Caray, Caray!

I don’t even know how to begin with this one. The first 14 minutes were very intense. I was repulsed but slightly intrigued at the same time. It was kind of like watching a train wreck in progress, knowing there is going to be all sorts of carnage and horror; not wanting to look but not being able to look away.
So lets get started with a very difficult episode. There was lots of carnage. (in a manner of speaking)

We start out with Marino . He accuses our fake Ale of having a bad attitude towards her star salesman and thumps her on the head. This is just the beginning for our psychopath . He finishes verbally abusing her, walks away, turns around and returns to continue attacking her.

He is so enraged that he takes his belt off and starts thrashing the fake Ale. Everyone is looking on in shock except for Beltran who seemed to be in some sort of stupidly stupor. (Is that redundant) Susana is peeking through the blinds talking to Ale telling her she cant believe what she is seeing. She tells Ale she better get back here quickly.

Marino is still at it and it takes Dandy and Ramiro to pull him off her, all the time Marino is yelling she deserves it. He bows thanks everyone and they all applaud. (Has anyone ever seen Lord of the Flies?)

Bowtie guy is combing our dummies hair and Beltran says it is Claudia’s turn. She says she is embarrassed to participate in this. Beltran gives her a little pep talk laced with lust and that is all she needs.

She starts yelling at the dummy and tells her they have a little war going on. She accuses fake Ale of persecuting her unjustly and from keeping the list of clients from her that she deserved.

Claudia turns the tears on and lecherous Beltran is up to assist her to calm her down. (Yea that’s the ticket you old goat, undo her blouse a little bit. ) He tells her they understand her pain and are all there to help her as he yells at everybody “Right we are all here for her.”

Now Claudia is on the verbal attack. She tells the fake Ale that she could never please her boyfriend the way Claudia could. As Claudia now starts unbuttoning her blouse a little more and strutting ever so seductively and Marino and Dandy are up on their feet to get a better view.

Beltran is yelling at her to stop and Marino and Dandy are telling Beltran to let her be. Claudia is not done and starts up again with her little seductive rant. Marino has fallen on the floor and Dandy is having a hard time controlling himself. Poor Rafa is looking at them with disgust. Beltran is trying to convince Claudia to wrap it up. They all applaud her and give her hugs and kisses. (I feel like I have just fallen down the rabbit hole.)

We have a quick little break from the madness and find Marco looking for Chavez. He is apparently at Chavez house and the housekeeper is telling him she does not know where he is. He tells her it is urgent that Chavez get in touch with him. Marco than tries to call him and gets his voicemail. He tells him that they cant go on like this as they have a lot to loose. (honestly that scene was all to brief.)

Back to the freak show. It is now sweet Bebes’ turn. (I adore him). First off he calls our fake Ale a complete lady. We see a huge Rafa smile and everyone else is booing. He continues to say despite her faults she continues to be professional and he gently fixes her hair. He says after all we are all human with our faults. Bow-tie slaps Bebes face with the dummies hand. Then he tells Bebe to go away.

It is now Rosauras’ turn. She gets all flustered and says she cant do this. Bow-tie guy asks her why not and she says this dummy doesn’t look at all like Ale. They urge her to use her imagination and she tries to fix her up a bit. She is a little miffed at Ale because after all they are practically cousins and rattles on and everyone is looking confused. She feels discriminated against and then starts shoving the dummy around.

Marco is still on the hunt for Chavez. What would be the obvious place. A stripper bar. (At this point it is much better than what is going on at Siglo.) He asks the girls if they have seen Chavez. No one has seen him.

Next!! It is Ramiro. He starts out stuttering barely able to talk. It takes Marino coming up from behind to whack him on the head (Why not everything else has been just totally nutso). That’s all it took and Sweet sniffling Ramiro goes off on a tangent to equal Marinos‘. He compares her to his monster-in-law and starts choking her. I think he has gotten a little carried away and thinks it is actually his mother-in-law. Finally it is Dandy and Marino who tear him off the dummy.

This part was just stupidity working harder to be stupid. Marino punches him out to calm him down and then mob mentality takes over with everyone else slapping Ramiro. Even Bebe goes in for a slap. Our sweet Rafa was the only one who didn’t slap him. Then we see a very drained Ramiro. Finally we go to commercial.

Ramiro is asking forgiveness, and Beltran is telling him to calm down. Bow-tie guy is going on about transference. Beltran says Dandy is next and Rafa will be last. We hear Rafas’ voice over saying this will be his opportunity to finally talk about his feelings towards Ale.

Ale in the meantime is trying to wrap up her business over at truckerville. She tells them she has to get going. As she leaves she wonders what those jerks are up to back at Siglo. (Oh Ale you don’t want to know what is going on over at the nut house).

Dandy’s up next. His little scene was actually amusing. He starts out by spraying a little mouth freshener. (New approach. Lets try a little seduction.) He thinks it would be a good idea if they went out. Perhaps diner a dance, a little sex. Everyone is sitting a little locked-jawed at the site of Dandy dancing around with the fake Ale . (okay he gets a little carried away. Like get a room Dandy) and he has to be escorted away from the fake Ale. They all tell him to calm down and Rosaura pours a glass of water over his head.

It is now Rafas’ turn. Saved by the bell. His phone rings and it is ( all together now) Vicky Vicky Vicky.

So Bow-tie guy gets his turn. This was the funniest bit and a lot easier for me to tolerate. He simply bores everyone to sleep by talking about his books and how much they could all learn.

Ale has finally returned to Siglo and encounters Trapito in the parking lot. She asks him where everyone is. Trapito doesn’t want to tell her, but Ale knows is weakness and tempts him with a candy bar. She was really cute opening the candy and tempting him as if he was a two year old.

Poor Trapito can’t resist and takes the candy and tells her everyone is in the conference room. It was Beltrans orders and they are all inside with him. She thinks he is there to get them to work on the monthly sales objectives. (Oh Ale if you only knew what that jerk was up to).

We return to the conference room and everyone is snoring as Bow-tie guy drones on. They suddenly awake and all start yelling for Rafa to take a turn.

Rafa nervously approaches the fake Ale and is urged on by Dandy to finally speak his mind. After all he is the best salesman and Ale continues to treat him badly. Claudia tells him to finish her off.

Rafa tells her that she has helped him to discover that he is a great salesman. Everyone boos. He yells it is the truth if it wasn’t for her he would never have been able to sell as good as he has. Bebe is the only one looking pleased at Rafas’ words. He says she has made him feel things he couldn’t even imagine feeling.

He continues on stating that on the day of the accident he had encountered the most beautiful women he had ever seen. (okay I admit it, my jaw locked). He admits to having fallen in love with her. But she never even noticed the way he looked at her. Why would she when she was only worried about how he was going to pay her back all the money he owed her because of the accident. (My jaw is still locked).

Every one gets up and walks up to Rafa with looks of disbelief. Rafa is almost crying. He says despite the fact that he loves her he has to leave because he can’t take it any more being treated like a slave.

Everyone is circling poor Rafa now chanting at him to be tougher. He says he cant do that and starts hugging the fake Ale for dear life as everyone else is slapping at her and yelling at him to be tougher. This has gotten very intense and guess what? It was one of those tricky telenovela moments. (I will admit to being fooled for about the first minute or so). It was all a dream/wish sequence.

Rafa is standing now and everyone is asking him what’s wrong. You haven’t said a thing. She really has been unfair to you. Beltran wants to know if Rafa is so afraid of Ale that he cant even say anything. Rafa assures him that isn’t it.

Rafa simply and eloquently asks her to reconsider her treatment of him as he doesn’t feel it is fair. Then simply says thank you. Bow-tie guys wants to know what the heck was that. Everyone is very disappointed. Rafa sits down and looks very stressed.

Ale is asking Susana what is going on inside. Susana says it would be best if she saw with her own eyes. She tells her to be careful though because Beltran is inside and she wouldn’t want to get caught. Spying.

Beltran stands and says it was a very interesting exercise where everyone got a chance to express what they were feeling. He says the purpose of the exercise was to obtain a more positive attitude towards Ale. (oh yea right, what a load or horse radish). He hopes this will help them to be better sales people and hopes to see better sales. He tells them to all get to work and leaves.

Once Beltran leaves they all start attacking the fake Ale. Susana and Ale are peaking through the window and Ale wants to know what is going on. Susana says they are all attacking the dummy. Ale wants to know why she wanted her to return to watch them attack a dummy.

Susana explains to her that Beltran was giving this exercise and that the dummy represents Ale. Ale is horror stricken as she watches the mob like actions of the Siglo crew. Poor Bebe is valiantly trying to put an end to all the craziness. Marino once again has lost his mind and grabs the fake Ale and pounces on it.

Poor Rafa tries to rescue it and tries to pull it away from Marino. Ale is watching all of this but is totally misinterpreting Rafas’ actions. She thinks he is in on the mob scene and just wants his turn with the dummy. Then the head is ripped off and Rafa is left standing there holding the fake dummies head as Ale walks in. (my stomach started turning south at this moment).

Ale demands to know what is going on. Marino blames Rafa and said he broke the dummy. Bow-tie guy tries to explain what they were doing. Rosaura tells her she got there just in time to stop the madness. Ramiro says he thinks this exercise was a waste of time and its best if they all got back to work. (That's the first smart thing said all night.)

Poor Rafa is left holding the bag, I mean head and Ale goes off on him. She starts screaming hysterically, wanting to know what is going on. It is a very chaotic scene and bow-tie guy continues to try and explain the unexplainable. She wants to know why her face is on the dummy and why were they all hitting it.

She gives them two options. One to get back to work and try and make-up for what they lost or stay where they are and tell her if this is really her corpse (or something like that). They all scatter.

Poor Rafa is standing with a look of death on his face and Ale goes off on him like never before. She is crying and so am I. She calls him a disgusting jerk and a hypocrite. Rafa has not said a word and walks out. (This was a heart wrenching scene to see poor Rafa just devastated and Ale believing that Rafa was a part of it.)

Ale and Susana are alone in the conference room. Ale is destroyed and tells Susana she can’t believe what just happened. She screams for Trapito to come and clean the mess up and she leaves. Trapito picks up the dummies head and says but it has your face on it. Then he gets a wicked smile on his face and starts yelling at it then starts wiping up the floor with it. (This was way to much craziness for me).

Ale is in her office and cant believe what happened. She cant understand why they would do this to her. Susana tries to explain to her it was just an exercise for people to express how they feel. A way to get the bad feelings out they hold towards her.

Ale says they all hate her. Susana tries to calm her down. She tells her she doesn’t believe everyone hates her, well they don’t hate her a lot. Then Ale says and what about Medina. He was the worse of them all.
(I just so wanted Ale to have been there and seen how Rafa defended her.) She wants to know if Susana saw how he ripped her head off. She still cant believe it all.(That's because that is not how it happened.)

The group is walking out now blaming Bow-tie guy for the crazy experiment. Bow-tie defends his exercise and says it has been practiced at the most prestigious places.

Marino chides Rafa and Bebe for being on Ales side . (Now why couldn’t Ale be listening in to this conversation?) Rafa defends Ale, even though she treats him badly she has given him the opportunity to work at Siglo.

Ale still can’t believe Rafa was a part of this. Susana reminds her that she really doesn’t treat Rafa very well. She wants to know what she expected. To have him fall in love with her? She says she would expect him to at least be grateful for what she is trying to do for him. Susana accuses her of being more affected by what Rafa did then what all the others did.

She admits to being affected by this. She thought he would protect her and not be a part of the massacre. Susana tries to get Ale to calm down. Ale isn’t buying this. She is going straight to Beltran after all he was the one who promoted this crucifixion. She is not going to take it anymore. Susana can’t believe that she is going to resign.

Rafa is outside the door as Ale leaves her office and wants to talk to her about work. Ale goes off on him about the accident and reminds him of all the damage he caused her. The only thing he didn’t do was rip her head off. (Remember sarcasam is one of Ales' strong suits.) She wants to know if he wants to continue with all the damage he has caused.

Rafa tries to explain to her that things aren’t what they seem to be. He tells her he was trying to defend the dummy because Marino was beating the beeswax out of it. She does not believe any of this. She tells him not to worry though. He will never have to see her again because she is quitting. Rafa tries to get her to listen to him but this is not going to happen any time soon as she storms off.

Marco is still trying to get in touch with Chavez. He leaves a message telling Chavez what he is doing is very dangerous . He tells them they have to be a team and work together or they will both end up in jail.

Rafa is out and about now feeling very badly about what happened to poor Ale and the whole ugly dummy business. And the worse thing is she is going to quit because of this.

We have a little salon scene. They were talking about eating and food and where food was originated or some such stuff. I didn’t get too much of the conversation but found myself smiling anyway just because it felt like a bit of a break from all the other madness of the night.

Poor Rafa is out on the streets approaching everyone he sees trying to sell them trucks. He strikes out with the police, a stranded motorist and with two truckers who are repairing their big rig.

He settles for buying a sandwich and sitting on the sidewalk eating it ever so sadly. Ale barges into Beltrans’ office and tells him she quits. That is where we end.

Labels: dinero

EPISODE #27:
* Leona orders Rosie to tell her where she got the expensive ruby ring. Rosie explains nervously how Arcadio gave it to her. Leona is furious and asks if she went through the dungeon passages. She says of course, no. I would never disobey you, godmother. They continue to discuss Arcadio - Rosie tells Leona how abandoned he must feel now that Leona is spending so much time caring for Rod.

* Clemencia talks to her altar dolls in her room. Regina and Jimena enter, looking scared stiff. Clemencia is impactado to see them. Regina asks Clemencia to let Jimena stay there in her room for awhile. Clemencia agrees and pours Jimena some water. Jimena takes Clemencia’s hand gives her a palm reading -- whoa, interesting stuff; Jimena says there are “lots of secrets; many men; four souls intertwined”.

* Juan is on the beach, on his knees checking the sand, waves and wind as his fisherman friends approach. Juan tells them he still hates Rod; what he may do and also about his love for a specific woman.

* Aimee is in her bedroom - flashback to Juan showing her his home, the beach hut. Aimee is mortified to think he lives there. She won’t live there. She will marry Renato for his money and house; but at the same time she can’t live without her boytoy Juan.

* Federico and Raul sit in the plaza and talk.

* Raul in his home office - maid enters to see if he needs anything. He yells at her to leave him alone. She leaves. He thinks about Federico’s comments about Juan as he checks his pistol.

* Rod is in his bedroom, thinking about doing something to Juan.

* Raul looks at his pistol and thinks about Juan’s threat. He shoots off the pistol. Maid listens in the hallway and is impactado.

* Juan prepares to set sail; he says goodbye to his fisherman brethren on the beach. Pedro, Santos and everyone will miss him so much. Gabe approaches; Juan tells him that he has to visit his father’s grave. Gabe offers to accompany him. Juan meditates while watching the waves.

* Maid enters the office still impactado. Raul tells her not to worry; it was an accidental shot. She leaves. He thinks about suicide and Rod.

* Juan and Gabe are sailing the ship. Juan thought bubbles about sex with Aimee; Gave thought bubbles about his Estrella (Jimena).

* In the dungeon penthouse, Maria lays in bed, crying for Juan and shaking as Mirta sits by her side.

* Outside the big house on the finca at night, Arcadio and Leona argue about the ring he gave Rosie; during the argument Arcadio mentions her loveless marriage to Noel and her son Renato. Leona slaps Arcadio hard across the face. Arcadio plants a kiss hard on her lips.

* Juan and Gabe at a campfire talking. Gabe tells Juan a lesson his dad told him. Juan has this savage beast inside him and he has no idea how to extinguish it.

* Aimee is still in her bedroom. She paces back and forth. She has to marry Renato but she can’t give up Juan - she needs to kiss Juan and be with him. She decides to leave and find Juan.

* Juan and Gabe sail up to the dark beach. Juan tells Gabe he needs to see someone before they leave forever.

* Mirta and Maria continue their crying.

* At the cave, Aimee finds Juan. She tells him she doesn’t care what her dad says or thinks, she can’t live without her savage Juan. They make love.

* Mirta and Maria have miraculously made their way to the beach and find Gabe at the boat. Mirta grunts and signals to Gabe to help Maria. Gabe offers to get a doctor.

* Juan and Aimee continue to make love in the cave. When they finally stop, Aimee rolls onto her back and laughs and smiles. Juan on the other hand looks totally horrified and sits up. He flashback to when his father made him swear vengeance on the Montes de Oca family. He murmurs to himself as he walks away. Aimee is surprised and tries to entice him back to her. He refuses and instead he puts on his clothes and turns on her. He curses at her and dumps her. She is baffled.

* Gabe carries Maria to Juan’s house and puts her on the sofa. Mirta stays right by Maria’s side. Gabe goes to contact Doctor Pablo. Meanwhile, Juan arrives back home and is stunned to see two strange women in his house. He demands to know who they are and why they are there. Mirta grunts. He realizes she is mute. He understands her grunts and checks on Maria on the sofa -- she has a fever and is barely breathing. He notices the youthfulness of her face and is curious about who she is. Maria wakes up briefly and see Juan staring at her. She thinks he’s returned for her. He is stunned and baffled. She thinks she is dying. He tells her she isn’t dying. He asks her who she is. All she repeats is “You’ve returned. You’ve returned for me.”

* Arcadio and Leona are still arguing outside the ranch house in the dark. Now it’s about their secret being discovered and potential consequences when Rod finds out.

* Aimee returns to her bedroom, thinks about Juan completely turning on her and dumping her. She thinks he may have done it because of her engagement to Renato. She wonders how she will live without Juan; she may die at the ranch without him.

* Noel in the bedroom, thinking about Regina being in love with his son Renato, who is engaged to marry Aimee. Leona enters. Noel and Leona discuss her love for Rod. Noel wants the truth to come out about how jealous he is of Leona and Rod. Leona tries to downplay the discuss and calm him down. Noel continues his observations of their marriage. She doesn’t want to heart it. He continues anyway.

* The ladies are getting dressed in their room above the casino; they talk about the male customers in the casino, one customer in particular (Don Noel).

* Leona finally admits that she loves Rod; she has always loved him; he owns her heart. They argue. He doesn’t have any rancor towards Rod - thinks Rod is also a victim. He then brings up Maria and Juan and Rod love triangle. Leona grits her teeth and lets him continue. Noel then declares that from now on he will sleep in the other room. He leaves. She thinks about Maria being locked away in hiding until she dies and how Leona is stuck in a loveless marriage.

* At the casino, Fulgencio, Federico and Raul think they should not trust Juan, and should always support their good buddy and business partner Rod. Marlene’s assistant comes out to the stairs and announces the “can can” dancers. The ladies are out on stage and in the audience entertaining and dancing.

* Rod and Noel are in Rod’s room. Noel has an old recurring problem with no resolution. Rod thinks to get pay back for a disgrace that he has suffered. Noel tries to talk him out of doing some harmful, because of his daughters. Rod mentions the engagements of both of his daughter. Noel blows his chimney stack and argues about forcing Regina to marry someone she clearly doesn’t love. Rod says “love doesn’t exist.” Noel retorts the statement.

* Maria is now in Juan’s bed. Juan meets with Doctor Pablo at the side of the bed. Doctor gives him a prescription, which he has Gabe go and fill. Helena the maid walks Doctor back outside. Gabe and Juan talk about the lady sleeping in Juan’s bed. * Mirta grunts her worries and wants to stay with Maria. Juan and Gabe console her and tell her everything will be alright. Juan has Gabe drag her out grunting and crying.

* At the finca, Leona is looking at and dreamily thought bubbling about the wedding dress. Clemencia enters and asks about the dress. Leona confesses that she bought it for her wedding to Rod, that has so far never happened. Clemencia says that idea has cursed everyone in the house, including Maria and Rod. They argue what will happen when Rod finds out. Leona yells and leaves. Clemencia thinks to herself.

* Juan watches Maria sleep in his bed. He wonders who she is and why he cares so much for her. He kisses her hand, sits on the side of the bed and looks at her.

ADVANCE: Gabe vows to search for Estrella (Jimena). Leona discovers Mirta and Maria have escaped. What will Juan do when he discovered the mystery woman in his house is his mother?

Labels: salvaje

Mao kicks off this episode by popping the question in front of Teri and the Femsibs.Since he and Moni have been back together for the better part of two episodes now, I guess he is feeling pretty confident in the viability of their relationship. She must share in this certitude, as she gleefully agrees. "¡Mañana misma! It's all arranged." The entire family, minus Aldo , who is off on his own adventure of self-discovery, approves and rejoices. Those of you who are less certain, not to worry, the CAMERA is still floating around out there somewhere with as yet undeveloped icy water for these upcoming nuptials.

For those of you who are wanting to see Nieves and Cesar as couple and have been gauging the temperature of their relationship by their degree of color-coordination, this looks very promising. Though not in identically colored togs their outfits seem to be nicely matched in varying tints of hot pink and plum. Certainly hope-inspiring in any case. She has come to announce the wedding set for tomorrow and to invite him. Also, friends will be coming to decorate the gym for a fiesta afterward. She is particularly flirtatious and he responds by trying to invite her to the movie of her choice but she must go an prepare for the wedding. On her way out, she bumps into Costeño. They pause long enough to visually devour each other, leaving little doubt that these two indeed have a history. "Ah, grilled chicken," she observes. "You can roast me whenever you want," he responds. Cesar notices and registers his disapproval. Costeño responds by noting that, "Nieves is a woman who is very difficult to forget." Don Cesar stews.

Monita has arranged for the two of them to meet her mom for dinner in order to announce the wedding. "Yes it will be a great surprise," Mao observes.

Meintras tanto, Estrella has decided to check in with the Virgin de Guadalupe at the neighborhood shrine. As she lights a candle she asks for a blessing on the marriage of Moni and her prince and for forgiveness for the awkward situation she and said prince woke up in. Mary of course knows the truth of the matter and that they are innocent; Monita is the one she needs to worry about. She also asks her for protection for her little puppy and for forgiveness for not going through with the wedding. She's certain that she understands.

Aldo seems to have found at least temporary refuge in Nepenthe's torpid embrace. Nice Nurse escorts Sal back to his his own Laziboy where he dutifully assumes his catatonic pose. We know, however, that those delicate little wheels are once again revolving under that well-behaved peluquin. NN regrets that Aldo has gotten into Sal's stash but Oscar is unusually understanding and forgiving. And why not? Doesn't look like Aldo's going to do any heavy thinking anytime soon. He tells her the sad story of Aldo and his sisters losing their parents, of their adoption by Mao, of Estrella's pregnancy, of the thwarted wedding, and of Aldo finding Mao in bed with Estrella. Sal struggles to maintain his catatonia. He succeeds.

Pau joins Estrella as she is completing her chat with the Virgincita. Estrella tells her that she is requesting a blessing on M&M's marriage and protection for Aldo. Paula is miffed because she wasn't asking help for her in her pursuit of a husband. "Since your here you can ask for yourself," she suggests. Estrella detects an unusual unpleasant odor following Pau. She explains that it's the magic male attractant provided by Bartola. Hmmm.

Back at Oscar's chateau, the NN is touched by the sad story of Aldo as related by Oscar as he calls for two goons to take Aldo to his bedroom. As they cart Aldo away, he shrugs his shoulders, "Kids these days."

Beto and Coni have returned to Nieves apartment after a grand day of shopping. He finds a note that Nieves has left telling him of the upcoming wedding and that she has gone to invite Cesar. He tells Coni only of the part about her going to the gym to see Cesar and then turns his attention to adoration of Coni and noting that they have the place all to themselves. She purrs. She has something to show him. He begins undressing for action.

At Ximy's, she receives a call notifying her of the upcoming wedding. She is excited. Rolu remembers M&M's last wedding in which they shared the church and the ceremony... Mao left running from the church. She reminds him that had he been able to walk, he too would have fled the church. He insults her two functioning neurons as the doorbell sounds. It's Lalo, beside himself over planning the upcoming party. He's having tachycardia and is about to suffer a cardiac event. Ximy tells Arny to comfort his man but is finally informed by Lalo that Arny is not of the gay persuasion, "He's a closet heterosexual." Ximena glares accusingly at Arny, "¡Arny! ¡Arny! ¿No eres gay?"Arny nods in confirmation.

Back in the 'hood, Beto is stripped down for action, stretching in his boxers a tee shirt. Suddenly Coni leaps through the beads onto Nieves' bed dressed (we knew this was coming) as Fantasma Vengadora. Beto and I are rendered momentarily speechless. She is a Power Ranger action figure ready for a little lusty action.
She throws him on the bed, straddles him, and he begs her to smack him. "Not here." Clinging to him like a Koala, she rides him to his own bed.

M&M are with Snake Lady at a nice restaurant. Mao and Isabel are wearing their best insincere rictuses as Moni smiles sweetly and hopefully. They have a surprise for Issy. They proudly announce the upcoming nuptials as Isabel grits her teeth and surreptitiously rends her napkin beneath their view. Usually I don't enjoy talky scenes involving Mao, but Isabel is so livid and Mao is so self-satisfied and Moni is so radiantly clueless of the invisible electrical tension between the two people she most adores, that it works for me just fine... this time. Isabel is honored that they chose to tell her in this fashion. Issy and Mao exchange empty apologies. Mao even offers that he hopes to be able to call her mamá. They glare.

As Beto and Coni bask in a post-congressional afterglow, Nieves enters the apartment. Seeing the two beneath the sheets she closes her eyes and promptly spills the frijoles. Coni is shocked to learn of the impending boda. Immediately Nieves recognizes her faux pas.

Back at the announcement dinner, Mao proposes a toast to the love of his life. Issy amends it to a toast to the happiness of her adored daughter. She asks about the honeymoon and though Moni hasn't even thought that far ahead, Mao assures them that it will be the most wonderful ever. Moni is thrilled. She excuses herself giving our combatants an opportunity to bear their fangs and claws and share with each other what they are really feeling. She warns Mao that he has revealed his cards early. Well, heck! He had to, but sooner or later she will have to reveal hers, and when she does... Mao is clearly out of his league, but we pause and admire his gallant effort. They toast, "Salud." "Salud." as Moni returns, happy to see them getting along so well. Mao takes this opportunity to land a punch. He tells Monita that he invited Isabel to live with them but she firmly declined, but at least he got her to agree to Sunday dinners. Well played Mauricio. Moni makes her own toast to the three off them... "A family." Ummm... yeah.

As she ties her halter top, Coni grouses about the wedding. Beto scolds Nieves for revealing the plans. Suddenly Coni has business elsewhere. Not so fast pretty lady, Beto grabs her wrist and Nieves surprises both with a pair of handcuffs. Beto wonders where she got them. "A reminder of a galan." She drops the key in her cleavage. Beto assures Coni that the wedding will take place.

At Groupo Sermeño Gabi and Pau are about to head out to prepare the gym for the party. The CAMERA is resting on the desk.Gabi gets a whiff of the Love Potion #9, and like Estre, doubts that it will act as a attractant for men. Pau thinks it smell great. Gabi seizes upon the opportunity to teach Pau some of the finer points off secretarying. She picks up the CAMERA and opens the door to the outer office. She summons Iván away from his duties of chatting up the new receptionist and sends him off to get the film developed. She then has a little test. How can Pau make her boss' life easier. "A cold beer and tortas milanesas in his desk." "Exacto."

Nieves, taking advantage of Coni's attachment to Beto, has her working over a hot stove. Coni is not a good student and is not having a good time. She wants to go home and bathe. Nope. Nieves sends the two to shower in the community bath. Coni is appalled. Beto sees it as an opportunity. Off they go.

At Moni's, she continues bonding with her maternal unit. She is going to have Estrella help her get ready. Unh uh. Mommy Snake wants to help her little girl on her special day. Momma professes happiness for Moni, but... Moni astutely senses that her mom isn't being completely frank with her, "¿Qué?" The selfless Issy doesn't want to spoil the day with sad revelations. Not to worry, here's Aliblahblah who most certainly will, "I'm so sorry Isabel..." She's clutching the medical report. Moni reads it, "What does it mean? Are you sick again?" "I'm dying." Well if that doesn't put the brakes on this boda...?

Mao and Marcos have brought the kids to school and are doing a little bonding of their own. Marcos is happy about the wedding but wishes that he could properly escort his daughter down the aisle and offer her hand in marriage. Oh well, this isn't the only wedding in the offing, he announces to Mao that he has asked Nievesito marry him. Mao is delighted.

Back at Moni's things aren't going so well. Having dropped her bomb, Alicia leaves them alone to talk. IIt's not pretty. "Why didn't you tell me?" "Nothing can be done." "I'll give you more marrow." "Won't work." "Must be something we can do." "Well, since I don't have much time left, you can call off the wedding and spend all the time I have left with me." "Uh... OK." Take that Mauricio.

Nieves is helping Beto get ready. He cleans up real nice but has an unruly cowlick. She goes after it with a lemon but Beto reminds her, "That is for Tequila, not hair." Meanwhile, Coni is cuffed to the stove complaining about the handcuffs. He puts on his jacket, "How do I look?" Coni melts, "Very handsome." As Nieves releases her she tries to make a break for it but Beto is too quick for her. Soon they are reunited at the wrists. She balks but he yanks her through the door. Off they go.

Isabel reminds Moni that she needs to tell Mao right away that the wedding is off. "I hope he'll understand, wouldn't want you two angry at each other because of me." Gack! While Moni's gone, Issy wants time alone, doubtless to gloat in private. Let's remember gang, this lady really believes that she is going to die soon. Anyone feeling much sympathy? Thought not.

Mao and Marcos enter an almost empty Groupo Sermeño. Pretty and dangerous new receptionist greets them. "Everyone's off getting things ready for the wedding." The elevator opens spilling out Beto and Coni... cuffed. We are left to ponder, "How the heck did Beto get his jacket off?" Coni is surprised to see Mao there. She's not happy that he's here. What's more, Daddy thinks the handcuffs are a great idea. Wouldn't want Coni mucking up the wedding. Beto engages Mao and consequently Coni in a group celebratory hug.
Coni says that she couldn't care less if Mao marries the monkey, move into the jungle and procreate primates for a documentary about wildlife. Well, good as that was, she is speechless to learn that Mao's back in charge here.

At the community sink, Nieves learns from Alicia that Isabel is sick again and is going to die. She has big doubts and vows that she will not let Isabel stop Moni's wedding.

We end today with Moni in her apartment. A loud knock. "Hola, Iván, come in." He does and hands her the envelope containing the developed film from the CAMERA. She open it and reaches in.

Carlos

Labels: gancho

Viewerville’s thought of the day: The problem with passion is that sometimes your conscience gets in the way. Viewerville’s second thought of the day: Maybe the Bad and the Beautiful just need to stay mad and be born butt-ugly.

In his casota, Juan now knows that his true love is the daughter of his worst enemy and he’s afraid of losing his will to carry out his plans for vengeance. Juan’s conscience has just taken a tasty chunk out of his backside. He swears to his father that he will carry out his promise to him in spite of what he feels for Aimee. It’s going to be easier said than done, though, because he cannot forget their passionate encounters. Juan must remind himself that he is still a nasty son of a gun. A lot of screaming of “I’m Juan del Diablo!” ensues. At the same time, at her bedroom mirror, in between admiring glances at herself, Aimee wonders why Juan seemed to hate her father so much that he nearly killed him, and why Juan acted the way he did when he realized they were his daughters. She’s determined to find out.

Across the hallway, in Rodrigo’s bedroom, with Regi and Leonarda anxiously looking on, Dr. Pablo is examining Rod. The good doctor prescribes bed rest and avoiding fits of anger. Rod is hard put to comply with the doctor’s orders because just thinking of Juan and the incident at the church gets him going again. Leonarda insists on caring for Rod-- for her own selfish reasons of course. Regina is just as adamant about wanting to look after him herself. The doctor agrees with Leona that Regi is still too fragile and could suffer a relapse from all the upset. Leona wins out. Once Regi walks the doctor out, Leona tells Rod she’ll look after him and help him recover. The old bull, for once in his life, seems sincerely grateful to her.

Downstairs, Federico is skulking around and waiting to make his move. He hears Regi talking with Dr. Pablo and hides around a corner wall. Noel comes up the stairs and tells Regi not to worry about her daddy, and then races up to speak with Rod. Feddy continues to eavesdrop on Regi and Dr. Pablo. Dr. P. tells Regi that despite the bad timing, he is still glad to have a chance to see her again. Feddy thinks to himself that Dr. P. is a bit too interested in Regi’s health for his liking, and Feddy is not about to let the meddling doctorcito interfere with a future meal ticket.

Regi confesses to Dr. Pablo that she’s worried her nervous condition is causing her to see things that aren’t there. Pablo, in his best wanna-be and would-be wedded and bedded bedside manner, tells Regi that she has nothing to worry about. A bad case of nerves doesn’t cause hallucinations. He tries a flirt that goes flat and right over the head of our naive novice-in-waiting and suggests that if she smiles more she’d see how quickly she gets better. He cavalierly kisses her hand and then leaves. As Regi watches him go she is still convinced she’s having hallucinations because of seeing “that woman” (Maria del Rosario) that time in her room.

Down in the basement, Rosie has apparently gotten very sick. Mirta the Mute is scared for Rosie who, she realizes, is now suffering from fever and delirium.

Aimee, oblivious to her daddy’s near date with death, is worrying more about the possibility of never seeing Juan again and the reason he acted the way he did towards them at the church. She decides to go looking for him at the caves.

Across the way in Rod’s room, Noel asks Rod what made him insult Juan to begin with. Rod tells him he was letting the man know that he was shocked to see a ruffian like him in a church and simply told him so. Noel says then he was pretty much asking for trouble. “It was to be expected that a man who is rough around the edges would react that way if provoked.” Leona gets angry at Noel for defending some stranger instead of a member of his own family. (Excuse me? Didn’t the woman tell him a few hours ago that he wasn’t considered family any longer?) Noel clarifies he simply wanted to be fair about it. Leona insults his idea of “fairness”. Noel sits stone faced and silently glares at her, but behind those quiet eyes of his it’s pure blood lust. (Viewerville licks its lips in anticipation of the day that emotional dam inside him breaks.)

Aimee gets to the cave, but she can’t find Juan and she sees there’s no bonfire. She decides to wait for him a while, anyway. Juan, though, is out on the Luzbel sailing and reconsidering his options. While Aimee sits and waits for Juan to return, she remembers his passionate kisses and tells herself that she couldn’t cope if she lost him. She is determined not to let that happen.

Juan returns home instead of to the cave and he orders Gabriel to prepare everything for their return to Spain. Gabe doesn’t understand why they’re going. Juan angrily tells him never to question his authority, and then backs off a bit. He explains it’s to avoid becoming a murderer because he’s certain that the next time he comes face to face with Rodrigo Montes de Oca he will kill him.

Mirta watches over Rosie as the fever and delirium get worse. Down the passageway from Rosie’s cell, Rosenda tries offering her sexy self to Arcadio in another attempt to get him to let her in on Leona’s big bad secret.

Meanwhile, Leonarda continues to watch over Rodrigo, the sleeping apple of her evil eye, and thinks to herself how much she loves him. Regi walks in and offers to take over for a while. Leona isn’t having any and lies that caring for Regi’s daddy is the best way she knows to repay him for looking after her and Rosie when they were orphaned. Leona won’t take no for an answer. She offers Regina a little of her special “sleepy time” tea to make sure Regi conks out and doesn’t get in her way. Regi takes the tea and falls asleep on the couch.

Rosenda tries making the Orca jealous by telling him how Sra. Leonarda is taking such special pains to care for Don Rodrigo. Orca acts like he doesn’t care. Rosenda pushes his buttons a bit more, telling him that they’re all just servants that the rich play with whenever they have a mind to and then kick out when they have no more use for them. She purrs and smiles at him in a way even The Cheshire Cat would be envious of. “All the more reason for us to become allies.” Orca agrees that she’s probably got a point there. He leaves for a moment to go after something. Mirta grabs him as he walks by and drags him back to Rosie’s cell to show him how sick Rosie is. He could give a rat’s patoot and screams at her that he’d just as soon Rosie died.

Orca gets back to Rosenda and gives her a diamond ring that Leonarda gave him. She smiles seductively and asks if that means they’re going to become bedtime buddies now. He says nope. It just means that they’re going to trust one another. (Wait a Mexican minute here. He could have young and gorgeous and still sticks to ugly and lizard-lipped?) He tells Rosenda that he wants her to start spying on Leonarda for him. Rosenda flirtatiously asks what’s in it for her. Orca grabs her through the bars and squeezes. “—You find out the secret that binds the Sra. to me.” Rosenda lets out with a hot moan. (Yep. Like mother like daughter.)

Upstairs, Leona checks to see if Regi is still asleep and then secretly gives the unconscious Rod a daring kiss on the lips. Noel is taken-aback impactado when he appears a couple minutes later at the bedroom door, unheard and unseen, and watches his wife devotedly placing pillows on Rod’s feet and lovingly rubbing Rod’s hands. Noel quietly shuts the door on Leona’s “personal moment”.

Feddy grabs Noel’s attention on the stairway, trying to ingratiate himself again, and says he was waiting to give his respects before leaving and to ask how Don Rodrigo was faring. Noel, a bit disconcerted, but ever tactful, says that Don Rod is resting under “the untiring ministrations” of his wife and is sure that tomorrow he will be much better. Feddy foppily says he’s happy to hear it and pretends as an afterthought to ask if he could say good-night to Regi as well. Noel says she’s sleeping after the extremely emotional events of the day. Right, says Feddy. “I’m sure both of them had a hard time of it today, seeing that brute [barbaján] assault their father.”

Back at the cave, Aimee tearfully assumes that Juan is shutting her out and decides to return home before Regi discovers she’s missing again.

Gabe goes to the gypsy camp to speak with Jimena. He asks her to find “Estrella” for him and to let her know that he needs to see her because he and his boss are going back to Spain. He doesn’t know if he’ll be coming back and he doesn’t want to leave without seeing her once more. Mena is heart-broken by the news.

Back at Finca del Mar, Leonarda has climbed onto the bed next to Rodrigo and fallen asleep. Regi wakes up--but no alarm bells go off in her head seeing the two of them on the bed that way. No, the naïve and platonic-minded Regi thinks to herself that her poor madrina has worn herself out by tirelessly watching over her papa.

Aimee sneaks back into the house and starts to walk upstairs to bed. Renato calls up to her to catch her attention. “Can’t sleep?” Aimee feigns concern over her poor daddy’s brush with death that day and says it’s kept her awake. Ren says he’ll confront the insolent coward himself the next morning. Aimee begs Ren not to and says she’d simply die if anything happened to him because of it. “The man’s a savage! Promise me you won’t. You must promise me!!” Ren gets his macho on, though, and wants to challenge him to a duel. It’s his duty to, he insists. Amy emphatically objects. “Forget obligations! I should be the most important obligation you have. Promise me you won’t go looking for him.” Eventually Renato gives in to her, believing that it is because Aimee values his safety above the need to defend Tio Rod’s honor, the Sucker! Yep, there’s one born every minute and Aimee thanks her lucky stars that this one’s hers.

The next morning, Regi gets after Aimee for not being more concerned over their daddy’s condition. She says he’s their responsibility and Aimee should be up and getting ready to take her turn at watching over him. Aimee would rather sleep and rolls back over. Regi is as disgusted as ever. (Viewerville scoffs in solidarity with respectful and respectable Regina.)

A few minutes later Regi walks downstairs and runs into Renato. The narrator says he extends his hand to greet her but she’s cold towards him. He settles for a reserved ‘Hi” and “How’d you sleep?” She refuses to look at him but says she’s fine and then asks cattily (especially for a wanna-be nun) that she supposes he’d be pretty happy now that his wedding is so near. She changes the nasty ‘tude and adds that if anyone deserves to be happy it’s him. He says he very often thinks life has given him too much and he should be working more at giving back to the less fortunate. This cracks the shell around Regi a bit and he asks after Rod. They make small talk. Regi says he’s resting and doing better thanks to his mother who looked after him all night long. Ren says she’s a wonderful woman though at times a bit abrupt. (I’d use a bit more colorful language, but Ren is ever his daddy’s boy.) “She has to be a firm woman to manage a finca like this and preserve what she considers my inheritance.”

After a bit more chit chat, Ren eventually convinces Regi to join him for a tour of the site he’s calling “Paradise”, where he’s thinking of building the homes and school for his workers. “I’ve always respected your opinion of things and your advice.” He tells her he recognizes that she’s dressed in a habit to put a frigid barrier up between them and he really wants them to be friends again like old times. She is just as excited as he is over the project. Ren says he wants it to be a place where cruelty ceases to exist and those who work for him and their children can believe they have a future. He wants her there with him to be a part of it. Ren apologizes for whatever stupid thing he might have done to ruin their friendship. She tearfully tells him that he did nothing. She’s won over and says she’ll be there for him whenever he wants. (Blech!)

Back at Juan’s, he’s told Gabe he can’t wait and wants Gabe to close up things there and act as his front man. He’s going back ahead of him. Gabe says fine. Juan wants to know what’s eating at Gabe. Gabe says he knows exactly what he’s upset about: leaving the love of his life without the chance get to know her a little bit better. “Love? Love???” Juan has difficulty dealing and leaves the room.

While Mena frets over her fated loss of Gabe, Dagger Man, aka Servando, sneaks behind her in an attempt to rape her. However, she manages to whack him over the head with a bottle. He falls to the ground unconscious with a bloody gash on the back of his scalp and Mena thinks that she’s killed him. She freaks out and runs to find Regi to ask her for help.

At Finca del Mar, Aimee is refusing to drink even a glass of juice, let alone eat anything. (Ruh-roh! Bun in the oven alert!) Ren comes by to lend moral support since Aimee didn’t sleep well from all the chaos in the house. He tells her he understands perfectly. (No you don’t you stupid chump.) She again plays up her shock at her father’s nearly dying. (Ri-i-i-ight. Lovely piece of work, isn’t she? Twenty-four hours after and she still hasn’t checked on dear old Dad even once.) Renato says he’s been thinking about their chat and he really believes it’s his duty to look for the miserable coward that confronted Tio Rod and challenge him. Aimee becomes frantic and reminds him that he promised her he wouldn’t. “You can’t break a promise!” “—But the family’s honor is at stake here!” She nearly faints at this point and that finally convinces him to forget about the duel.

Upstairs Rosenda is pouring wine for Rodrigo’s repast. He suddenly notices the ring on her hand and suspiciously asks her where she got it. Rosenda is tongue-tied. Leona lies and says she gave it to her since the girl had become her right hand and more than that, is almost like a daughter to her. In fact, she’s become her only companion through this lonely time. Rosenda makes a big show of offering it back to her since Don Rodrigo disapproves. He says no need to. He may have given it to Leonarda but she has the right to do with it as she pleases. Leonarda remembers to breathe and thanks him for his understanding. The two women make a discreet exit.

Servando regains consciousness for a minute or two and drags himself to his wagon where he passes out again. Griselda finds him there and steals the money out of his pockets. “I hope you rot!”

Mena goes through town asking if anyone knows where the Montes de Oca’s live.

Regi is smiling as she remembers her chat that morning with Renato and decides she wouldn’t be doing anyone any harm by simply helping him realize his dream. Suddenly Mena appears out of nowhere, frightened and needing to hide. She tells Regi she just killed a man. She didn’t mean to, she says, but the shameless wretch was trying to take her. Regi has her calm down a bit, then decides that it would be safest with Clemencia.

Leonarda lets Rosenda have it! She gives Rosenda a whack up side the head and demands to know where she got the ring. Rosenda stutters through the stars circling her head now and admits that Arcadio gave it to her. “Why would he give you a piece of jewelry like that? What did you do for it?” Rosenda lies and says that he has been dropping hints about them dropping their drawers, but she of course had refused to pay any attention to him and told him where to get off …er… let him know what she thought about that; and she put him in his place, proper. Leona wants to know if she’d been back in the passageway under the house or not. Rosenda swears she hadn’t stepped foot in there since she was warned off. She would never disobey the Sra. Never! Leona insists he didn’t give her a ring like that for nothing. Rosenda gets her wits about her finally. “Perhaps he wanted to make you jealous and make you notice. You’re spending so much time with Don Rodrigo and you’ve ignored him.” Leona seems to accept that as a possibility.

In another part of the finca, Clemencia is in her room praying to the virgencita. She worries that now that Juan and Aimee have met and gotten involved the same kind of tragedy will happen to the family again. Suddenly Regi and Mena rush into Clemencia’s room and Regi says they need her help. Clemencia is a bit puzzled and asks who Jimena is. “I met Jimena on the boat and I’ll tell you all about it later but right now she’s got problems. You need to let her stay here a while and not let anyone see her.” Clemencia says fine and offers Mena something to drink. “Nobody comes in here and the room is sufficiently large for both of us.” She smiles at them both. Mena gets up to thank her, kisses her hand and then sees something in it that disturbs her. She begins reading Clemencia’s palm: “You have a kind soul. Your soul is so large, and there’s quite a bit of suffering there. There are many secrets that are wearing you out and they won’t let you live in peace. I see two men and two young women and those four lives are crossed together. (The screen dramatically flashes the faces of JD Sr., Rodrigo, MdR and Leonarda.) They are connected by a great tragedy.” Clemencia stares down at her palm and back again at Mena and Regina, who are just as startled and amazed as she is.

Labels: salvaje

Permalink posted by Jardinera654 @ 6:03 PM 56 comments

Just as the Jade problem seems to be resolved between Ali, Said and Abdul, the phone rings. Uncle Abdul answers. He says that it's for Ali. Lucas' family is looking for him. Uh oh. Ali takes the phone.
He says that he didn't know Lucas was in Morocco. [He's lying to save Jade. Ali knew Lucas was coming to Morocco and that is how Jade found out.] Ali advises Said to take his wife home and resolve their differences. Jade goes to get her veil. She tells Zoraida that she is afraid because she has lost her jade pendant that she has had since she was born. Zoraida tells her that she has gotten away with a lot and should quit fighting her destiny.

Marisa returns to the house in Miami and tells Rosa that Lucas has left her for Jade. She orders Rosa to pack up her stuff and leaves saying that her father's lawyer will be in touch. After Marisa leaves, Rosa says that this must be why she had misgivings about Lucas going to Morocco. A wrinkle in the space-time continuum? I don't recall Rosa expressing any such doubts.

Mohamed tells Latifa how the Jade business was resolved. Latifa protests that her family follows the Koran unlike Nariza who is always making insinuations. She says that when Nariza is around, Mohamed changes and she is afraid that he will send her back. Mohamed says that he will never send her back but Latifa should give him a child. Latifa promises that she will give him not one but many children. She does not say how she will achieve this. Maybe a visit to Albi's fertility clinic?

Latifa and Mohamed are leaving for the store but Nariza, doing her nails and referring to herself in the third person, says that she isn't going. She is happy after having a dream that she will soon be married to an American. Latifa is happy about that idea. Mohamed, not so much.

Osvaldo tells his buddy at the club that he has a new woman who is 'wrapped up like a present' [quite a change from Dora who didn't leave much to the imagination] and who he thinks has lots of oil money. Osvaldo dances up to Mohamed's house. [The space-time continuum again. From what we saw, Osvaldo was not told where Nariza lived. I imagine a deleted scene where while Mohamed and Latifa were in the store trying to bargain, Nariza was giving this information to Osvaldo and maybe telling him that she was rich, too.] Nariza is waiting for him and comes out to meet him while pretending to water the plants.

Osvaldo compliments Nariza's eyes and asks if likes to dance. When she says that she is a good dancer, he asks her to go out dancing with him. She thinks that he wants to marry her and suggests that he meet her family. He thinks that she is playing hard to get but he is willing to go along for her money. Here is an excellent view of Nariza's horse teeth as someone on TW said.
Jade runs up to her bedroom after serving Said a meal. He follows her and asks if she has something to tell him. She says that she wants a divorce. She denies that she still loves Lucas but says that she can never make Said happy and that her uncle and cousin forced her to marry. Said replies that they were fine until Lucas returned to Morocco. Then Jade urges him to find another woman because she can't give him children. Said says that he loves her and will never give her a divorce.

Luisa finds out from Mario, the new lab assistant, [whose surgical mask is slipping down while he is talking to Luisa]
that Frankenalbi is not only a mad scientist but he is one of those absent-minded ones. He left the vial of Dora's donor semen in the freezer for over a year!!! [What kind of a nincompoop wouldn't have gotten rid of the evidence that Dora's eggs never got fertilized by the donor's semen? Don't they clean out the freezer oftener than once a year? There are probably old frozen burritos and dried up hamburger patties in there.] Luisa is upset and wonders what Albieri did.

Cristina saunters out of her bedroom in the morning fully made up and wearing a negligée that gives us an excellent view of her rack, to find that Dora hasn't gone to work because Vicki couldn't watch Danielito. She does not offer to watch Daniel herself but suggests that Dora put him in day care. Dora has another idea. She has asked her mother to come and stay to take care of Daniel and she will have to stay at Cristina's place, too. Cristina says that there isn't much room but it's fine. "Donde comemos dos, comemos tres," literally, "Where two eat, three [can] eat." Dora is ecstatic.
Jade is ready to go out to her uncle Ali's when Said tells her that she isn't going anywhere. When he is at work, she will stay in the house. That is her place, not the street. As her husband, he can order this. He calls two goons to make sure his orders are carried out.

Lucas is packing to leave the hotel when his business associate, Raul, appears. Apparently, Lucas managed to do what he was supposed to for Leo's company in between running after Jade. He tells Raul that he has to meet with someone and will see him later. Seconds later, Lucas is in the medina.

Luisa returns to the lab. She wants to speak to Albi but first is given a bouquet of flowers that are from Albieri to brighten up her day. Luisa thanks him and says that she wishes he trusted her more. When Albieri protests that she knows everything about him, she tells him about the abandoned frozen semen sample. Since it wasn't used, she wants to know who Danielito's father is. Albieri becomes extremely agitated and tells Luisa that she doesn't understand what goes on in the lab and she shouldn't mention this to anyone or he'll get into trouble.

Now just like Silvia, poor Mario gets the boot for unwittingly getting too close to Albieri's secret.

Dora calls the lab and asks Luisa to tell Albieri not to spend any more time with Daniel. Luisa is relieved.

Julio is surprised that Albi fired Mario.

Ali tells Zoraida that she is going to Miami on the weekend. He wonders why he hasn't heard from Jade and asks Zoraida to find out what is going on.

Lucas is lurking outside Said's house. Through the window, he tells her that everything is ready for them to leave together. She tells him that she can't leave because Said is watching her. He tells her that it is now or never. She agrees. While she is getting her things together, Zoraida arrives. Jade tells her to leave. She doesn't want to harm her. Zoraida warns her that if she runs away, Ali and all the family will turn their backs on her. Jade says that she doesn't care. She and Lucas will have each other and she will be the happiest woman on earth. She fantasizes about Lucas completing the Muslim marriage night ritual and having sex in a bed instead on the ground outside. Zoraida leaves asking Allah to protect Jade.

Lucas is waiting for Jade outside Said's house when Ali comes up behind him. I love Uncle Ali. He certainly realizes what Lucas is doing there but without batting an eyelash he greets Lucas and inexorably leads him away from Said's house.
The female servants can't stop Jade from leaving the house. [What happened to the male goons? Coffee break?] Jade doesn't get much past the doorway when Said returns. He guesses what is going on and gets a knife - one of those curly blade ones - saying that this country isn't big enough for him and Lucas. Jade begs him not to hurt Lucas but Said locks her in the house and leaves.

Ali takes Lucas to his house and subjects him to a lot of good advice. Lucas keeps trying to leave but Ali sticks to him like a limpet. Meanwhile Jade prays to Allah to project Lucas from Said. She says that if Lucas is saved, she will never look for him again.
Said arrives at Ali's house. Zoraida tells him that Ali is at the camel market. Said says that he will wait. When Zoraida asks Said why he is armed, he tells her that he is going to cut off the head of the evil that is threatening his family. Zoriada tells Ali that Said has come with a knife to kill Lucas. Lucas is sent to hide in the kitchen. Ali asks Allah for enlightenment.
Said asks Ali to help him find the man who wants to take his wife away. Ali disarms Said and says that Allah brought Said to his house so that Ali could keep him from doing something stupid. Ali tells Said that Lucas will immediately go to Paradise if Said kills him and all Lucas's sins will fall on Said. Said isn't sure about that but Ali asks if Said doubts his knowledge of the Koran. He advises Said to return home and seek domestic harmony. Said says that everyone will mock him. Ali replies that people can't mock what they don't know about. This will be their secret.

Back at the house, Jade asks Said where his knife is. He tells her that Ali took it from him. Jade is relieved.

Lucas returns to Miami and tells Rosa that what Marisa told him was true. He has gotten back with Jade. He tells Rosa that he never should have gotten married or pretended to be Diego. Everybody is happy except him. He makes a call to purchase an airplane ticket back to Morocco.
Rosa goes off to tell Leo. He tells her not to let Lucas leave the house. Leo tells Enrique that Lucas can fall in love but he can't lose control. Enrique suggests that Leo's $10K gift to Cristina evidences lack of control but Leo replies that he just made a rational decision to buy Cristina off. Leo refuses to see Albieri.

Luisa asks Albieri about the Dora fertilization issue. He says that he is going to tell her the truth once and for all. Of course, he doesn't do that. He spins a yarn about an assistant in the lab [it's never him] who mislabeled the semen vials with the result that Dora's egg got fertilized by the wrong donor and he didn't discover the error until it was too late. Luisa appears to accept this explanation. Albieri begs her not to mention it again because it upsets him. She promises never to speak of it again. She embraces him and says to herself how happy she is because she thought Albeiri would confess to being Danielito's father.

Jade comes to Ali's house [Said let her leave his house? For all he knows, Lucas is still in town] to call Lucas in the US. [Why would she assume that Lucas had already returned to the US? Did the space-time continuum eat a scene where Zoraida told Jade what happened?] Lucas tells her that he is coming back to Morocco the next day. Jade tells him not to come, that she doesn't love him anymore. She says that she has decided she loves Said and Lucas shouldn't look for her anymore, "Adiós," she says, "Hasta nunca," (until never).

Lucas is impactado.

Jade is devastated. "Maktub," says Zoraida, "It is written."

The credits roll.

Labels: clon

Some of us have visited Graceland, and feel it's the King. We might go to an Island, but that might be a bit selfish (too much "I" in it). Where to go for the weekend? Gancholand. It's a little known corner of the cyber universe, inhabited by diverse souls from many parts of the world. At times, there's a somber mood - our team may have come to the Big Dance, but our jitter just wouldn't bug. Or we could be Mad at Moni, Miffed at Marcos, P*ssed at Issy. But other times, we're feeling loud and proud. It was a slam dunk! And just as Gabi, Paula and Estrella have decided, despite their problems, to sigue adelante, so shall we. Let's open the club doors, kick back, and disfruta la vida. Life ain't bland, in fact it's grand, in Gancholand!

Labels: gancho

Forewarning, this was probably the most chaotic capitulo yet. It had some hilarious moments but I think it gave me whiplash!

Rafa and Vicky’s families (and Jaime) hear the radio announcement about escaped circus animals. They’re worried for a fraction of a minute but get over it quickly in favor of enjoying a beautiful day. Vicky pulls Rafa aside to go horseback riding.

Jorge is feeling better and Ale joins him and Rosario at breakfast. Jorge wants Ale to ask Marco to forgive her for the fight last night. Ale is sure she has nothing to be sorry about. Chavez is a cockroach and Marco stood by for the longest time without doing anything.

Rosario wants Ale to call Marco so he can join them. Ale teases her that she may be the one who fancies Marco the most. “If I were your age, I would take him.” (Ha! Too bad he’s not worth taking.)

Dandy rubs an ice cube up the leg of a bikini-clad young lady. Although it looks like they’re lounging on a topical island paradise, they’re actually on the roof of Dandy’s apartment building. She asks if he’s even been in love and Dandy says he hasn’t. Love is just an excuse to sleep with someone, which leads to marriage, which leads to dying of boredom. She calls him a cynic but he’s offended she would say such things to “a God of love”. They lock lips.

Marco calls Ale to see how things are going. She invites him to spend the day with her, Jorge, and Rosario. Marco wants to do something special with Ale and asks where she used to go with her mamá when she was a little girl. Ale says they went to see animals and Marco makes a date to take her to the zoo.

Marco tries to call Chavez but only get his voicemail. (He’s probably still hurt over the fight…)

Rafa and Vicky continue their romantic picnic in the park, complete with dancing, horseback riding, and a song from Rafa. (Letra Celosa, a song perfectly suited for Vicky). After the commercial break, the whole group is playing soccer in the field, having a couple drinks, and relaxing in the sun. Looks like a pretty good deal to me.

Ramiro is out on the town with his bruja and her mother. He eats a free sample from a stand and the bruja scolds him because he’s already too fat. Later, they stop at a restaurant. The “ladies” order a bunch of food but won’t let Ramiro order anything except toast.

Marco, Ale, Jorge, and Rosario are also enjoying a day outdoors at the zoo. They’re on a safari tour and get up close and personal with zebras, giraffes, camels, ostriches, and a yak, among other things. They change tours and get on a caged bus to see the lions and tigers. Ale is delighted with the trip and thanks Marco with a smooch for bringing her. He’s oh so happy to please her.

A huge lion gnaws on a piece of meat attached to the cage of the bus. WAY too close for my comfort! Rosario agrees with my fears and says she heard a lion once escaped from a zoo killed a person. Ale assures her it must have been a joke; nothing like that happens in real life. Someone would have to have incredibly bad luck to be attacked by a lion. (Did you figure what would happen next, too? ;)

The conversation shifts and Ale starts thinking of “Medina”. He’s a lion hunter (cazador de leones), a man who stands up in front of the beasts to fulfill his promise to a damsel.

Jaime starts having a spazz attack which turns out to be very justified when the rest of the picnic gang sees a lion wandering their way. Everyone runs off in a screaming frenzy for the truck while the lion pilfers the food on the picnic table. They all manage to clamor into the back of the truck but Rafa lags behind to pick up the parrot. He hops in the back and they speed away.

Home from the zoo, Marco again pushes how badly he wants to get married. Ale is still standoffish and asks him to be patient. Once he leaves, Ale’s thoughts turn straight to Medina. She figures he’s probably out getting drunk again. Ale is suddenly concerned when she thinks he might be out with his novia. (Letra Celosa may not only be for Vicky…)

The picnic group counts their blessings that they were able to get away unhurt. They are, however, upset the lion ate their picnic because no one had the chance to eat. Leonor does have a few tortillas saved and Don Gaston and Felipe (bigger brother) chow down with vigor.

Rafa gets his wake-up call and moans to himself that Ale’s dictatorship must come to an end.

Ale and Susana chat in Ale’s office. Ale’s worried about the hacienda and asks Susana to hire a lawyer for a second opinion.

Rafa has now taken Susana’s spot in Ale’s office. Ale is upset Rafa lost the sale to the nuns but Rafa says they left because they were offended by Ale’s outburst of insults. Rafa plans to send the 2,500-peso car bill to the convent. Ale says it’s ridiculous to bill a convent; Rafa has to sell more than he has been because she’s adding the 2,500 pesos to his debt and she isn’t going to loan him any more money.

Rafa is angry and says he wouldn’t ask for a loan anyway. Besides, he never asked for her money in the first place. Ale thinks he should be grateful because without her he wouldn’t have had enough money for food or clothing. “But I would have had more dignity.”

Ale is amazed Rafa is so ungrateful after she gave him a job and lent him her own money even though he nearly killed her. Rafa reminds her that she forced him to buy a new suit he never would have paid for otherwise. Ale is incensed because he uses his suit not only for work but to impress his novia and his amigotas.

Rafa has had enough. Nobody is going to humiliate him because of his clothes. He starts to disrobe right there in the office much to Ale’s shock and embarrassment. She turns away when he pulls off his pants but he tosses them onto her head. LOL. She keeps them there and uses them to shield her view of Rafa in his undies.

The Siglo employees tell Lic. Beltran that Rafa is in Ale’s office.

Rafa calls Leonor to tell her to have Jaime bring his old suit to work. Ale locks the door to keep Rafa from leaving her office. Rafa is definitely enjoying watching Ale squirm and scurry around the room until Beltran knocks on the door.

Rafa dives for his clothes while Ale stalls Beltran. Once she finally lets Beltran in, Ale and Rafa are both worked up and Beltran notices their strange behavior. Ale gives a lame excuse about not being able to get the door open and Rafa fakes feeling ill. Beltran reminds Ale about a meeting at the plant later that day and shuffles out the door.

Ale rounds on Rafa for nearly ruining her reputation with his stunt. Rafa tells her to listen up because they both know selling enough to make 15 million pesos each month is impossible. Trying to pull it off is killing everyone, especially him. (Go, Rafa!)

But Rafa plans to sell over 15 million pesos so he can get a large enough commission to pay Ale back. He gave a great speech and the gist of it is:

“Don’t ask me how many trucks I’m going to sell this month because I’m not going to pull off one or two business deals. I’m going to find something bigger to put an end this torture, these daily fights, the telephone calls, and endless criticisms. When I finally do, we will never meet again!”

Ale says she hopes so; she’d love it. Rafa promises to give the suit back once his change of clothes arrives. Ale has no interest in taking the suit back because he can’t pull off an enormous sale in ratty old clothes.

Rafa storms out and Ale says if Rafa doesn’t want to see her again, that’s just fine. (But it obviously isn’t fine, even if she won’t openly admit it.)

Rafa pulls Ismael aside to talk about organizing a huge business deal. He wants to sell 100 or 200 trucks. Ismael tells Rafa he should start doing business with the presidents of large corporations because they have few business contacts with them. (Feel free to add to this. My mind is melting from having very little sleep and I didn’t catch the details.)

Beltran calls all the employees into the meeting hall for a “special activity”. Everyone sits in a circle while Ramirez explains they are going start a stress-relieving activity. He has a dummy attached to his back and explains the exercise is very common in Japan.

Ramirez turns around and reveals a dummy of Ale. He mimics her yelling and most of the employees are enjoying it; Rafa and Ismael are not amused.

Ale calls Susana from the car supplier to ask what kind of meeting Beltran is having with the employees. Susana doesn’t know but will find out.

Ramirez says the dummy is there for the employees to express whatever they think and feel without having to be worried about consequences. Marino goes first and is a complete fruitcake and a half. He’s the star salesman and she’s shouldn’t forget it, he’s tired of being humiliated, blah, blah. Eventually he ends up tackling the dummy to the floor and pummeling it. I have no words…he just gets uglier by the episode.

Susana peers in through the window (or glass door?) while on the phone with Ale and sees everything going on.

Avances: Dummy antics continue with Ramiro and Claudia taking their turns. Rafa seems to admit to being involved in Ale’s accident and to having feelings for her while Ale watches from the window.

Labels: dinero

Lucas tells Marisa that he married for querer, and he thought that over time it would turn into love, but he can’t lie any more. It’s over. She starts beating on him again and he leaves. She screams at the door shut in her face, “You’ll pay for this.” She leaves and walks through the market. How is it that in Miami, Mohammed is still appalled by the barely-dressed bimbos. He should be a bit used to them by now. But in a Moroccan market, no one stares at Marisa in her rhubarb-band dress.

Jade waits and waits at the ruins and remembers her time with Lucas. They said, “We’ll die together.” Said just might see to that. He and Ali’s men go through the marketplace searching for Jade.

Albieri goes to Leo’s house to get the childhood photos of Diego. He tries to avoid Leo, to no avail. Leo heard that he’s raising a child, but Albi says it’s his godson and he only sees him now and then. Leo asks how long Albi’s been seeing Cris. Albi says he’d never dare see Leo’s novia, and besides, he’s married. Leo says, “She’s not my novia, y me importa un comino what she does with her life.” I love that phrase! It’s as important to me as one cumin seed. They also say, “Me importa un pepino (one pickle).” But my favorite is Don Hermes’ “No me importa, ni cinco!” Leo tells Albi that he has changed and avoids him, and so that’s proof that Albi is seeing Cris. Call Sherlock. Tell him his job is safe.

Albi leaves. Leo screams after him (lots of screaming at slammed doors in this cap), “I won’t forgive disloyalty.” I think we’ve hit upon Leo’s fatal flaw. He is the center of his universe, and he expects to be at the center of everyone else’s universe as well. He doesn’t care, ni cinco, what happens to anyone else (e.g. when his son fell in love), but anyone who doesn’t put Leo first is committing a sacrilege.

Albi goes home and takes Diego’s photos off the fridge. Luisa asks why and comments how much Daniel looks like Diego. Dora runs across Osvaldo at the dance club and threatens to bust his face if he ever again insults her baby again. Too bad Dora doesn’t save any of that backbone for Albieri.

In Morocco, Abdul points out that Zoraida said Jade escaped. He tells Said that he will not permit t her to shame his family any farther; Said needs to reject her. I’ve been thinking. Shame, by definition, is the opposite of pride. And pride is a sin. Whereas I don’t see anywhere that being shamed is a sin. Just sayin’. Ali counsels Said to accept his fate.

Earlier, Ali was ready to give Jade lashes himself if she had committed a great haram, but he’s not willing to accept any premature judgment. He warns that Abdul is defaming his niece without evidence, and he who defames an innocent woman is subject to a punishment of 80 lashes. Abdul says that the fact she escaped is, in itself, a scandal. Said just listens to the debate, distressed for the woman he loves. Abdul insists on calling Mohammed, despite Said’s protests. Mohammed takes the call, then reports to the women that Said escaped. Latifa is sure Jade would never do such a thing. Nariza is sure she ran away with the westerner. All she wanted from Said was his money. Latifa starts to cry and asks if Mohammed is going to send her back to her family. Mohammed doesn’t answer. Nariza continues, one bad apple spoils the bunch, and besides, she’s barren. Latifa cries in her room and curses the day Jade came into her life. Mo wants to go to her, but Nariza tells him he needs to man up and show his wife who’s boss. Actually he needs to show his sister who’s boss.

Marisa tells Lucas’ associate that Lucas left, she doesn’t know where, and she doesn’t care about their contract signing. In Miami, Enrique tries to suggest to Leo that maybe Albi is innocent. He’s been acting strange with everyone since Diego died. Leo takes the call from the associate and finds out his son has disappeared in Morocco. Leo is very worried.. about the contract. Enrique says he offered to accompany Lucas, but Leo won’t trust him with any responsibility. Rosa recommends they call Albi’s friend in Morocco.

Julio tries to counsel Albi, that Luisa is depressed, perhaps because due to his remoteness or lack of affection. He hesitantly suggests that maybe it was a mistake to marry her, but Albi disagrees. He thinks they are both happy and she makes a good addition to his life. Julio asks why he has been so distant with her. He suggests that even a little effort from Albi would make Luisa very happy. Cristina comes bouncing in, sees Albi, and is eager to tell him about her new business. He congratulates her with a hug, and of course at that moment Leo enters and sees them. Leo is about to turn and leave, but Ric reminds him he came to get Ali’s phone number. He leaves and tells Cris to forget he exists.

In Morocco, there is some fracas in the market, and Lucas has been detained by police who are dressed like zoomies (Air Force personnel). He says he’s a tourist and shows them his passport, so they let him leave. (What was the purpose of this scene?) Jade is still waiting at the ruins, but men come up and drag her back to Ali‘s house. Then Lucas runs there and doesn’t find her, but he finds her jade necklace. He realizes he has missed her again, and screams, loud enough to wake the dead, GAVIOTA!!! Oops, wrong show. JADE!!!

Abdul tells Said and Ali that she’s been found, in a store, but they dragged her back because she didn’t want to return. Why does he say it was a store if they found her in the ruins? Abdul tells Ali, “It’s very sad for a man to see his house covered in shame.” Ali answers, “What’s sad is seeing a religious man making accusations against a woman when he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Abdul advises Said that the law permits that he can ask for the entire dowry to be returned.

Albi informs Cris that Leo thinks she’s in a relationship with him, Albieri. I love Cristina’s reaction: Say whaaaat??? Then she’s delighted. If he’s jealous, it means he still loves her. Albi looks at her like she’s nuts. El burro hablando de orejas.

They drag Jade in, and Ali and Abdul start browbeating her. She admits, “Yes, I escaped.” She spins a yarn, that her jewelry was stolen in the market, and she was afraid to face Said, so she ran away, and intended to flee the country without telling anyone. Then she got lost in the market. Zoraida, in a whisper, warns Jade that she will be condemned on judgment day for such a lie. Jade says she doesn’t want to die young, and she’s sure Allah will understand. Abdul thinks the story is not supported well enough, and she should get the lashes. Ali says she can only be condemned with four witnesses. So they talk to the men who dragged her in.

In her room, Jade is upset because she lost the money. It was in her clothing, and she’s sure it fell when they dragged her in. I think we’re missing some scenes here. First, that the men said they found Jade in a store. Now, Zoraida asks Jade, “Are you sure they didn’t see Lucas? If you heard him (the scream), maybe they did too.” Jade is thrilled that Lucas came. It means that he left everything for her. Then she realizes she lost her jade necklace.

Jade goes to receive her sentence. Ali says there is no evidence so she will not be condemned. Other than that, it’s up to Said’s family. Said is greatly relieved. But Abdul says that Said should give her a correction, a golpee (blow). He says that the law dictates it, but not enough to cripple her. Ali disputes this. He says Mohammed said you should never hit a woman. Said interrupts their debate and says that his judgment is that he will leave her bed. He will leave her sleeping without her husband. Abdul takes the call from Enrique in the US. He reports to the others, “They want to know if Lucas is here.” Said whips his head around to glare at Jade.

Labels: clon