Caray, Caray!

[I missed the first seven minutes and there is small gap missing in the middle because one of my two year old twins got ahold of the remote and stopped recording. Dispenseme, por favor;)

We open with Yadira and her mama in the ladies room prettying up and discussing Fernando. Yadira makes it clear that she is definitely interested in Fernando. Her mom asks, what about Enrique? She says that Enrique cannot possibly measure up to Fernando. Not in class, looks, money, or anything. Her mother tells her to get to know him first and and don't be so forward, and that she is practically giving it away. She says she is not going to pretend to be coy or play the good girl when it comes to Fernando.

Nidia drags a very drunk, can barely stand Alirio to the dance floor. The gang discusses Alirio's drunkeness, Marely comments on the ick factor of her mom hooking up with Alirio. Juan says she is just having a good time and that there is nothing wrong with that. Yadira asks if Juan is a little bit jealous. I didn't get exactly what he said, but I am pretty sure it was a no.

Yadira and Fernando are making out in his car. Lots of gross slopping kisses complete with sound effects. They make plans to see eachother the next day. Fern wants more, but Yadira asks him not to pressure her. He says she is driving him loco, she says likewise.

Juan and Marely return home. Marely says she had a good time. And the next time, she will invite him out. She also tells him to thank Fernando for her and since she was not able to tell him goodbye because Yadira was monopolizing him. She says that Fernando told her that she was assured a job at their office. She tells Juan that when she gets paid, she will take him out for a movie. Juan is muy happy...

Nidia and a still drunk Alirio are in the study. He is chasing her around trying to make some advances. She is rejecting and he is begging... She kicks him out of the casa because he said something she interpreted as pornographic.

Juan is laying in bed, unable to sleep because he is so happy/giddy. He doesnt know how he is going to handle the Marely job situation, but he says he will think of something.

Juan is sitting down to breakfast and Nidia joins him. She says she wants to talk to him about something. She tells him to be careful with Marely and that she may look grown up, but she is still a nina. He tells her that he is a gentleman and that he will not take advantage of her. She then hands him a stack of bills that she wants him to pay. classy...

He is impactado and wonders how he is going to pay them.

Enrique and the mariachis are released from jail. He looks very sad...

Fernando and CL are going having breakfast too and discussing the previous nights events. Fern gives CL the low down on Juan, the sisters, and whether Juan is gay. Fern says that he thought he was straight, but with the way he dances, now he is not so sure.

Ivonne arrives at the office and is greeted by Pastor. She asks him how his night went. He says he spent the evening with his mother. She informs him that she has some bad news. He says its too early in the morning for bad news. She gives him the chisme about Juan being out at the club with girls and that he was having a good time. Pastor looks heartbroken.

She goes on to tell him that Fernando was out with them too. Pastor is not going to sit by and let him toy with his affections and vows to get even.

Paula and Juan are driving to work. Paula asks him how his night was. He says it was fun and went excelente...

Enrique goes to talk to Yadira. He confronts her about her whereabouts. She says that she was obligated to go because her mother and Perafan invited her and Marely. She gets upset with him. While they are talking, the phone keeps ringing and she is yelling for someone to pick it up. Marely yells that it is for her. Its fernando. She prentends its one of her friends. He asks when can he see her again. She tells him to call her later.

Enrique asks her who she was speaking with. He tells her that he knows it was a man she was talking to. She insists that it was a female friend from the university. They begin shouting and arguing. Nidia comes down and tells him not to yell as if they are in the merdado and to leave and come back when he is more calm. He leaves. Nidia gives Yadira the 'i told you so' schpeel.

[my recorder stopped here and picked up at...]

Juan and Fernando are in the parking garage. Fernando tells Juan that he owes him for half of the nights festivities. He thought bubbles that he needs to resolve the problem of getting Marely a job there, figure out how to pay the bills Nidida gave him, and pay for Fernando back for the night.

He goes to Paula and tells her that he needs a loan from the empresa. She tells him that if she could help him, she would. However all those financial matters have to go through Pastor.

Perafan is sitting at his desk having some alka seltzer and trying to get Nidia on the phone. He is unsuccessful. He thought bubbles that when he gets his hands on their forturne, she will not close the doors of her heart to him and that Juan Dominguez will be history.

Some guy (Gutierrez) comes into his office demanding Perafan pay him the money he owes him. He tells him to be patient and he will get his money.

Juan finally goes to Pastor for the money. He tells him that he is the only one who can help him.

Paula goes to CL to tell him about Juan's financial problems. CL tells her that Pastor is the one those matter go through. CL agrees to help Juan and he will talk to Pastor to get him his funds.

Juan gives Pastor a sob story about his cousin he stays with, she has five kids and they are about to be evicted and whatnot. Pastor comes back with a "if the situation is so dire, how could you go out partying?"

Enrique is thinking about the Yadira situation and replaying what she told him. He is sad and jealous...

Juan says the reason he was out was because it was a family function, one of his cousins was celebrating a birthday. Pastor says he is not stupid. Why was Fernando there? Juan says what harm has he done to him? He tells Juan that he shouldn't toy with his affections or use him... and he turns him down.

Perafan calls Juan at the office. He is reminding him about some loan thingie. I am not sure what they are talking about, but it is adding more to Juan's stress.

Labels: Juan

James realizes that Acacia spent the night in the Montalvo barn, not cause she saw "National Velvet", and wants to be the next Liz Taylor, but because she remembers the horrors of Dry Gulch Acres. James says Hot Damn, now we can go to the authorities. Acacia can’t do that cause the fact that it went on for years is too painful. She runs off. Just about this time Hilario and Rod join James, Rod says she needs to see the doctor, but at least she remembers. James and Rod start to walk off; as little "Slutty Sunshine", SannnnaaaWannnnna skips up (have you noticed she doesn’t walk, she actually skips everywhere…maybe it enhances the bounce factor), she does a special hello, but no one pays no real attention. She asks Hilario what is happening and he tells her Acacia spent the night in the barn and she has regained her memory….Ha Ha Ha SannnnnaaaWannnnaa foiled again.

Gavi is going out on another day of hauling Encyclopedias around in her little suitcase. It looks like those rolling suitcases the drug reps are always dragging around in my doctor’s office. Here is the deal Gavi, people think drug reps are swarmy, but they do love those samples…encyclopedias not so much. Gavi gives the full spiel to an educator’s secretary who finally allows her to wait until the educator’s meeting is done.

Over at Dry Gulch Acres Tio Meliton is working on his first fifth of Tequila for the day. A guy comes up and gives him some money, my husband says he thinks the guy bought Meliton’s truck. Back at the Hacienda, James and Rod are discussing working on the project.
Over at the Hacienda SannaWannaSpredSomeGossip is passing the 411 along to Sofie about Acacia regaining her memory. Sofie looks her normal none too happy pinch face self.

Sofie starts laying the guilt on Rod that he must go to Mexico City and work things out with Isa, before Isa does something really crazy. Like name the real father? Anyway James promises to hold down the Hacienda till Rod gets back. Sofie is returning to Mexico DF & James is like, "It was very nice seeing you, hope you have a great trip." You can tell Sofie is totally pissed that James did not beg her forgiveness and ask her to return. Please, not even Sofie can seriously believe she could have two guys interested in her at the same time.

Acacia is making a mean batch of salsa and putting some poison weed into it. Here comes Meliton yelling at her until he smells the bueno comida. Give me some food. Acacia puts it on the table and Melion starts wolfing down salsa taquitos, it is good, emmmm just the way he likes it. Acacia has a look that would put Minnie in her place. Dead eyes Dead eyes.

The educator’s meeting is over and Gavi goes in to give him her sales pitch, he gives her five minutes but stops her after one minute and just invites her to lunch..no sales here.

Outside of the new Montalvo School of Tequila Tasters, ***where was this school when I was in the guidance counselors office in High School? Anyway James says he wants to buy a house and live with Acacia. Rod says he has to go back to Mexico DF & talk to Isa as they are going to be parents. James gives the "Que the Hell?" expression. By the end of the episode it will be a legendary HannaBarBara expression of muy impactedness. From now on I declare any "No Puede Ser" moment to quickly be followed by an "Artificial Insemination" muttered slightly under the breath. Rod you are a legend.

Gavi is now trying to sell to a Catholic School, the Nun seems very excited and misunderstands Gavi’s offer thinking "Praise be to God", that the books are a donation to the school.

Isadora passing along the news that she has the next Agave Empanada baking in her oven. In answer to Minnie's how in the hell look, Isa anwers "Artificial Insemination". Isa is spreading the "I’ll be raising the child alone" dogma on like jelly on peanut butter really thick. She will never return to Rod the evil Traitor.

There is a knock at the door and as Minnie, (in an already muy impacted state) goes to answer it I am able to see that the entire house has been turned into a "Having Your Baby" set. A delivery guy gives Minnie a package of documents and she is all like, "Por Moi?"…She opens the package….it is divorce papers from Aaron. "Que Es?" inquires TWB, as the look on Minnie’s face is rather alarming. He is divorcing me…Now bring on the BSC, Minnie starts trashing everything, oh I shudder at the thought of the hideous tortures the little stuffed animals are about to receive. Isa tries to tranquilize her with the oft-uttered TeleNovela line, "Calmate", and of course this has little or no effect. Minnie is throwing things, ripping things and finally falls down because she is of course in CFM heels on marble while in the midst of an awesome hissy. Isa tries to help her up, but backs away. Really I would too cause Minnie is not to be reasoned with and Isa has got to protect her little Empanada. Minnie throws open the front door and screams for Isa to get out. Minnie runs upstairs cause that is a whole new floor of fun baby stuff to trash. Isa is leaving and Aaron comes in the door. Aaron is surprised at the mess and asks Isa what is going on. Isa is like "you need to talk to your wife; oh and good luck AssHat".

Aaron dashes up "The Stairway of Tragedy" into the slightly over decorated nursery and Minnie is on the floor beside the babybed. Aaron asks her if she is pregnant. "Ask my lawyer Asshat," is her answer. The fight is on. Aaron says give me the papers and forget it. Aaron is trying to weasel out of it, now that Minnie may be pregnant. She is not so forgiving. She quotes the irreconcilable differences. Aaron looks chagrined and tries to skirt around the issue. He keeps asking is she or is she not pregnant. Hey this guy really knows how to bring the romance. She queries back would it change things. Then with some satisfaction she gets to be the bearer of bad tidings…she throws up in Aaron’s face that Isa is pregnant with Rod’s baby. Aaron jerks back like he has been slapped.
****Sidebar****Is it just me or is Aaron’s hair darker? Also I feel the mixing of pattens..note the stripes may have something to due with Aaron’s lack of judgement in other areas of his life****

She starts tearing things up and smacking on Aaron he is trying to calm her down.
Aaron tells her don’t worry about money, he’ll help her out. I’m telling you this guy is one sweet talker.
Minnie starts tearing things up, there is pushing and shoving she is smacking on him. Aaron tells her Stop Stop…oh yeah that is gonna work, for a long moment they look at each other and I am thinking they may start kissing and have that Hawt Hate Sex that most of their married life has been based upon. No that romantic vision is not to be. The disagreement now turns even uglier…Minnie is lying on the twin bed she just purchased for the new little Monty…She tells him keep his money and spend it on his next woman. Aaron says forgive me… Minnie spews more venom and Aaron tells her to calm down. Minnie won’t be calm until she sees him in jail where he should have been born, lived and died. Oh Snap!! Aaron turns back around and goes over to the bed and jerks Minnie by her hair. "Are you threatening me?" Damn you!! Minnie retorts society would be grateful if she freed it from a deliquent like him. (Wow, nice talk Miss Morality)..Oh Aaron comes back while carefully doing his best to extend her hair a good six inches by pulling on it, that if he went to jail basically is would be better than the pain in the ass that Minnie is. They do the stare down and Minnie breaks and runs out of the room.

The poor put upon servant is cleaning up the Montalvo apartment and all traces of "Having your Baby" has been removed. Aaron is talking on the phone to Ma, she has to hook up with Minnie and get her under control so she doesn’t out Aaron. After he hangs up, there is a knock at the door. Ah the bitch is back. Aaron smirks..he then yells several times for the servant to answer the door and when the lazy worthless servant who is no doubt hauling out bags full of hissy shards down to the dumpster doesn’t answer, poor put upon Aaron is forced to answer the door. It is young Dani. Aaron tries to tell her this isn’t a good time, but alas young Dani is not going to be put off. She has questions and when he says not now and it is none of her business; Dani fires back she is on the board and she will get answers. You can see Aaron would love to smack her and Dani stays right up in his face. She wants to see the papers MariAnna signed when she left the company. Dani feels the family has been lied to and the whole thing has not been on the up and up. Yes indeed Aaron just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse.

Rod, James and Crispin are congratulating the first class of the Tequila tasters, they go thru a look at the clarity of the product, the smelling of the product, and the tasting of the product..Hooray Hooray…they are going to bring excellence to the region. Rod does comment that the school was the dream and idea of MariAnne Franco, the whore who worked at the Mexico City office before she was forced to flee in disgrace (okay okay…really truly he said nice things about her).

Minnie is having a sit down in a restaurant with Fedra, poor Minnie like talking to Fedra is gonna help. Fedra tries to play down Aaron bad behavior. "Don’t you still love him?" she asks Minnie. Minnie just looks at Fedra with disbelief; she tells Fedra how angry she is with Aaron and how he is the only man she has ever loved, (gee maybe he was the only one brave enough to stick around the craziness). Now Minnie is doing that raising the voice in the restaurant. Minnie says that Aaron betrayed Bruno. Damn Minnie is going all vigilante. She is like one of those guys on the Sopranos, once you start singing, well there is only one way to stop you. Fedra tries to convince her to stick it out and she tip toes around the question of is Minnie barrin the Varron? Minnie, for the second time that day has a brief moment of joy when dropping the "Isa is pregnant with Rod’s baby". Fedra is muy impacted and "Artificial Insemination" is muttered. All the sudden Fedra looks like she lost her appetite, which is fine cause as BSC as Minnie is, Aaron is a by product of his bitch mother & her lack of morals. See in a TeleNovela for the most part you either get to be Rich and Evil or you get Morals and Stupidity. There is the occasional hybrid, like Dani, but this is a rare breed. Minnie no fool, well okay that is a moot point, knows Aaron will have some other woman instantly trying to bare the Varron.

Aaron calls Onate and tells him to cover up the MariAnna Franco investigation..Onate has like 5 million reasons to comply. He says he will falsify her signature on the release papers. Dani is speaking with Quintanna; when Onate comes in and gives her the papers. Onate gives the appearance of being Mr Helpful, Dani just snatches the papers out of his hand and leaves.

Gavi accidently runs into an older rich guy and after a brief conversation she tries to sell him some books. His children are all grown, well what about your grandchildren. Hmmmmm looks like he may buy some.

Dani leaves and runs into Margarita, she tells Margarita to call her Dani not senorita. Dani is a good person. She asks after Gavi and Margarita tells her she has not heard from Gavi and has no idea where she is.

Gavi returns to the office and tells her boss that she had two sales. Of course the one to the Catholic School is at a discount and they have six months to pay. Oh her boss is none too happy.

Rod, James and Crispin are all happy over the success of the school. Rod says he is bound for Mexico DF and tells James not to get married without him.

Over in Dry Gulch, Meliton is stumbling around the ranch grabbing his belly. He is moaning and groaning and Acacia is sitting on the front steps watching him. Meliton asks what was in the food, but she says it is the same as always and he smacks her before stumbling into the house. Acacia rubs her cheek and says that is the last time you will hit me.

Fedra goes to see Aaron. She is all flippant about the whole thing. She tells him Minnie is gonna spend the night at a Hotel, but he needs to play nice so Minnie won’t talk. Aaron asks if Minnie is pregnant and Fedra answers in her head. I think meaning Minnie is BSC. The Isa pregnancy comes up and Fedra mutters "Artificial Insemination", thru her fine teeth. Hee Hee Hee…I am so loving it. Aaron just wants to go to Miami (Pamela is standing by the pool and someone must go tell her to come in or she will eventually die out there).

Videgaray and Dani are looking over the documents, Videgaray says he does not believe that is Gavi’s signature. They call Margarita and invite her to have coffee. Margarita comes down and they explain they are only trying to help MariAnna. Margarita says that she doesn’t believe that is Gavi’s signature. They briefly explain how they are trying to get to the bottom of Aaron’s misdeeds and Margarita agrees to help. She tells them the name of Gavi’s hotel.

Gavi is at home, Clarita is all animated, but Gavi is tired after a long day of dragging books around. The phone rings. It is Videgaray. The conversation goes something like this.
M: Hola
V: MariAnna
M: Who is this?
V: It is Videgaray, I have some things I need to talk over with you.
M: Videgaray, I have nothing to say to you.

The End….

Oh no!!!!! Will Gavi once again turn away from help?
Looks like Rod walks in on Isa, getting ready to go out! Does he interrupt a clandestine Frankie meeting?
Cause Isa looks like she is thought bubbling, "Couldn’t he have waited one more day"
Rod is sitting on the sofa next to Sofie (I hope this is not the sofa of DNA, where many of Isa lovefests happened) Isa has tears and Rod is holding her hand. Oh Rod let go of her hand and quick reach up and try to deflect the anvil that is falling straight for your big head.

Labels: Destilando

[Yes, indeed, folks. I did the first recap and I should have been recapping the finale a week from today but long held plans to travel to a family reunion on the West Coast and Univision’s screwy scheduling got in the way. I’ll be watching the Duelo finale a few days after it happens while Sylvia does the honors. It’s been a blast. Thanks, blogmamamelinama and all the rest of you guys. I'm afraid to do a list because I don't want to forget anyone! Gracias a todos. After Duelo, I’m taking a break from recapping. I’ll probably be watching (and commenting on) Amar Sin Limites and will apply to recap in the fall, for Pasiones as aregular or substitute recapper. I know there’s already a line around the block for that one…

This novela has been a real stinkeroo at times—violent, hopeless, retrograde, with over the top machismo and unbelievably wooden and pathetic characters. Still there were some highlights—Tonkey of course but also Ana Martin, (Luba) who I am convinced, could save any show. Sergio Goytri has also chewed up the scenery and has done yeoman’s work as Don Loco. Intocable—well--it looks like at least he had fun. If we needed any confirmation of how awful this novela has been for the staff, we’ve gotten it in that they’ve killed off roughly 30 characters and made about half a dozen more just disappear from the scene. Oh, and they actually substituted a couple of important roles with different actors. Rats fleeing the sinking ship, indeed. In real life, I don’t think Pablo or Ludovika will remember this job fondly since they had a flaming affair that ended badly with Ludovika now claiming in the tabloids that not only has she gone back to her husband but she’s giving up acting for awhile for the sake of her family. Yes, folks, this may be the show that ENDED her acting career! There may be an actual witch’s curse on this thing. But no matter—on with the show!]

We open to the touching parting scene between Luba and Raquel where Luba says nice things about her and her babies and Raquel tells Luba that she’s a good person.

Meanwhile, over in Floodlandia, Rodrigo enters his tent and Frank is there and stands to attention. He tells Rodrigo everything’s fine—there’s just one little thing he wants to clear up. Rodrigo says, “Oh, yeah, you must be referring to what happened between Karla and Captain Valtierra. Frank looks uncomfortable. Just then we get a glimpse of Alina poking her nurse’s hat into the tent. Rod states loudly that to him it is abundantly clear that Karla and Captain Valtierra spent the night together in his tent. Alina, behind him stops dead in her tracks after hearing this. Rod is indignant. He sarcastically remarks that Captain Valtierra is pretty slick to get Frank to cover for him but “You can’t fool me Sergeant!” he bellows to Frank. Rod goes on to say that he’s sure that Frank was told to do by Emilio to cover for his Captain because Alina’s back. Frank tries to protest that nobody told him to say anything but Rod isn’t buying it. Alina silently bursts into tears behind the curtain and runs away.

At Rodrigo’s apartment in Puebla, Gaby is hyperventilating. Tina asks her what’s wrong and Gaby tells her she doesn’t want to go outside or anywhere. She’s terrified that “the woman” will kill her. Tina tries to comfort her. She takes the little girl’s hands and sees that the nails are bleeding. She’s been chewing on her fingernails to the quick. Tina is shocked and hugs the little girl, who curls up in a fetal position against her.

Alina runs crying into the nurses’ tent. Valentina sees her and asks her if Rodrigo was a jerk about her getting back with Emilio. Alina says no, she just overheard a conversation between Rodrigo and Frank. Emilio had an affair with Karla. She bursts into tears again. Boo Hoo!

Back to Puebla—Don Loco, in his striped cap, bum’s attire and big silver revolver is still lurking around Coral’s house. The doorbell rings and Adela comes running. Don Loco hides behind a sofa. The guest is the Prosecutor Vargas who says he’s just stopping by to ask if she has heard from Soledad and she tells him no. And once again, with the “no news is good news” thing. Vargas says that he talked to Elias the other day and told him about the other killings. He says that it’s great that Don Loco doesn’t know and will never guess where they are. Don Loco thought bubbles behind the couch about how much he wants to kill Elias for stealing his woman.

Back to the big boohoo with Alina. Valentina tries to comfort her, to suggest that maybe she heard wrong. Alina is sure she heard right. What’s more, now she has an explanation for why Karla was such a bitch to her when she showed up. She was Emilio’s new squeeze and Emilio probably told her to beat it when Alina showed up. Also, Rodrigo’s coy remarks about her making a mistake in choosing Emilio now made sense. When she had asked him to explain, he had simply told her to ask Emilio. Valentina, the level headed one, tells her she should go ask Emilio for an explanation. Alina agrees and leaves. Valentina says to no one in particular that Alina sure has it rough. Fate is set against her and Emilio getting together.

Zipping over to Puebla, we are in Coral’s boutique. Who should come flying in the door but Claudia’s mom. Claudia is impactada but not for long because her mom starts in on a big rant about how she is ashamed of her daughter. She can’t believe that she spent the night away from home. Claudia tries to defend herself , telling her that she sent Angel to tell her that she was spending the night with a friend. Mom doesn’t buy it. She’s sure that she spent the night with Angel. Claudia shakes her head with a look of sadness and fear.

Over to Sierra Escondida—Rancho Viejo. It looks like Luba’s threats have worked. The workers are back on the job and seem to be happy about it. Luba and Gaspar and heading out. Gaspar is excited to go see his cub. Luba says goodbye to Raquel and gives her her huge stone neckace. The one that she always wears. Uh oh. Foreshadowing? Tears and smiles. Orlando rides up and they part. Luba is concerned that there may be La Rinconada folk lurking around but Orlando says no.

Back to the big blowout between Claudia and her Mom. Mom once again accuses her of trying to seduce Rosendo and Claudia once again tries to explain to Mom that Rosendo is a creep who exploits them. Claudia says that as long is Rosendo is there, she’s not going home. Mom goes all twitchy bitchy and starts screaming that Rosendo is her man and that no one is going to steal him from her. “So you choose him over me?” says Claudia. “At least he respects me” says Mom. “And if you don’t return to live under my roof, like a decent girl, you can forget that I’m your mother.” Claudia is impactada.

Vargas is taking leave and tells Adela to call him if Coral hears from Soledad. All of the sudden, TONKEY bursts in. (Where have you been, big fella!!) He immediately gets a whiff of eau de bum and runs over to where Don Loco is hiding behind the couch. Although Adela is perplexed, it takes only a few seconds for Vargas to realize that there could be an intruder hiding there and apparently prosecutors in Mexico conceal-carry. He whips out a small pistol and carefully approaches the couch. We go to commercial. When we come back, we are disappointed to see that Vargas has DL’s scuzzy jacket in one hand. Adela and Vargas accuse Tonkey of having dragged it in from the street or the trash. Poor Tonkey! A misunderstood hero!!! Vargas reholsters his weapon and accompanies Adela out the door, followed by Tonkey who is jumping for the jacket. They must have put a steak in the sleeve. After they leave the room, DL peers out behind a curtain, gun in hand. A close shave for DL.

Back to the mother-daughter bust up between Claudia and her mom. Claudia is crying and tries to tell mom that she’s afraid to return home to the neighborhood, because that bastard Rosendo…every time you aren’t around…” Mom interrupts her. She won’t listen. “Rosendo is incapable of doing anything bad to you.” Then she lays on the guilt. “If you really loved me, you’d come home right now!” Just then Coral, looking stylish in a black ensemble comes into the boutique. “Claudia is not going anywhere!” she announces. Claudia’s mom tries to bully Coral by telling her to butt out. Coral has none of it. She insists that Claudia isn’t going back home where that husband of hers is. Claudia looks torn. Please no, she’s not going home is she????

Back to floodlandia. The nurses are treating patients in the hospital tent . Karla is there working in the background. Valentina comes in and tells the nurses to make ready the dirty sheets for collection. She asks for some nurses to come with her to check on some patients in another tent. As soon as they leave, Karla runs over and takes a sheet from the contaminated sheet bag and runs out of the tent with it.

Back to Mother and Daughter fight, now featuring Coral! Mom again tells her that their dispute is none of her business. Mom grabs Claudia by the arm and tries to drag her out of the store. Coral runs to the door and slams it. Mom tells Coral that she probably has only heard the lies that “this brat” has told her about Rosendo. Coral pleads with her to listen to her own daughter. Mom says that Claudia is not her daughter. She’s an ingrate who is looking to steal her husband. [Give it up, lady! Either she’s hot for Angel or for your husband. Which is it?] Claudia crumbles. She’s going to go home with her mom. Coral can’t believe it and neither can we. Oh, yes we can. This is Duelo de Pasiones, where people do the exact wrong thing all the time, just to torment us. She thanks Coral and tells her to tell Angel not to come after her. Mom grabs Claudia and leaves.

Next we’re back in Sierra Escondida. We get a quick update from La Rinconda. Ifigenio comes into the kitchen and is giving the news to Vera. Santos’ mom is still really sick so he won’t be making an appearance anytime soon. But Don Braulio (remember him? Rosita’s dad?) He’s been cleared of the charges of killing Castulo and will be released from jail soon in time for the Gran Final. I guess he gave up trying to find work on another novela. Don Braulio will be the new administrator! Ifigenio goes off to work. Thelma comes in her negligee and asks Vera where Orlando is. Vera nervously tells her that he left really early “to check on some things dealing with the new highway that they are about to finish.” Vera asks her if she wants breakfast but Thelma asks for Coffee and absently picks up a piece of fruit and craftily asks why the people of the mountain are so unfair to let Luba and her son escape justice after they killed Flor. Vera tells her that they tried but Luba and Gaspar escaped. “Don’t worry, Senora, says Vera. When we find them, we’ll lynch them” finishes Vera.

Over in Floodlandia, Karla is busy making sure that the contaminated sheet makes it on to Alina’s cot.

Back to SE—Raquel is cleaning up. She goes up to evil Hernan and tells him that she wants to speak to the parties interested in buying the Ranch. He tells her that the buyers didn’t want to meet with the owner, only with a go-between…him. Raquel tells him she’s on to him. HE’s the interested buyer. What’s more, she calls over Fidencio who is now a loyal worker and gets him to admit that Hernan paid them to go on strike. I guess that there was one worker who was paid way too much at Rancho Viejo if he had enough to bribe the entire crew. Now his ass is fired!!! She tells him to beat it. He threatens her and she threatens him right back. He leaves.

Back to Floodlandia again! Emilio is talking to someone on a walkie-talkie. He’s confirming plans to check on a bridge. Over and out. He gets up to leave and Alina drops in, with furrowed brow, hands in tiny nurse pockets. Emilio pinches her chin and says that he’s glad to see her, he’s headed out. Alina tells him she wants him to tell her about what happened before she arrived. “What do you want to know? asks Emilio. “Is it true that Karla spent the night with you in your tent?” Ooooh. Superslomo impacado into a commercial time for Emilio. Emilio himself of course merely looks constipated. Our transition to the commercial features Alina in her pink dress throwing a hissy fit over one of any number of a million slights of Emilio’s back when she was living in the cave with Luba. Luba tries to comfort her, maternally.

Emilio doesn’t take the right approach. He starts in with “Who told you that?” and then goes into complicated explanation mode. Alina doesn’t like this one bit and says “So it’s true?!” Emilio tries to explain but Alina goes on a rant about how she gave it up for him and let her think that he was in love with her. Emilio tries again to explain and Alina won’t let up. She’s not listening. “You deceived me!” Emilio stops her and says “I did not deceive you!” Finally he gets it out that Karla slept in his tent but he slept in a chair. “Then why did she treat me so badly?” asks Alina. “because she heard me speak your name and she was jealous” says Emilio finally. He grabs her face in an effort to shut her up. “You can’t doubt me, my love, not after what happened last night.” Alina relents somewhat and says that she’s confused. She doesn’t know what to think. She walks out and tells him she needs to be alone to think. Just then, Karla shows up and makes a catty comment about how now Alina knows “everything.” Emilio is ticked and asks her what she means. Karla says that “now that you two are going to be together, it’s better that you not have any secrets—that she know that you and I had an affair.” It’s Alina’s turn to be ticked. “How could you do this to me?” She wails.

Back in SE, Orlando arrives at his cabin with Luba. It turns out he can’t go to Puebla right away. He’s got to wait until the engineers finish up with the highway! Luba can’t believe that he was in such a rush to get them away from Rancho Viejo when they now have to stick around in SE which is dangerous for both her and her son. Orlando tells them unconvincingly that he will take care of them. He gives them a walkie-talkie. Luba looks skeptical. Yeah, I would be too.

Back to the latest bustup between Emilio and Alina. Karla pretends to be offended that Emilio would deny their roll in the hay. Alina stalks off. Karla says that Alina is a cry-baby if she can’t take a joke. Emilio is furious (I would guess) and tells her that the joke was in poor taste. Emilio tells her that she’d better go and tell Alina the truth and apologize. Karla pouts and smiles slyly.

Meanwhile, Angel has arrived on his daily visit to Claudia at Coral’s boutique. Coral greets him and when he asks about Coral, she gingerly tells him what happened, with the scene earlier between Claudia and her mom and that Mom took Claudia home. Angel is impactado.

Alina is sitting on her bed (with the blanket between her and the dirty sheet) and crying. Valentina comes in and she tells her what happened. “But you aren’t going to believe that sangrona (creep?).” Valentina tells her that if she loves Emilio, she’s got to believe him. Besides, why would Emilio be with a bitch like Karla if he was in love with her (Alina)? [Not exactly what she said but you get the drift…] Alina goes into her “woe is me, the world is trying to separate us” dirge and Valentina urges her to fight for her love.

Emilio and Karla are still having it out. Karla tells him that she’s not going to apologize to his dopey girlfriend. Emilio tells her she’d better or else…he grabs her hard by the arm and accuses her of stirring up this whole mess by telling Alina that they spent the night together. Karla says (truthfully) that she never told her. Yeah, well, half the camp saw her come out of Emilio’s tent wrapped only in a towel and she made sure of that. Karla tells her she’ll tell Alina the truth…when she damn well pleases. She stalks off. Emilio swears under his breath.

Commercial, a great new transition with Coral dancing. And we’re with Coral and Angel. Coral tells Angel about how Claudia’s mom basically blackmailed her into returning home. Coral sighs and says it’s obvious that Claudia caved under that kind of pressure and that she made the wrong decision. “Can you imagine what awaits her at home with that monster of a step-father?” At this, Angel gets up and says he’ll kill Rosendo if he does anything to Claudia. Coral warns him not to do anything stupid and Angel assures her that he won’t.

Don Loco shows up at Elias’ place. I always liked the furnishings at that place. Blanca had good taste in home décor even if she had questionable judgement in marrying Elias when he so obviously had the hots for someone else. Elias’ house is still perfectly kept but apparently nobody bothered to lock up or watch the place because DL is there, looking dirty and out of place, shouting and waving a gun around. All of the sudden, he sees Soledad. Soledad tells him to stop looking for her. She’s found her happiness with Elias. DL yells angrily that he won’t let her be with that traitor. Soledad tells him it’s too late, she and Elias have been doin’ the wild thing from the moment DL was locked up in jail. While it’s true that all of his accusations about her infidelity were false, now they have become true. She’s been enjoying the lovin’ she’s been getting from the studly Elias. OK, I threw in the studly part, she doesn’t go that far. Don Loco starts screaming at her to shut up. He’s kneeling on the ground and Soledad encircles him, taunting him about how she’s getting her revenge now, making him feel lower than the dirt, just like he did to her. He almost, but not, quite points the gun at his own head. Yes, my friends, this is another Don Loco (trademark) hallucination. He turns around and she’s gone.

Meanwhile, the real Soledad is taking a walk with Elias in San Mateo, followed by a policeman in a dress uniform. Elias is remarking about how someday they’ll be free and happy. Don Loco will be in jail and they’ll be able to enjoy themselves. Soledad agrees. Again, Elias announces that DL will NEVER look for them in San Mateo!!

Back to Floodlandia. Emilio shows up at the bridge where Rodrigo is directing a bunch of soldiers to place sandbags on an embankment. Rodrigo says snidely, “Finally you show up for work.” [I gotta say, old Rod has a point here. People are losing their homes, getting sick, drowning and dying in this God forsaken place. Meanwhile, Alina and Emilio are spending their time, alternately mooning over and fighting with eachother. Karla is spending all her time thinking of and executing plans to kill Alina. The practical Valentina is completely absorbed with Alina’s problems. Even Frank is worried about messing up his Captain’s love life. If I were the people in this village I would tell all these people to drop off the food, medicine and sandbags and then get the hell away from me.] Rod is snarky. Emilio gets all in his face accusing him of telling Alina he slept with Karla.

Back to Alina and Valentina in their tent. Alina isn’t feeling so hot. Valentina urges her to lie down. Looks like Karla’s plan is working.

Emilio and Rod shout insults at eachother. It soon turns to blows. Rod isn’t winning but a bunch of soldiers show up and pull them apart. Karla shows up and looks surprised.

In Puebla, Coral has just made another sale to a happy customer in the boutique. Tina arrives to ask her if she has looked into the possibility of Thelma being Gaby’s kidnapper. They discuss the possibilities. On the one hand, the calls have stopped now that Thelma is out of town. On the other, Coral talked to the SA who swears Thelma had nothing to do with it. Coral thinks the SA is basically a good person and wouldn’t lie to her. Tina isn’t sure about that, after all, she’s her Aunt. Tina tells Coral that Gaby is doing really badly and she begs Coral to get to the bottom of this.

DL is still at Elias’ house. His dirty bum costume is probably making a stain on that nice couch. He’s wondering aloud where Elias and Soledad can be. Suddenly, he says to himself he knows who can tell him where they are. He gets up and leaves.

Back to Tina and Coral. Tina is crying, overwhelmed by how bad things have gotten with Gaby. Coral advises her to take the child to a psychologist. Tina brightens, and says she knows a really great psychologist who lives right next door. Yes, it’s Doctora Loca to the rescue!

Back to the big fight next to the flooding river. As I said, Rodrigo looks like he would have been the loser in this fight. The soldiers are trying to keep the two men apart while they hurl insults at eachother. Frank defends Emilio and says that he has no right to accuse him of what he has no knowledge of. The two men break free briefly and start fighting again. Karla comes up and suddenly decides to come clean. “Emilio is telling the truth, she yells. Nothing happened between us.” Impactada looks all around.

Back in Alina’s tent, she’s not looking so good as Karla’s plan B is well underway. Alina is sweating and feverish. Valentina comes over and sees that she’s sick.
Rodrigo apologizes. Emilio accepts the apology with a handshake and thanks Karla for finally stepping up. Rodrigo tells her that she’d better tell Alina the truth too. Karla agrees this time. Emilio tells Rodrigo that he understands why he reacted the way he did, that “any man in love” would have acted the same way. Besides, he was looking out for Alina which is a good thing too. Karla touches Emilio’s face and asks him to let her fix him up. Emilio grabs her hand and pushes it away, saying “Alina will do it.” As things are cooling down, Valentina rushes up to tell all the assembled soldiers and Karla that Alina is very sick.

Back in Puebla, Coral is arranging things in the boutique. Coral has her back to the door when Don Loco comes in. At first she thinks he’s just an old bum and she offers him clothes. Then she recognizes him and he recognizes her as the dancer from Edelmira’s. Coral’s eyes get big.

Everyone rushes over to the hospital tent where alina lies stricken in a bed like any other patient. Valentina tells them that she has all the symptoms of the rotavirus. Rodrigo is incredulous. “How can this be? All the volunteers have been vaccinated and take precautions with masks and gloves.” Karla bitchily (without her mask on) says that no doubt Alina made mistakes because she was such an inexperienced volunteer and that she was right all along for trying to exclude her. Valentina takes umbrage at this but Emilio tells them that now is not the time for arguing. Emilio and Rodrigo are both squatting next to her cot, one on either side. Emilio starts to explain the whole story about the Karla gossip but Rodrigo suggests that now is not a great time since she’s so weak. Emilio agrees. He starts to move away when Alina grabs his hand and tells him to stay. She believes him and she feels better with him near. She knows he never deceived her. Rodrigo looks unhappy-impactado although it’s hard to tell with a mask covering half his face.

Next time: It sucks to be Claudia. Rosenda strangles her until she passes out and then lays her out on a bed like he intends to rape her while she’s unconscious. It also sucks to be Coral, who is going to have to try to escape the homicidal maniac Don Loco while not revealing Soledad’s location. For the finale--It also sucks to be Alina who may or may not be hallucinating about being buried alive again. As was noted earlier, Gaspar and Luba run into problems too.

Labels: duelo

As I mentioned in the comments to Thursday’s episode, Emiliooo is so romantic and full of love for Alina that he doesn’t even talk to her once they are alone, he goes straight for her zipper and her boobs. I’m sure women love that. “We’re alone set those babies free.” So romantic, right? Alina appears to be ready to finally give it up too. They end up in bed, after they are finally naked he finally says something, that they are more together than ever and no one can separate them.

Rodrigo admits to Karla that he and Alina had been engaged, now she understands the strange behavior between the two big dogs. The boss nurse Valentina comes in to inform them that Emiliooo left for supplies, and there was some local with ‘them.’ Karla wants to know who ‘them’ is, Valentina tells them that Alina was there too. Karla gets a grouchy look on her face. She just doesn’t get it, does she? She’s like the female Elias, just ignore reality and doggedly pursue whoever it is you set your sights on. In Elias’s case, for some reason, it worked. Conveniently his rival was a complete nutjob. I guess that could work out for Karla too, but she hasn’t seen the commercials that the Gran Final is approaching, or she would understand that she doesn’t have enough time to work the deal.

Coral refers to Thelma as a viper again. They (Coral, Angel, Claudia, Tina) try to figure out how/why Thelma would have kidnapped Gaby. Even with the knowledge of her demand that Rodrigo marry Alina and move away, this brain trust can’t figure out how Thelma fits in. DUHHHH. I don’t know how it could be any clearer. Whatever. Coral has a plan – they’ll go play a trick on Thelma. We don’t get the details.

Orlando wonders why Thelma is in SE when she hates it so much. She tells him not to play dumb, he knows why, Orlando deduces that it has to do with getting rid of Luba and Gaspar. He tells her that those two are on the run from the law, they are suspected of being involved with Alina’s death. Thelma thought bubbles that nobody knows that Alina is alive! Orlando gets Vera to support his story, that NOBODY knows where Luba and Gaspar are. I guess he wants to save them for himself, at least he doesn’t want Thelma to find them.

Elias rushes in and wakes up Soledad, there is a cop with them. Don Loco comes in and shoots the cop, then turns his gun on Elias, who is trying to protect Soledad by standing in front of her. DL has a big gun, I think it would go right through both of them.

Commercial – Asi es la Vida has given up all pretense of being more than a booty show, the commercial advertises ‘sexier than ever’ and is about 30 seconds of women’s butts shaking for the camera. There’s even a bikini car wash. I would bet that this show gets more male viewers than any of the novelas. I haven’t ever actually watched the show, but I’m guessing many men do.

Back to the show – DL shoots Elias twice, his body succeeds in stopping the bullets after all, Soledad is fine. Until DL shoots her too.

Yes, readers, it was a dream. Soledad wakes up screaming and turns on the light so we can see the anguish on her face, even though she is alone in the room. Do any of you automatically turn on the light every time you wake up at night? I, for one, would get a quick kick from the other side of the bed if I did that. Soledad is alone at the moment (I’m sure Elias wishes otherwise) so I guess nobody will complain about the light. I’ve noticed this on every TV show, I know we need light for the TV camera, but for some reason it still always gets my attention.

Vera tells Thelma that Luba stole Alina’s body from the tomb. Thelma says she wants to discuss all this with Orlando later. Thelma leaves, Orlando thought bubbles curses at her for showing up right now, at this inconvenient time.

Elias and the guard come into the room in response to Soledad’s scream. She whines and worries, Elias tells her everything will be fine.

Gaspar yells ‘Mama……MAMA” It reminds me of my own little boy, he still hasn’t figured out at age 7 that if nobody answers, go looking for them, don’t just sit on the couch and yell louder. Luba answers, Gaspar asks if she’s sleeping. She said she WAS, why did he wake her up? He says he can’t sleep. He’s excited to see his baby. She says Emiliooo won’t believe he’s the father, Gaspar says yes, Orlando will tell him it’s true. Luba starts rambling on about Raquel and everything going on there.

Vera brings Orlando coffee and tells him she is bothered that she had to lie to Thelma. She sure didn’t mind lying to Orlando earlier. He threatens her, and Mexican Larry too when he returns, with great harm if anyone tells anyone else where Luba and Gaspar really are. Ifignenio comes in after Orlando leaves, Vera tells him that something strange is going on, and boo hoo she’s there all alone without Mexican Larry and Santos.

At the Devil’s Cave, Adela wants to know why Coral brought her here. One of the girls working there is sooo excited to see Coral, like, ohmygod! Coral says they are there to relax, then she says she misses the dancing, the lights, the applause, hmmm I think she’s going to find an excuse to get up and dance, which of course they won’t show, like every other time. The friend announces to the crowd “Look who’s here – La Coral! Do you want her to dance?” Everyone applauds. Coral claims to not be prepared for that. Right. I’m sure she’ll just take off whatever she’s wearing and magically have something under it to dance in.

Rodrigo asks Valentina for news of Emiliooo, nobody has heard anything. They are all starting to worry. Rodrigo decides to get a couple guys and go look for them. Rodrigo has been such a peeping tom/eavesdropper lately, I expect to see him shortly watching Emliooo and Alina get busy through a window. Valentina calls out Karla on the fact that she’s all agitated by Emiliooo and Alina being together.

Rodrigo and his guys, who look like they should be at a Cub Scout campout, not in the army, find the jeep already. That took like 30 seconds. They determine that there was a mechanical problem, then immediately spot the cabin in the distance. They head over there.

Emiliooo and Alina are laying in bed naked, we see flashlights outside the window. HA – I was right – Rodrigo sees them through the window, in bed, and decides not to bother them and head back to camp. So he has gotten the double whammy now – Alina wouldn’t marry him, and she put out for this other guy like two days later. That’s an extra kick in the nads. I know he’s a big dummy but I feel bad for him. He just fell for the wrong woman, who didn’t help by stringing him along until the very last moment. Inside, Emiliooo is laying almost on top of Alina, I’m sure she’s real comfortable like that.

The Olarte/Panama Army General guy (I can’t remember his name here) runs into Luba, who is playing with her knife. He is scared of her, but she wants to talk to him. She tries to scare him into coming back to work. He says no, then she tells him to feel bad for a woman who lost her man and is now expecting twins. The guy says she should sell the ranch then, but Luba flicks his hat with the knife and says that isn’t going to happen. The ranch is all she has. She says she’s going to put a curse on him and his family if he doesn’t go back to work.

Valentina and Karla find Rodrigo and want to know what he found. He says he found them asleep, he figured they were tired, so he left them alone. Karla tries to get more out of him but he won’t answer, he leaves to go check out the camp, etc. Valentina is very pleased at Karla’s irritation over the Emiliooo/Alina nookie news. It wasn’t said out loud, but everyone knew what Rodrigo found.

Singing aunt runs into a room where Angel is reading. He wants to know where Thelma is. SA says she’s in Mexico buying things for the baby, Angel makes a comment something like she might consider the baby itself more than leaving it here and going shopping for it. SA thinks she’ll be back in a few days.

The guy begs Luba not to curse him. He finally agrees to return to work to prevent it. I think he’s supposed to get everyone back to work too. She really scares him, when he leaves she’s quite proud of herself.

Orlando leaves, Vera talks to herself about what he might be up to. She finally convinces herself that Orlando is going to avenge Alina’s death, since they were so in love before and everything. What a dummy.

Creepy Rosendo wants to know why Claudia didn’t come home last night. The mother says she was with a friend. Roseno is mad, but the mom says she thought it was ok, she doesn’t want any more trouble. She is clearly intimidated by Rosendo. To appease him, she swears that she’ll find Claudia and get her to return home.

Karla tends to the sick, Alina enters with the medicine. She is in a great mood, which does not escape the notice of Valentina. Alina kisses and tells, she immediately tells her all the details. She tells how wonderful Emiliooo is, blah blah blah. She left out the part where as soon as they were alone he lunged for her chest. Sorry to keep going back to that, it’s just such a tacky move. Valentina is soooo happy for Alina, she isn’t even upset that they had to wait an extra day for medicine just so Alina could get her groove on. Karla approaches and tries to give her a cup of water, which Alina declines, Karla then tries to tell her how she wants to be friends. I suspect the water was the same cup that one of the patients drank from, there was ominous music when she held up the cup. She’s vicious, trying to infect Alina! At least that’s more subtle than poison. Karla apologizes sort of for being bad with her before, Valentina says “yes, we can agree on that.” Alina the dummy accepts her offer of friendship and the water. More ominous music as she gulps down the drink.

Rodrigo talks to Emiliooo, who seems to become addicted to cigars. He’s washing his face and smoking at the same time. The cigars give him a Don Loco look, I’m not sure that’s what he’s going for. He tells Rodrigo that they spent the night at a cabin. Rodrigo tells him that he saw everything. Emiliooo is impactado.

Raquel is pleased that Luba convinced the workers to come back. Luba tries to warn her about Hernan, that he’s evil and a liar. Raquel says she’ll have a serious talk with him.

Emiliooo says so what? Rodrigo wants a favor. He wants Emiliooo to not play with Alina. Emiliooo says he won’t, he really loves her. Rodrigo says if he hurts her, he’s going to have a big problem.

Claudia runs out of the house to open the store. Outside the doorbell for the front gate rings and when she opens the door, it’s Don Loco wearing a goofy stocking cap, trying to look like a thug or something. It’s a very very strange look. I guess he’s trying to sneak into the house and find Soledad. He looks like he’s on drugs or something.

At Thelma’s house, Coral storms in and tells SA that she wants to speak with Thelma. SA says she isn’t there. Coral says she won’t leave without speaking to her. She says she wants to know why Thelma kidnapped the daughter of Captain Ochoa. SA is impactada.

I guess DL is going for ‘street bum.’ He asks if he can get something to eat, Claudia stupidly says she’ll get him something and goes back to the house, leaving the gate hanging open. She goes back into the house and tells Adela she wants some food for a bum.

SA says she knows nothing, Coral doesn’t believe her. SA tries to make excuses for Thelma and oh yeah she doesn’t know anything. She is acting very guilty and nervous, which Coral notices. Coral accuses Thelma of taking Gaby, SA asks if she has proof, Coral admits that she doesn’t. She begs SA to tell her if she knows something.

Claudia comes out with food, but DL is long gone. After she leaves, DL comes out of his hiding place, behind the house but inside the gate. He actually looks convincing as a bum. He managed to find some really filthy clothes and has the whole twitchy look down, he keeps scratching his arms and chest like he’s jonesing for some crack.

Alina and her boss finish treating the patients. Valentina tells Alina that Rodrigo found them last night and saw everything.

Coral is pumping SA for info, SA has a flashback of Thelma threatening to separate SA from the baby if she talks. She denies to Coral that she knows anything. She tells Coral that she understands Coral’s suspicions, but swears that Thelma has changed. Coral leaves. SA then worries that she’ll now be an accomplice to Thelma, but she can’t be separated from the baby.

Emiliooo and Frank look at a map. They agree that Rodrigo is a great help and a good man, too bad about all that Alina stuff. Frank says he’s going to clear things up with Rodrigo about Karla and what he said the night Rodrigo arrived. Emiliooo is glad to hear it. He thinks it will simplify everything. They make some other plans for their work and Frank leaves Emiliooo alone to moon over Alina.

Adela putters around the house, DL now has his gun out and is trying to sneak around unnoticed.

Alina worries that Rodrigo will think badly of her. Too late for that! They discuss this for a while, nothing interesting. Alina says she’ll talk to Rodrigo and explain everything. What’s to explain? She is in loooove with that loser Emiliooo and gave him some action. Rodrigo already knows all this. Why talk to him about it? To make him feel even worse?

DL opens a door and enters gun first. Nobody is there, it’s an empty bedroom. He realizes that Adela is the only one home. The door handle starts to move behind him, he hies under the bed. It’s Adela, putting some laundry away in the dresser. She leaves and DL comes back out from under the bed. He talks to himself, wanting to know where Soledad is. He vows to find her.

Raquel is thanking Gaspar and Luba, who appear to be leaving, for all their help. She has her workers back, they’ll bring in the harvest, etc. Luba lays a long list of compliments on Raquel. Raquel says she knows that Luba and Gaspar could never kill someone. They have a tearful goodbye.

Frank tells Rodrigo that he was mistaken about what he said that night. Rodrigo says there isn’t anything to explain, he knows that Emiliooo and Karla spent many nights together. Of course Alina is standing in the doorway to hear this part. She is super end of show impactada. Imagine that.

No lead in for Monday, now every commercial is just about the Gran Final in another week. I’ll tell you what happens Monday – Emiliooo and Alina fight some more and piss us all off.

Labels: duelo

At their meeting Dani and the ever more letigiously distinguished legal eagle, Videgaray, look through the finance records. He determines that Mariana never cashed that severance check of hers, let alone any payoff of 5 million pesos. In fact there is a corresponding check instead that Oñate seems to have cashed. "Who? That shyster lawyer of Aaron's?" she asks in disbelief (in the best line of the whole show). Videgaray says yes, the very same, and adds that probably Mariana was run off without a receiving a penny. Dani reasons that her cousin exposed Mariana and slandered her in front of the family with corrupt and avaricious designs.

Aaron has decided to travel back to Mexico City before Minerva gets the notice of their divorce. During breakfast Pammy says she doesn't want Aaron to return to Mexico. She has the funny feeling that if he leaves this time he won't be coming back to her. About then he receives the disturbing news from his wife about Dani possibly looking into Mariana Franco's severance payments. Aaron sits down to eat and tells Pamela not to be foolish. It's only that there are still a few things pending at the home office, but when he returns that next week they'll go on a cruise to what ever locale Pammy wants.

Pammy persists till Aaron rather gently (for him) pushes back, but she instinctively knows when to demur (most unlike the current Mrs. Aaron Montalvo) and sweetly answers that she simply wonders why this is his tactic. Aaron responds that since Minerva knows various things of a compromising nature about him and his business dealings he has to let her down very gently or she could-- and definitely would -- try to destroy him. She's certain their wedding is just a false hope. As for Minerva, Aaron assures Pamela that at most it will be only a couple of months till till he finalizes the divorce settlement. He'll return to her; they can be married and then will await the arrival of little Aaron, Jr. Pam replies, "--but what if I don't really want any children?" Aaron stares at her. "--What? Are you joking? A child is the crowning touch to our happiness!"

Videgaray, meanwhile, says Quintana will have the signed receipt of any cashed severance check and Dani will have to be the one to ask him for it. So Dani returns to the corporate offices. As she is signing in she asks Margarita again if she has spoken with Mariana yet, but Margarita nervously denies it. Dani notes that she's acting a bit uptight. She smiles and, in an attempt to put the skittish receptionist at ease, tells Margarita as she leaves to just call her Dani.

Since Aaron won't be returning till noon the next day, he makes a call to Quintana with strict orders to deny his cousin any further assistance. Dani goes up to speak with Quintana, who has just received the orders from Aaron not to give her a single additional document till he gets there and can deal with the situation personally. When Dani asks for the cashed receipt of Mariana's severance check, Quintana says he has been told by Aaron that he cannot give her anything further. She demands he call back her cousin so that she can speak to him, but when he does, it appears Aaron has already turned off his cell.

Mariana has had a difficult time setting up appointments with her list of potential customers (Oh, fond memories of those good ol' days of cold-calling and surviving on 100% commission minus expenses!! Been there, done that, got the tee shirt, and thankfully threw it back after successfully beating the odds, but I digress.) The old geezer who is now Mariana's sales manager at that dirty, hole-in-the-wall encyclopedia publishing house appropriately named La Mancha (the stain), comes in to check on her progress.

Gavi's a bit frustrated with only 2 appointments set for the next day. The manager offers to show her a few tricks of the trade over lunch. He knows just the place, somewhere "quiet and out of the way" where they can, you know, discuss... techniques. Mariana's antennae go right up since she learned her lesson about deceitful, dirty old men. She pretends to accept and manages to quickly sneak out the door while the old coot is gone to get his jacket. "Ha! Techniques! He can go teach those techniques to some other stupid female, but not me!"

Back in Tequila-ville, James, Crispin and Rod are painting the walls of the new Tequila Tourism Office. Crispin is relating the story of Adam and Eve, with the twist being if Eve hadn't been such a damn fine woman, he'd have never been thrown out a paradise for putting up with every demand she made on him. Rod says Adam and he have something in common: to go on "loving their beautiful women despite their great sins." He laughs, then. "No, they are an evil necessity for a man."

Gavi goes home to finish her calls and to study a bit more for her presentations the next day. She tells Clarita over lunch about the incident with her suggestive manager. "It would have been a paradise if God had created women first and stopped there. As it is, all men are the same and Rodrigo Montalvo is the worst of the lot with his big mouth!!" Again we get the litany of all his lies. When Clarita takes exception to this, "Oh! Stop. You've only known one!" Gavi backs up and corrects herself. "You're right. They are not all the same. Some are worse! And God just happened to get mangy with me by sending me the most despicable bungler of the bunch! " (--and in spades, Gavi girl!)

Our grand gigolo, Frankie, is in top form this morning. He is hanging out at Pilar's after taking Sofia to the airport. He is having a great time sweet-talking the old lady, flattering the heck out of her. He offers to take her to pick up some exotic orchid that her nurseryman has just received, and he suggests they stop at a nice tea house along the way. She is thrilled and accepts as our rapacious rapscallion thinks to himself how he'd love to get hold of the old gal's will.

Dani returns to Grammy Pilar's "casa grande" (mansion house) in the beautiful 'burbs. After a quick roll of her eyes behind the back of her sister's brown-nosing boyfriend, she complains to Pilar that Aaron has ordered that nobody is to hand over a single corporation document to her. Dani feels Grammy should intercede on her part, but Grammy asks what exactly she wants. Dani says once she has it then she'll be happy to explain that to them. Grammy says she'll just have to wait then till Aaron arrives home from the States to ask him.

"Princesa" manages that miraculous visit with Daddy at the other "big house" across town and tells him with a huge, sh!t-eatin' grin and without batting an eye that she's now going to have Rod's baby. "I'm arranging for Rod to pay your bail!" "--Then you're reconciled?" "--Not yet, but soon. A little bit more than a month ago I got the insemination done and it was a success!" Whoa! Ricardo is one happy pappy after hearing this! He smiles, practically slobbering all over himself 'cuz he knows that this means salvation is nigh.

It's now late in the afternoon and a big thunderstorm comes up. The guys are getting ready to head back to Montalveña. It's raining cats and dogs and lightening like crazy. James says thunderstorms always frighten him. Rod explains to Crispin that James figures that they always bring bad luck.

Back at the Dry Gulch, Acacia is cooking in the kitchen for her Uncle Meliton. She complains to him about his drinking and asks him not to hit the bottle. After all, he's the only living relative she has. He laughs at her and says he's got to die of something.

Sofia arrives at the hacienda. She greets Rod while barely batting an eyelash at James. She asks to speak to her brother alone while James is left to ponder the possibilities of a quest of reconquest of "lovely" Sofia. Well, chances with Acacia these days have been narrowed down to slim and none. Randy thoughts will randomly run don't ya' know.

Now that Sr. Sofia has Rod alone she proceeds to give the esteemed agricultural engineer his second life lesson in Newton's third law of motion. You remember, that niggly little thing called the law of reciprocal actions, which says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction? --Or, perhaps you'd rather consider chaos theory or the butterfly effect. Your choice, as the result here is nearly the same. Sofia delicately informs her brother that Isadora got pregnant a few weeks back during an unauthorized mini-me turkey-basting session that he so kindly donated for at Dr. T's fertility clinic a couple months back.

When Rod hears this gem of a news nugget he suddenly looks like Ofelia has just slammed him in the face with a frying pan. "Without my consent? I told her I wasn't ready to be a father!" (Does Rod's naivete know no bounds? Do you really need to ask?) Sofia continues that Isa is sorry for it now, but yes, she got the insemination done without his consent, fearing for her marriage, and yes, despite knowing at the time he was not ready to be a parent. The doctor has confirmed her pregnancy. "That miserable jerk! That miserable jerk!" "--The poor girl was even so distraught she threatened to get rid of the baby and not have it at all!" she adds. Rod really swallows hard when he hears that.

Of course, Isa didn't want Sofia to tell him, she explains, because she didn't want to pressure him and she says she'll have it now and raise it with or without him. "By the way," Sofia adds, "the poor girl is suffering with this in addition to the fact that her father has been put in prison. Imagine, carrying the baby of the man who is divorcing her and then that. She has a huge heart because despite your cheating on her with Gaviota, she has never stopped loving you."

As for our rural rube, describing the credulous dolt as simply impactado after his self-serving sister is done with him, hardly does the Rodster justice. Try thinking of a cornered bucking bronco or an angry bull inside a rodeo pen once the rider has just gotten on and the gate is opened. Rod might as well be a beast of burden all tied and trussed, literally being spurred on to exhaustion until eventually it's subdued and becomes submissive.

Finally he takes a deep breath and reacts. "This is her way of reconciling with me!! I never want to hear her name again! I know her and I know she's taking advantage of me, and blackmailing me with this child!" He downs a double shot of tequila and throws the glass against the wall as he storms out of the room. ("Love and marriage ...go together like a horse and carriage.....")

Isa crows to her mother about how well her plan must be working about now. "You should have seen Sofia's face when I told her I might get rid of it! She wants that baby to insure they receive the Montalvo fortune in its entirety. Rod? He'll probably even hate me for it, but eventually he'll come to appreciate 'fatherhood.' "

Jilted by Acacia, James temporarily has a new-found interest in Sofia. He accidentally meets her in the hallway and stutters as he tries for some sort of rapprochement between the two of them. Oh, but Sofia has just had a sweet time relaying Isadora's whole sob story and she's on a roll. Having just heard from Roman that Acacia thoroughly rejected James after the amnesia attack, she shoots him down like the Red Baron himself, by telling him she's no longer interested since meeting the "man of her dreams." Besides, James still has the randy little ranch girl, right? (Badda-boom.) Sofia enters through the doorway to Rod's office and slams said door in her ex's face.

When Daniela hears that Sofia has flown back to the hacienda to visit with Rod, she senses there is something going on that Grammy and the rest are keeping from her. So she calls the house but unfortunately Sofia answers. Dani asks to speak to Rod. Sofia lies and says he's gone out partying with James. Dani, frustrated and certain her sister is hiding something from her, hangs up on her sister in frustration.

Rod is reeling and he staggers onto the balcony in the pouring rain; exasperated, despairing, disillusioned and tearful. Twice now Rod has childishly reacted out of spite to one-up Gavi in an emotional game of chicken, first by marrying Isa and then by consenting to donate his cache of mini-me's for the broad. Slowly it is dawning on him that, unfortunately, neither time did he get past the immediate act of spite to consider the "what if's" which have now bounced back around and again have bitten him squarely on his posh posterior. Repeatedly Rod moans to himself, incredulous at the realization that he's having his child with Isa! With Isa! With Isa and not with Gaviota!

Back in her little hotel room in Mexico City, Gavi falls asleep over her books thinking of Rod and calling out his name.

Rod slumps into the nearest chair and cries from the depths of his soul again. He seems to be wondering how much worse it could get and how in the world it could ever have gotten this bad. (Hubby has no sympathy for the botch-job that is the rash Rodrigo, this uber-masculine, miserable, mental midget of a Montalvo. Can't say as I blame him about now, either, 'cause dude, neither have I. -- Talk about sleeping in the bed you've made, fella.)

Isa looks admiringly at her belly and remarks that this baby will bring Rodrigo back to her.

Later that night Meliton is drunk out of his mind again. The depraved old sot decides he wants Acacia to heat the sheets up for him just like she used to do. "You're mine, Acacia! You're mine!" Acacia is first confused, then frightened and as he pulls her back to him, she tries to fight him off; she remembers the first time he raped her and then the beating that led to her amnesia. At last, she manages to escape and spends the night in the Montalvo's stables (which are still clean enough to eat off the floor and definitely unlike any I've ever shoveled sheise from).

The next morning Gavi tells Clarita they'll have to pawn the electronics to make the payments this next month. Clarita balks at giving up her flat screen t.v., but makes do in the end.

Dani relays to Videgaray the stone wall she ran into when asking for a copy of Mariana's severance check. She agrees to try again when Aaron returns. She tells him that what bothers her most is how Sofia kept her from warning Rod about their suspicions. Videgaray suggests they wait until they have conclusive evidence before telling Rod anything.

Early that morning Sofia comes in to check on how well her brother is doing. Rod assures Sofia that he will never forgive Isadora. She covers all her bases and slyly adds that Isa was afraid he might think it might not be his child. Rod replies that obviously infidelity has not been Isa's problem where he is concerned. So, no need to question the baby's paternity at all but why so resentful then? He figures he probably needs to talk to Isadora about this situation.

Sofia makes the call. With Mommy Dearest seated inches away from her on the bed, Isa tells Sofia that she doesn't want anything more to do with her brother, she doesn't even want him to give the kid his name. Mommy Dearest can hardly keep quiet. She gasps in disbelief at everything her daughter is saying, and this last comment makes her really suck in her breath.

Just then Hilario comes in knocking to tell Rod that he found Acacia asleep in the barn. Before racing out he tells Sofia to make the arrangements and she'll have to wait to talk to him till after he solves the problem in the barn.

When he's gone Sofia tells Isa that he didn't sleep a wink the night before thinking about her and the baby. Isa finally relents and says alright, but she won't be coming to him at the hacienda. She'll get back to them when she decides where she wants to meet him. Isa hangs up then and tells her mother next time to keep quiet; she doesn't appreciate her "coaching" when she is on the phone like that. Mommy Dearest complains that Isa is going too far and is risking everything with her attitude. Isa tells her she knows her husband and she knows exactly what she is doing will get the response she needs. She has planned it all out. (Too bad her hubby doesn't have the same amount of gray matter that his wife does.)

James wakes Acacia up. She is startled and pulls away, then a minute later she recognizes him and grabs and hugs and kisses him, calling his name and crying. She tells him what happened the night before and then describes it all as she remembers the beating her uncle gave her months ago. Hilario, James and Rod try to persuade her to turn her uncle into the police, but she refuses.

Gavi pawns what she can but it is not going to cover all of her expenses as she had hoped. She says she'll make do. Clarita, meanwhile, negotiates for a nice little apartment at a discounted rate.

Rod wants Acacia to go with them and report Meliton to the police. James yells the ingrate needs to pay for what he's done to her. Frantic, she refuses, saying she doesn't want them to lock him up. It would be useless to do that. She races out of the barn and James runs after her. James catches up to her outside and begs her not to return to her uncle's ranch. He even offers to talk to Meliton himself for her. Acacia stops suddenly and turns to ask him if he truly loves her. He answers that she is his whole life.

Isa pays a visit to Minnie and is shocked to see huge numbers of balloons and all sorts of toddler and baby things decorating the walls. "Are you pregnant, Minerva?" "--Well, the past three weeks I've had bouts of nausea and sickness, but I'm seeing the doctor on Monday." "--Ah, how many days late are you?" "--Only one." "--Ha! Only one!" "--Yes! Hey, I already know what it feels like and I am pregnant!" "--Well, I am expecting Rod's baby!" Minnie is impactada after hearing those five words from her, now, ex-best friend.

Labels: Destilando

At Paola's bedside, she has a close call. Caramelo reassures Paco. He wants Paola to live and to forgive him. Paco lashes out at Octavia--it's her fault this all happened. Larry tries to calm Paco.

At the manicomio, Samanta is lecturing Diana about Max. He should be in a straitjacket (camisa de fuerza--shirt of strength). Diana lectures Samanta on how heartless she is. Samanta threatens to get Diana fired.

At the hospital, more worrying about Paola. Paco tells Octavia that it's her fault their daughter lies at death's door. You were a terrible mother and a killer! Larry seems to be stifling a laugh in the background.

Max and Diana discuss how he's confused. He still thinks Diana and Azucena are two people. Max also has a three-day growth of beard, the better to make him look loco.

Paola now lies alone in her room. There is a flashback to a fight between her and Caramelo while Puncho stands by. The girls wrestle in mud. She also flashes back to her wedding.

Iggy and Camila have an argument about ridding the world of Diana and Max (in a fire? not sure what he is planning). Camila doesn't care if Diana is burned to a crisp (achicharrada), but she doens't want to lose Max. Iggy reminds her that Max will never go back to her even if Diana is gone. (remember, she's about fifth in line. Virna Flores should get a new agent about now.) Better he dies.

Eduardo calls Diana to check on her conversation with Fiona. He is despairing. He doesn't want to keep throwing himself at her feet, but he loves her. Maybe another chance?

Fiona pays a locksmith to fix Octy's door. She is outraged that she being penniless has to lay out money, but she figures she'll get reimbursed later. She gets Octy on the horn to chitchat. She starts complaining about Diana and wants to gossip. But even Octy has limits. She says she can't be bothered right now.

Max is watching Diana from his window. Samanta sneaks in and gives him an injection in the shoulder. He attacks her back and starts strangling her. He gets caught and put in a straitjacket.

Kiki tells Gaby to go back to work so all will look normal. Then he has her massage his feet. Gross. He tells her that Gaviota let him know that her trial date is soon. She had better win, since he doesn't want a little wifey in the carcel. Then he doesn't like her massage, so he kicks her and orders her to draw him a bath and makes her say "mi amor." He mutters that her life will be a hell. She will pay for cheating.

The other nurse (don't know her name) reports to Diana about the attack. Diana doesn't believe it. There is a scene where Samanta and Diana try to tattle on each other to the head guy. The boss says that Diana must have proof of her assertions.

Caramelo talks to Paola, who finally wakes up. They have a touching scene. Both always wanted a sister. Now they can be best friends. Paola says that Larry and Max always had each other but she was alone. If she had known about their being sisters, she would never have taken up with Pancholon. Caramelo says never mind. The only important thing is that you get better. She says she has renounced Pancho, and when Paola gets better, they will go to Lala and get him a good lawyer and then Paola can have him. No, Paola says. She is dying, and Caramelo can have him. She is the true wife. Paco comes in, and they have more touching togetherness.

Lala visits Pancho at the cell and tells him about Paola. He is overcome. He creates a ruckus and seeks special permission to go visit. Sort of ridiculous, in that he is in jail for the crime of marrying her. Well, the DA won't let him out, because he is there for too important a crime--now he's in for some jewelry fencing thing! (funny, he never got arrested for that--I think they have to arrest you, indict you, etc. Well, so much for due process in TeleMiami.)

Gaby flashes back to her happy time on the beach with Larry.

Diana lets Max out of the straitjacket. Samanta catches her and runs to tell the boss. Diana puts the straitjacket back on. When the boss comes in, they act like Samanta is the crazy one. Samanta says "You put the straitjacket back on." Diana says "I don't know what you are talking about."

Paco and Paola talk. He promises tha they will all take a trip together--him, and Paola and Caramelo. They will all get to know each other, and it will be wonderful. Paola says that there is no time, Papa. It is too late.

Octy has now gone home and is chatting with Fiona. Don't know why she would leave the hospital. Fiona tells her that she should never have let anyone in on her secret. Octy says that she was nervous and needed to confide in someone, so she told her sister.

Later, Max and Diana chuckle over how they put one over on the boss. She tells Max that it is good to see him smiling. The boss comes in and says that he can be released from the straitjacket. Samanta protests to no avail.

Max tries to get Diana to kiss him. She protests but finally gives in.
Meanwhile, Marfil arrives for a visit. Samanta tells her that Diana's in the room with Max and prepares to catch them unawares. Max and Diana begin kissing, and we see the doorknob to the room turn. Who will it be?

Will it be Marfil, or just Pedro returning from the bathroom?

Labels: acorralada

Esme, Garcia and Camba at the cemetery. Esme is completely sure the remains in the grave are NOT those of her baby. Garcia believes her grief prevents her from seeing the truth. No way, says Esme. She’s certain – the blanket the dead baby is wrapped in isn’t the same as the one that swaddled her baby.

[in a spooky aural segue, the next scene begins with the sound of the crying of aforementioned baby - Alejandrito]

The whole chapel is impactado at Maria Pia’s “no acepto” to Alfonso. MP begs Alfonso for forgiveness. He implores her to reconsider, to try, but she’s resolute. He’s an amazing man, and this may be the biggest mistake of her life, but she’ll never make him happy. She was wrong to play with his feelings this way. He painfully lets her leave. MP apologizes to the guests – there won’t be a wedding today.

Alejandro follows MP to the entryway to see how she’s feeling. In an imitation of the new Fernando, MP asks her brother for his forgiveness, too. Can he support her even though she’s in love with Fernando Sanchez de Moncada? Alej wants to know what it is about Fernando that MP can’t seem to forget, to shake loose of. MP has realized that it’s useless to put it into words – and always has been. Although she can’t forgive him for Regina’s murder, she can’t stop loving him, even if it means she’s resigning herself to a lifetime of suffering.

Back at the gravesite Esme insists Garcia examine the blanket. It turns out she’s right. This is not the plain blanket Garcia used; it’s high-quality, complete with a crest. Esme recognizes it as the shield of the Sanchez de Moncada family.

In the interrogation/torture room, Montero has finished beating Fernando almost to death, but Fer revealed nothing, and has passed out. Monte orders Mejias to jail Fer with Olmos and Laisha. Fer should die fairly soon, and his body will be left to rot in the cell. Monte also orders Mejias to double the guards watching over the Queen; it seems there’s a plot afoot…

Esmeralda is livid. Mangle and Montero stole her baby! Are they putting one over on Diego? Or does Diego know it IS his baby with Esme? Whatever – all Esme cares about now is VENGEANCE!

Still at the chapel, Almudena tells Alej and Diego that she spoke with MP before the wedding and MP seemed unsure [What gave it away, Dena? The teary eyes? The face like she’d eaten 3-day old meat? Or when she said she wasn’t sure?!?] Diego and Alej break the news to Dena that MP was also impactada to see Fernando arrested that same morning. Abandoning his post as governor is high treason, but Monte is more likely using Fer’s arrest to cover his a-- with the Crown and the Duke.

Esmeralda, back in her rented rooms, is still incensed. She’s going to make them all pay! She’s going to get her VENGEANCE! Oh, right, and afterward she’s going to get her son back, because it turns out he’s alive.

OPENING CREDITS

Olmos and Laisha bond in their cell over their mutual hatred of Montero. If Laisha shows Olmos some kindness (a piece of fabric from her Gypsy skirt to clean his wounds), he’ll repay her when he arranges to be freed. He knows a secret that, when let out, will unleash hell. Buuuuuuaaaaaahahahahhaah!

Olmos’ associate – Gerardo? – gets a visit from Pizarro. Pizza needs to arrange the flight of Pizza, Olmos, and Pizza’s woman by sea, the night of the masquerade ball. G will arrange everything, but Pizza had better make sure Don Olmos is there.

Mejias throws the unconscious Fernando into the cell with Olmos and Laisha. Olmos is impactado; Laisha is smug – Fer is as bad as Montero. Laisha senses that Olmos is afraid of Fer and reminds him that now they’re all three just prisoners.

Garcia implores Esme to give up her plan for vengeance, which is very dangerous [ulcer #1]. She should rejoice that her child is alive. She admits that’s the only thing that makes her happy…but first! She has to make Montero and Mangle pay for the fact that her baby MIGHT have died. Garcia asks her about seeking out Diego. Why not reunite with him and rekindle their great love for each other? Esme will think about it…only after her VENGEANCE!

Mangle and Santiago (SM) meet up. Santiago knows she was poisoning Almudena, but Mangle asserts that Diego is concocting stories to justify taking the baby from her. Santiago is no longer interested in his PI mission to find out if Diego=Zorro. He even returns Mangle’s bag ‘o money. Diego is good, he says, but he’s no Zorro. Mangle has a new job for him, then – help her see her son.

Diego and Bernardo, in the town square, case the building where the masquerade ball will be held. The roof is the ideal escape route, but Z will be with Sara Kali. He’s got to be ready to rescue her if Monte and the Duke intercept her in the party. Bernardo spies someone, and when D turns to look, he sees the “Countess” [when did he learn who she was?], who is actually Esmeralda. [Except, you can’t tell it’s Esme at all, because the sheer black lace fan that covers only half her face makes it impossible, combined with her finely tailored dress, her height and figure, and long, thick, curly hair]

Santiago has standards; he won’t kidnap a baby. Mangle begs him, as a mother who’s only using money the same way Diego is, and Santiago finally accepts. He thinks he’s crazy to take the risk, and it’s going to cost Mangle a pretty penny.

Almudena visits the devastated MP in MP’s room at the hacienda. She reassures MP that Diego explained everything to Alfonso. In a curious about-face from her pep talk earlier that morning (in which she scolded MP to forget about Fernando and marry that good man Alfonso!) Dena tells MP that it’s better she and Alfonso didn’t get married, and they probably would’ve come to regret it pretty soon. MP fears that Fer is in danger from Monte (ulcer #2). She considers asking Alej to call in a favor with the Queen, but Dena cautions that asking Alejandro to intercede on behalf of the man who murdered his wife is asking a biiiiiit too much of the man. Instead Dena suggests that the two women pair up Cagney & Lacey style [Thelma & Louise? Lucy & Ethel?] to try to help get Fer released.

Olmos is helping Fer drink water, though Laisha believes Fer is gravely ill and close to death. Fer isn’t sure where they are, who Laisha is, why Olmos is there, and why Olmos is super-attentive. Laisha takes great delight in filling Fer in that his wife SK isn’t dead as he thought. Fer is impactado. Laisha tries to rain on Fer’s parade: SK is in route to the city; she’s going to attempt to speak with the Queen, and when she does, Friar Fer will be fried. Fer is actually pleased and relieved to hear that SK survived his gunshot; he doesn’t have to live with her murder on his conscience [thus freeing up his penance for the other 7,482 on his karma list…maybe he could get his own sitcom “My Name Is Fernando”] If he’s condemned to die, that’s God’s will. Olmos is puzzled to hear Fer speak that way. SK’s return is a great danger. They learn that Monte knows about SK, too, since Laisha gave it up in her torture session.

Duke Jacobo is getting his own bad news. Misael brings him the latest batch of intercepted letters from the Queen to her family in Spain. The Queen knows about SK’s existence. It appears Montero has been lying to DJ all this time about the certainty of SK’s death.

Pizzaro wants Catalina to start packing secretly. But leave Tobias at home for the masquerade ball. Pizza is going to kill Montero, then escape with Catalina. She doesn’t want to go, and begins to cry, but he ignores her.

MP is having a tete-a-tete with Padre Tomas. She never should have agreed to marry Alfonso, and she knows this may mean she’ll never achieve happiness, tied as she is to her love for Fer. PT observes that her love for Fer made her two marriages fail – the one to Alfonso, and the one to God [add Fernando to the mix from 20 years ago, and you’ve got the Runaway Bride, Zorro-style]. MP is scared for Fernando, now at Montero’s mercy in El Callao. Fer’s changed, and PT agrees: Fer gave up his wealth, his thirst for power, his pursuit of MP [and his beard!]. MP tells PT of her plan with Dena to beg Monte to let them see Fer. PT won’t have it – they will leave the snooping to him. PT makes MP promise not to try anything, and she nods [is that a promise? I dunno…]

Zorro is suited up in the Fox Cueva, informing PT of his plan to blow up Montero’s arms stash, after being led there by Monte himself, whom Z plans to kidnap. Z tells PT not to be worried [ulcer #3], he’s got it all planned. PT blesses him as he goes.

Esme is also suited up and ready for VENGEANCE. Garcia notices that her outfit looks a lot like Zorro’s. He knows they’re friends and all, but won’t Z mind her being a copydog of his outfit? Esme must dress in black in order to not be seen or recognized, not even by Zorro. She will the use the night to make sure none of her enemies sleeps in peace. Esme compares herself to the roses in a vase in her room – essentially, she’s capable of love, but also has thorns to defend herself [as well as crossbow, arrows, broadswords, rapiers, and a fan!]

Mangle enjoys a post-coital back massage as she lays splayed out on Montero’s desk. She catches him up on the latest developments, and he wants to know if they can trust Santiago with the baby-snatching. Mangle is certain; Santiago is hard on his luck, and he’s jealous of Diego. Monte’s bottom line is that he brings him his son. Unfortunately, Monte has to leave. He’s got a date with Fer for more torture to get info about SK. Mangle is anxious for the day when all their enemies are out of the picture and they alone will rule Los Angeles.

Santiago preps for the babynapping by casually chatting up Dololes. Who takes care of the baby? Can they handle it all by themselves? She helpfully informs him that the wet nurse Amalia knows her way with a knife, and not just in the kitchen. Santiago contemplates Dololes with a menacing look.

Mangle and Catalina have a girl chat in Mangle’s room. Cata fills her in on her tug-of-war between her gentlemanly, usually good-humored, sophisticated husband who’s not interested in her sexually but whom she loves, and the hard, brutish lover who treats her like an object and demands she run away with him. Guess who Mangle thinks is the better choice? After unceremoniously kicking Cata out with the pretext of being overtired, Mangle angrily answers another knock at the door…only this time it’s Dena. “Surprised to see me? Now tell me why you wanted to kill me.”

Monte gives Mejias orders en route to his torture date with Fer: Mejias is to inform DJ about Fer’s arrest. “Buenas noches, Comandante Montero” calls out a voice from the shadows – Zorro! Zorro fights Monte’s circle of guards before making it to Monte. He bests him, and Monte ends up disarmed on the ground, but a few seconds later, reinforcements arrive. They are the Queen’s armed guards, and take up position. Montero orders them to fire, but they are interrupted by a streaking arrow. The mysterious woman in black appears with her crossbow and approaches the group…

END OF EPISODE

Ulcer Count: 3

Labels: Zorro