricardo shows Meño his new rug and announces that he’s ready to come out of the closet. Meño warns him that it’s not as easy as he thinks. It means his friend will pull away, people will treat him differently, and what will they say at his job? Ricardo wants to talk about the two of them, but Meño makes it clear. They’ll be friends like always, nothing more.

At breakfast, the Odd Couple explains to Candy that Chava kicked Santi out. Candy thought he would come to accept Santi, but it’s going from bad to worse. Up in his room, Candy tells him he shouldn’t be rude to Santiago. Chava agrees – he won’t be rude, but he won’t let Santi kiss his mama. Candy sets him straight and reminds Chava that she’s the mama, and he’s not the one who makes the rules around here. April Fools! No, she gives him an isn’t-that-cute hug and Chava maintains his position as little dictator.

Speaking of people who never learned the meaning of “No,” Fred pressures Luc to go out with him tonight, but she slips out of his claws.
Roc tells Beto and Chava that she’s going to the concert tonight with her papa and Candy.

Art asks Pat about Santi’s connection to Gabino. Art recalls that just before Rocky disappeared, he talked about having surgery to change his face. Pat speculates that maybe Santi did the surgery.

Labels: Tontas

After receiving the picture (showing Marichuy with Daniel) from Ana Julia, Juan Miguel is confused, but still can only think of going home and making MC see again. MC gets a new teacher, Rafael. He tells her that he’s going to teach her many things….she’s skeptical. He tells her that he’s blind and she seems shocked to learn this, but otherwise impressed. She ends up sharing her feelings about being in the depths of despair over her blindness. He tells her there are worse things than being blind. He reminds her that she’s got four other senses and they can provide her with much information about the world. He starts their lessons. Daniel flirts with Rocío. He ends up kissing her and she acts aghast at his actions. She tells him that will be the last kiss he’ll ever get from her. He tells her that it was just the first of many and he hopes he won’t have to steal kisses from her in the future. Juan Miguel graduates from his six months of ophthalmology school at Boston University. He speaks in English at his commencement…..his professor, however, gives his address in Spanish. JM tells the prof that he won’t be attending any parties, he’s heading home very early the next day. Purita visits her M-I-L, Clemencia, and tells her that she and Adrian found out that they can’t have children. Purita is devastated. Clemi tells her that they should seek a second opinion and she hooks her up with a different doctor. Purita is hopeful that they’ll get better news. Marichuy has a nightmare about “seeing” JM again. He’s in the arms of another woman and is almost cavalier about MC being blind. MC mutters that she hates him. JM arrives home and the women of the castle are very happy to see him. Mayita is anxious to show him her school work. He and Onelia share a nice moment where he tells her she’s become like a mother to him and he’s very thankful for everything she’s done. Onelia is obviously touched. When Mayita heads out to get her school work, JM asks Ro and Onelia what’s going on with MC. He can tell by their facial expressions that something’s up…..is it that MC is in love with another. Ro tells him that she’s sure there is no new romance for MC. She does mention that there is a new teacher. Onelia says she’s also sure there is no romance, nothing other than what’s brewing between Ro and Daniel. Ro deflects the teasing. They discuss how MC doesn’t talk about JM much, she changes the subject whenever he comes up. He tells them that he doesn’t know what he’ll do regarding MC. He heads upstairs because he’s knackered and wants a shower (does this mean another shirtless scene is soon to be upon us?). Onelia says to Ro that they shouldn’t meddle in JM and MC’s affair, they should let them work it out (did I get that right?). Ana Julia has a hissy fit because she hasn’t heard from JM in awhile. She starts to trash her place. Rafael has a positive effect on MC. She starts to work with her cane. She begins to study Braille with his help and even ends up making dinner. Cande and Cece watch, fearful of MC with a knife, but she’s quite successful in cutting lettuce for a salad (which will just brown the lettuce, but she’s blind, so she won’t see it I suppose). MC ends up serving the dinner to Rafael. She talks a little about Juan Miguel. Beto flirts with Cande…they are goofy together, but I think he’s even goofier than Cande. Martirio appears to be jealous. Juanmi calls AJ (he’s wearing his cloths, so I don’t think we’re getting a shower scene…..bummer!). He wants to see her and she tells him she’s got a new apartment. He agrees to go there (this can’t bode well for our protagonist)...it's like the spider waiting for the fly. She finds out he hasn’t contacted MC yet. She’s overjoyed that he’s called her first, taking it to be some sort of sign that he’s all into her (how does this man continue to attract the craziest of all women?). Amador’s aunt brings him in a report from a private investigator. Amador opens the file…it is filled with addresses and phone numbers. He’s happy to have this information so he can now start to exact revenge. The scene ends up with him standing up from his wheelchair and his sneering face melds into that of the growling wolf. Bea tells Ed that she’s a little ticked because she saw him hugging and kissing Elsa the other day. Ed tells her that it was just a friendly hug and kiss (only on the cheek). He reminds her that she’s the only woman for him. Bea rembers that he and Elsa used to have a thing going on. Ed reminds her that’s in the past and she’s his wife now and again tells her that she’s the only woman for him. Elsa confesses to her mother that she’s confused about how she felt when she was with Ed the other day. Her mother tells her that she’s no business even going there. Elsa made her choice, picking Nelson over Ed….even leaving Ed at the altar. Luisa tells her daughter to let Ed and Bea live in peace….Bea is a nice person, she’s been like a sister to Elsa. Elsa is upset that her mother is sticking up for Bea. Juanmi arrives at Ana Julia’s apartment. She invites him in after he prompts her (she was all aflutter at seeing him, she forgot to lure him in). She tells him how handsome he looks and how she missed him. He says how much he wanted to see her. She’s happy to hear his words and fishes for a compliment from him regarding how good she looks. He misses taking the bait and tells her again how important it was for him to come and see her, she’s his only hope. AJ is just eating this all up, but then her mood takes a nose dive when JM says that the reason he’s there is that AJ is the only person who can honestly tell him what’s going on with his beloved Marichuy. AJ turns away from JM and faces the camera…..if looks could kill and MC were to be in the room, well let’s just say there would be a funeral being planned. END OF EPISODE

Labels: Cuidado

Sapo is holding DB and Santos at gunpoint. She tells Santos to get away but of course, he won't leave. Sapo knocks DB out.

Back at the jefetura, Antonio tries to think of some good reason to tell the Inspector why Marisela is handcuffed to a chair.

Sapo ties up DB and Santos.

Both Santos and DB tell Sapo to kill them and spare the other. He says that he will kill them both.

Tigre tells the Inspector that Marisela was locked up so that she wouldn't go after Santos. When he returns to where Antonio and Marisela are, the Inspector demands to know what is going on.

The terneras and their menfolk criticize Pajarote for leaving Santos alone. Gervasia says that it is too bad that the guys are so such bad fighters with their fists (puños). Cósme agrees and pulls out some pistols.

The Inspector tells Antonio that it looks like he is in a conspiracy to obstruct justice. He asks Marisela to tell him where DB is. He says that if Sapo finds her and Santos before they do, she could die. Marisela says nothing.

Sapo tells DB that he will open Santos' veins and let him bleed to death in front of her. Then he will kill her. She repeats that she will kill him. He says that he took everything from DB: her boyfriend Asdrubal, her father, Eustaquia and Melquíades. He says that he was responsible for her losing her baby. Now he will kill the love of her life and then for dessert he will rape and cut Marisela's throat.

This gets Santos mad and Sapo mocks Santos as the 'peacemaker of the Arauca'.

The Inspector suggests that there is no need for Marisela to be handcuffed. Antonio releases her warning her that the Inspector wants her to lead him to where Santos is.

While Sapo is mocking Santos for sleeping with DB and her daughter, DB manages to get out one of the poison darts that Melquíades gave her. Then she insults Sapo's manhood and dares him to show her that he can still do his business with a woman.

Pernalete and Mujica decline to leave the hotel to find out what is going on. Josefa calls them cowards and girly men ('poco hombres'). Mujica and Pernalate agree with her. They are cowards but they are alive and well.

The terneras' men arrive at the jefetura. Antonio invites everyone to join him in the bar for a drink. The Inspector follows after them.

DB's taunting of Sapo has the desired effect. He gets close enough for her to stab him with the poison dart. He keels over.

Don Encarnación asks why Cecilia is being so nice to him after all he has done to her. She tells him that she is a person who likes to be surrounded by her family. She says that although she lost most of her family when she was very young, she has, through her relationship with Antonio, has managed to create a new family. She would like DE to be a part of that family. DE agrees and they hug each other.

DB tells Santos that Sapo is only asleep. Santos tells her to get away before the police come. Once DB gets herself loose, she refuses to untie Santos. She says that he would only try and prevent her from doing what she has to do. She says that he has always called her a monster. Now he will see the most monstrous thing in his life. She says that Sapo has to suffer before he dies for all the people Sapo has taken away from her but especially for the baby that would have brought Santos back to her.

Everyone in the hotel is playing 'distract the Inspector'. First Mujica tries to get the Inspector drunk.

Marisela goes into the ladies room and escapes through the window.

DB ties Sapo to a metal filigree screen. Then she manages to find some neatly cut firewood and puts it at Sapo's feet. She tells Santos that she loved the way he fought against his inner demons. She loved him for his defects and virtues but he could never accept her dark side. He only loved the woman she made up so that he wouldn't leave her. She wakes Sapo up and tells him that the time has come for him to pay for his crimes. He sees the wood at his feet and asks what she is going to do. "What do you think?" she answers.

Santos begs her not to do it. Sapo asks her to forgive him. DB tells him that she promised him the worst of deaths and she is going to fulfill her promise. She will send him from hell in life to hell in death. "If you ever loved me, don't do this," says Santos. DB says that she will always love Santos but she has to do this to be free.

When Mujica passes out, Federica and Josefa take over the job of distracting the Inspector. Tardily, the Inspector realizes that everyone is gone. He accuses Josefa and Federica of tricking him ('tomando el pelo,' literally, 'grabbing his hair,') and leaves the bar.

Santos tells DB that killing Sapo won't make her happy or give her peace. He goes on in this vein until DB gags him.

After leaving the bar, Marisela apparently doesn't encounter any of the men who are in Progresso. She rouses the folks at Melesio's house and she, Melesio and some of the terneras go back to town to find Santos.

Sapo begs for his life and when DB denies him that he begs for a quick death but she reminds of what she suffered at his hands when he raped her. She lights the fire.

Sapo screams while DB stands there impassively and Santos yells behind his gag.

Someone comes to the jefetura to report that shots have been heard at the cemetery. The Inspector accuses the totally innocent Acosta of hiding this information from him.

After Sapo is dead, DB is surprised that she doesn't feel anything. She says that she doesn't feel free. She doesn't feel any guilt or remorse and she isn't any more tranquil or worried than before. She wonders if she is dead, too. She says goodbye to Santos, telling him that she will come back for him and they will go far away and live happily together forever. She tells him to wait for her and leaves.

Labels: barbara

Capítulo 64

First a bit of repetitious review:

Prissy, who quite obviously has married beneath her intellectual station in life, threatens Anibal. He’s got to hire the accountant she chooses (and we all know who that will be) or she’ll pay a visit to Franco Santoro and tell him the guy he wants to do business with steals money from his own wife; Babs, once again up to her old tricks, plays the victimized and long suffering wife for gullible Gonzo, who seems to be aging with each episodio; and Rene Manzanares walks into the room where Gardenia's being kept prisoner to find Denia in dire straits because the lecherous Lucio is liquored-up and in full lust and thrust mode.

Manzanares, who apparently has his limits and his principles, gets angry and tells Lucio to back off Denia. Lucio tells him to get lost. When Rene tries to untie Denia, Lucio attacks him. The P.I. pulls a gun and the two fight for it. Suddenly there is a shot and Viewerville waits an ever lovin’ eternity before one of them finally hits the floor. As it turns out, it’s Lucio’s lucky night. Rene hits the floor with an artful, if overly anticipated, thud and breathes his last.

Over at Las Animas, Estev, aka Dewey, and Eduardo have just returned from Barrera’s office. Eddie cannot believe that $170 million dollars has just fallen out of the blue and into his lap like this. There’s got to have been a mistake, he says, because it’s unbelievable that he should have received a fortune like that from a man he practically met on his death bed. The old guy had to be delirious to do such a crazy thing. Dewey tells him Ciro must have had his reasons, but Ed says no. “To be perfectly honest, the money really belongs to Lili Elizalde.”

At that very moment, the ghost of Ciro appears to Lili in her room at the asylum and tells her “the white king now has the weapons he needs to fight with.”

Eddie now tells Estev that Ciro risked his life to save Lili, and that that is the best proof he was committed to saving her. He says it was a serious mistake to have accepted something that didn’t belong to him. (So, what’s so ignoble about taking half, I ask? Or maybe just a “finder’s fee”?) Eddie starts to call Barrera to give the money back but Dewey tells him to hold off. “Perhaps Ciro left you his fortune in order to help Lili. What was it exactly that he said to you when he handed you the white king?” Ed thinks back and remembers Ciro telling him that inside the head of the king was the weapon for battle and then ordering him to do everything possible to free Lili. Eddie, our prince of a virtual pauper, stands on principle. “That doesn’t give me the right to touch a dime of his fortune!” (Where’s a good two by four when you need one?)

Back at his cottage, Lucio still looks like he just sh!t his shorts. Denia makes her move towards the door to escape. Unfortunately, Jairo reappears and pushes her back onto the bed. He looks down at the floor and sees that Manzanares has assumed room temperature. Jairo is horrified and looks immediately over at Lucio. “What did you do, you humongous idiot??? You just sent a government agent to the hereafter!!!” Lucio whines back. “What did you want me to do? Let the guy kill me?” “—This guy wasn’t just anybody! [cualquier cristiano] He was police!” Lucio yells back don’t blame him cuz it was Jario who had the brainy idea to do business with the guy. Jairo says, yeah, it’s one thing to do business with the guy, but it’s quite another to do him in!

Lucio frets and says they’ve got to get the body out of there. Jario reminds him not to do it in the light of day or there’ll be witnesses. Lucio says then they’ll have to get rid of Gardenia, too. Denia is listening at the door. She knows she’s about to be toast and she starts praying for a miracle.

Across the way Jacinto is a busy little bee. He’s fixing things around the house. Margarita wonders what’s up. He says that he’s had his belly full of Cadmilo Elizalde [llenar el buche de piedritos= literally “filling the belly with little stones"]. He’s not going to go back to work for the Elizalde’s. The next day he’s going into town to look for work somewhere else. Margo looks worried.

Over at the hacienda, meanwhile, Cad is in the stables yelling for Jacinto but can’t find him. He orders one of the other stablemen, in his endearingly affable way, to go over to Cinto’s house to fetch him.

Jairo warns Lucio not to involve him in this mess—his mess-- and to never set foot in his bar again or he’ll run straight to the police and let the fecal matter fly. “The best thing for you is to convince Gardenia to follow you and the two of you get away from here, very far away,” he says and walks out the door. Meanwhile, Denia is frantically searching Rene’s pockets, albeit with her hands still tied behind her back, for keys on Rene's body. She only finds some cash and a passport. She throws the passport on the floor in frustration. “The keys! He’s got to have keys on him!”

Jacinto tells the worker from the stables to tell Cad he doesn’t work for him anymore and he’s not coming. Margo is worried that he’s just gotten them into another jam. Cinto says no, he’s actually keeping them out of one because the next time he finds himself in front of Cadmilo Elizalde, the guy is going to know he’s met his match [encontrarse con la horma de su zapato].

Jairo goes back to Rene’s hotel room and furiously starts packing up his things to get rid of any trace of the supposed federale.

Back at Las Animas, Eduardo remarks that it’s strange that Denia hasn’t returned yet. He’s put together something to eat [moyete=an open-faced sandwich that soldiers in the field eat] since she wasn’t there to cook for them. Estev returns to the topic at hand. He tries explaining to Ed that if he doesn't accept Ciro's money then he can’t possibly follow through with either the $3 million advance for Grupo Lactos or Barbara Greco's $1.5 million commission. (No duh! Seems Eduardo has fallen victim to Telenovela Alpha-male Malady: a skillful, dazzling, inspired, super-stud suddenly turning dense as a doorknob and seeing any good fortune as misfortune, particularly as it pertains to his receiving a fortune.) “So what am I supposed to do with it?” Dewey suggests that for starters he should throw a huge party. Just then there’s a knock at the door. Fr/Ed goes to answer it and sees that it’s Fernanda standing in the doorway and smiling at him. He melts instantly and the sparkle in his eyes matches hers.

Meanwhile, Lucio gets ready to bury Manzanares and threatens Denia with killing her afterwards. Denia starts praying for deliverance.

Fer apologizes for showing up unexpectedly like this. Fr/Ed has a smile a mile wide on his kisser and says he told her that it’s no problem; he’s told her to feel at home there and he loves seeing her (more like feasting his eyes on her cuz he’s just devoured her whole). She gets a bit flustered and tells him she’d rather continue to think of Las Animas as the home of her family’s business associate, then quickly explains that the reason she came was to tell Fr/Ed that now they are getting the drafts of the new community center drawn up with the architect so she wants to take him there for a look-see. (Ri-i-i-ight. She didn’t have to come over in person to do that. They’ve got phones in this novela, a point not lost on Eddie.) It will be built in the old warehouse, she says, the place the kids used as their secret hideout, a really beautiful building and one of her favorite places. He’s secretly impressed that she remembers “their place” that way.

Of course, Fr/Ed just stands there drooling with that sexy boyish grin on his face. He can’t get enough of her. He walks around his desk and leans over her shoulder. “Terrific! I’m free then. When do you want us to go?” This move isn’t lost on her, either, and she shifts a respectable few inches backward as she turns to look at him. The size and intensity of her smile now equals his. “Tomorrow morning? --I think the sooner the better. So, is early tomorrow morning all right?” “—Yes! I’ll go. Do I stop by for you at the hacienda?” The subliminals between these two are flying non-stop now. “—No! No. I prefer to come get you.” It’s a date! They’re in full flirt mode but don’t quite realize it yet. They continue staring at each other till suddenly Fer does realize it and she says a bit awkwardly that she’s got to go. Fr/Ed offers to walk her out.

While Fer and Fr/Eddie flirt with each other, Errika listens as her daddy, Augustin, is on the phone with Gonzo telling him that he can count on him for whatever comes up. When Augie hangs up Dolly asks how Gonzo seems to be doing. Augie says “like a train just ran over him.” Dolly says that’s not the least of it because Damian Gallardo has destroyed them socially with the scandal. Err tells her mama not to count Fernanda out because she’s not the kind of female who lets herself get done in by a deceitful man. Dolly says she hopes this new boyfriend of Err’s isn’t going to do something similar to her. Errorika, oblivious to the heap o’ hurt she’s headed for, swears to Mama that Franco has a solid job and an income in “dollars”; and, even if he were a simple farm worker, he would still be her boyfriend. Augie’s ears pick up at the word “dollars”. Dolly misses the remark and laughs at Err. “Ha! You go off with a farm worker and you’d be back at month’s end! Like they say, ‘When poverty comes in the door, love goes out the window.’” Err informs the two of them that Franco is, in fact, going to be Grupo Lactos’ new business associate.

Denia finally manages to get her hands free, meanwhile. She peeks through the cracks in the boarded up window and sees Lucio digging a grave.

Back again at Las Animas, Estev asks Fer to call him by his first name and offers her his friendship, kiss-kiss. He asks Fr/Ed if he’s gotten around to mentioning the party to her yet. Fr/Eduardo explains that he’s giving a big party to get the news out about their new business partnership. “When we were making up the list for the party, the first name Franco wrote down was yours, Fernanda.” He looks over at Ed. “Wasn’t it, Franco?” “--Yes. It was,” he answers as he and she share another flirtatious stare. (No lie there, that’s for darn sure.)

It’s bedtime now at the Elizalde’s and Rory tells Santi that since things have certainly changed in their relationship she is going to be sleeping in a different room. It was just a big game before, she says, but now it’s real and she wants a decent relationship. He smiles and sweetly thanks her for giving him a second chance. The two kiss good-night numerous times till Santi has sense enough to finally leave. FF>>

Estev makes sure to invite both Fernanda and her hubby. Fr/Eddie frowns as Nanda makes her apologies for Damn and says, a bit stiffly, that he won’t be able to attend. Dewey ducks out and Fr/Ed must apologize for “his boss” mentioning her husband like that since Estev doesn’t know about the problem with her husband. Fer says it isn’t important since he’ll have to find out eventually if he’s going into business with her family. Fr/Ed asks her then if she’s heard from her husband yet. She says no, he hasn’t had the guts to call and give her at least some kind of an explanation of things. She abruptly breaks off the conversation and says not to take it badly, but she’d rather not continue discussing it. It’s best, she thinks, if she goes her own way and that she and her family manage now the best they can since that’s all in the past. She says good-bye, kisses him on the cheek and leaves. Eduardo is impactadisisisimo! He touches his cheek and moves that kiss to his lips. He smiles and sighs (along with the rest of us). “Fernanda!”

At Vlad’s place, Damn tells Vlad that Nanda is his wife in name only because he never had the chance to actually consummate the marriage. “For one reason or another something else always got in the way.” Vlad says he wonders why his story and the Elizalde’s differ about the business with the money. Damn gives Vlad a line about him having had a contract with Barbara Greco to find ways of avoiding paying the tax man. He saved them millions of dollars at Lactos in taxes, just like their professor in accounting school taught them to do, but Barbara played crooked. Instead of paying him his commission, she accuses him of embezzlement. So as long as he doesn't have sufficient proof of his innocence, he says, he must continue to hide out. Suddenly there’s a knock at the door and Damn has got to hide in the bedroom. Vlad opens the door thinking it’s Pris, but it turns out to be Damian’s mother. She starts begging him to tell her where Sonny is.

At the hacienda, the Barbinator is now on the phone in her bedroom with Art the Courageous (a misnomer if ever there was one, come to think of it, especially for a rich guy who hides in the dark in his own office all the time). He orders her to scuttle the business negotiation with Powhere Meelk. She manages to put down the phone only seconds before Gonzo walks in so she has to think fast. Gonzo is giddy with relief. He smiles and gives her his great news about Augustin offering him his unconditional support. Babs looks over at him and suddenly starts sobbing. Totally overcome with guilt, Gonzo starts apologizing. Through crocodile tears she says that her love for him hasn’t been sufficient enough for either him or his kids. Yes, she’ll learn to live with it, but (sniff, sniff, sob) it just. hurts. so. much!

Gonzo takes the blame for making her the victim of all his recent mistakes. He implores her to forgive him. Babs says it’s not important, that she can’t blame him for not feeling the way she would like him to feel about her. She sobs again and then says with an uber-melodramatic pause, “ It’s very apparent that you have no confidence in me now. There’s a divide between us it seems, and now with what’s looming….” Gonzo wants to know what she means. Babs answers him: it’s the the business with Franco Santoro and she does not trust the man. The music swells as we break for crass commercialism…..

Once we return, safe in the knowledge that Uni’s bills are paid and that the show that must go on can…..Gonzo wonders why sweet Babs would suddenly “discount the word of Santoro.” Babs purposely makes Gonzo jealous by telling him that she spoke with Santoro privately and subtley stringing him along. He asks if the guy made advances towards her. After a another pregnant pause she says no, nothing like that, but he is dishonest; and she has a feeling that Santoro is going to betray them. “It would be a terrible mistake to sign a contract with him!” Gonzo needs a minute or three, maybe four, to process. (Somebody needs to get the old geezer a Kleenex. I think he’s drooling.)

Ed gets mad at Estev for inviting Fernanda’s spouse to the society ball of the season because he knows perfectly well that the guy is a fugitive from justice. Duckworth says he was sounding her out is all. (Ok. I'll bite.) When Dewey supposedly mentioned her husband her reaction was “annoyance”, he says, meaning that she is not in love with Damian Gallardo at all. “Ah, don’t tell me that you didn’t notice!” Ed stands there frowning at him. “You put her in an uncomfortable position.” Dewey apologizes and promises never again to make the love of Ed’s life feel uncomfortable. Ed is muy impactado to hear the feeling actually put into words. Estev smiles wryly and pats his BFF on the shoulder. “That is what Fernanda Elizalde is, isn’t it?” Eddie doesn’t disagree with the sage Estev.

Back at the cottage, Lucio comes in to get Manzanares’ body. He notices that Denia has gotten loose and he pulls out his gun to threaten her. “Don’t try anything!” The once defiant Denia is not about to. She cowers in the corner as Lucio drags Rene’s body out of the room and locks her in. Denia starts looking around now and notices the passport still lying on the floor where she threw it. At first glance she thinks it’s Don Santoro’s passport, but then she reads the name “Eduardo Juarez Cruz” written in it and suddenly she realizes that Franco Santoro and Eduardo are one in the same. Just then Lucio comes back into the room for her and she manages to hide the passport in the back of her skirt without him noticing. “You’re next!” he tells her. Denia begs him not to hurt her. She swears she’ll obey and won’t open her mouth if he just won’t do anything to her. Lucio drags her outside to the open grave anyway.

Viewerville is left in suspense because we’re suddenly shunted back to Vlad’s apartment as Ursula, now on the couch, is still begging Vlad to tell her where her son is. Vlad tries to evade her questions. He looks down and realizes that Damian’s car keys were left on the coffee table. He tries to cover them over with his hand but it’s too late. Ruh-roh! Ursula has seen them and asks why he’s got Damn’s keys. Vlad’s got to think fast. He searches for an answer…..

It’s mealtime. Margarita tells Jacinto at supper that she feels bad about arguing with Gardenia. She really misses her little sis and wishes she hadn’t read her the riot act over Jairo the way she did.

Poor, unfortunate Denia, however, at that very moment is futilely trying to reason with a barely lucid Lucio for her life. She tells him she’ll make a deal with him and if he unties her she’ll tell him what Rene Manzanares found at Las Animas. He pushes her down on her knees, points the gun and yells at her to spit it out. [¡Desembucha!] “Out with it already!” “—Just one thing, though, Lucio. If I tell you and… it interests you…let me go and then a little later….the rest …okay?” (Methinks she means doin’ the nasty and with him it’s gotta be an ugh-fest.) He shoves the gun threateningly at her again and she is terrified. "I-I-I discovered a secret about Don Santorito!!!” Lucio’s wild eyes go wide and he licks his lips. He hesitates for just a second to consider his next move. Will he or won’t he shoot her? Maybe, just maybe Denia’s bought herself a little time…..

Labels: manana

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