Abismo de pasion #85 7/10/12: In Which We Almost End With A Bang

Hacienda Arango

·      At Casa Arrango, Florencia catches Alfonsian on her way out the door to Merida. Flo stops her might-be Mother-in-law to show her the engagement ring on her left ring finger and to renounce her right to the new car—she needs that money to help her dad. She has to pay lawyers and the other blood sucking vermin that run the legal system.  Alfonsina’s reply is not encouraging. She says that since Flo’s daddy robbed her, if Flo wants money she can give Alfie a grandchild. Then with a little flick at Flo’s barren belly Alfie stalks off. Oh, the Black Widow is magnificent! As Sylvia said yesterday, we can only hope that she lives long enough to really appreciate the suffering that will surely come her way.

La Pro-ces-a-dor-a

·      Paolo, slick as snot, is sliming on a distraught Sabrina on the telephone. Yes , he loves her. He reminds her that they have agreed to be discreet about the news of the baby. Yes, her adores her. She snivels. Yes, he has to gain the confidence of her parents. Will she see him today? Oh, not likely. he speaks to the quaveringly silent office. He has a very busy day at the pro-ces-a-dor-a. He hangs up the phone. Poor girl, Paolo is a creep.

Tovar Casa

·      But, Begonia overhears her poor daughter and says she knows she was talking to Paulo. Surprisingly, Begonia is better disposed toward Paulo than she used to be thanks to her new bestie, Carmina, who has said some pretty fine things about Paolo. She thinks they should invite him to dinner. Really?

La Pro-ces-a-dor-a

·      Maru tells Gabino that ING is waiting for him in his office. ING is pissed. She is losing it. She wants to know where are her airline tickets. Gabino robbed her of her money. She has nothing. She starts to scream. Gabino grabs her, put his hand over her mouth and starts sweet-talking his wild-eyed little filly. He tells her they are going to go away and she will have lots of money and THINGS…It looks a lot like some rough but consensual adult activity is going to take place on Gabino’s desk but Ingrid is truly not buying Gabino’s soothing sexual program. She breaks away and knocks a chair over on her out…

·      …Where she runs into Don Lucio, breathlessly spreading the news to Maru at the front desk of the processing plant and all of La Ermita that a body has been found floating in the lagoon. It is a woman, she un recognizable, she has been in the water at least a week. Ingrid looks completely stricken.

Tovar Casa

·      The news spreads. Begonia takes a call and tells Sabrina, who promptly passes out. Oopsie, Daddy El Doctor Gordo Tovar is called and the news of Sabrina’s impending motherhood may not be a secret for long.

·      Doc Tovar heads to the morgue to help in the identification of the body. Nasty, I say.

Casa Castañon

·      Delores steps into Casa Castigo and calls for Elisa. The usual cheerless Don Augusto who tells her to stop shouting meets her. Elisa is fine. She is not the woman who was found floating in the Laguna.

Town Morgue

·      Ingrid, dressed in loose, dun colored clothes, is seated alone in a simple room that appears to be the waiting room of the towm morgue. There is nothing on the walls, and only a couple of simple chairs in the room. As Doc Tovar hurries into the room, Ingrid ,stops him and introduces herself. They met before, she reminds him, when her daughter, Kenia, had a bicycle accident. Yes, yes, her remembers. She is Gael’s mother. She tells him Kenia has been missing for a week. She has to see the corpse to make sure it isn’t her daughter. Doc Tovar introduces himself, at her service. Doc Tovar tells her the corpse is quite decomposed, it has been in the water for more than a week, it is virtually un-recognizable. The forensic pathologist says the only distinguishing feature is a birthmark…Ingrid finished the sentence” shaped like a moon”. She says she MUST see it. She will know if it is her daughter. She is breaking my heart. I nominate Ms. Camil for an acting award here. She is brilliant as the flawed, even bad Mother who is facing a hideous fate. It is a brilliant performance.

·      Doc Tovar, perhaps in mercy, perhaps against his better judgment, allows Ingrid to see the body. In a harrowing scene, the sheet is lifted back from the body and Ingrid in punished in this one scene for all the wrong she ever did to either of her children. This may be punishment for this and several other lives IMHO. There could be no worse hell.

Casa Castigo

·      Elisa comes back in the house to a delighted Delores.. She is still happy that Elisa is OK (not dead and floating in the lagoon) and wants to here how things went with Damian, whom she refers to as DamiaM. She asks when the big boda will be and Elisa replies, “Never”. When Elisa went to Hacienda Arango to talk to Damian she found him in bed, if no in flagrante with Flo.  I’ve gotta admit, I would be pithed too. Then, to add insult to injury, on the way out the door, she got the news about her mother’s Cielo Abierto lands being to that jerk GABINO MENDOZA. She is NOT in a good mood. I always think Boyer is at her most believable when she is bitchy.

Pro-ces-a-dor-a

·      Damian is once again back at the helm of the procesadora. Maru is listening to this as he seriously shuffles papers around his desk.

·      Really, guys, are we supposed to care? The real La Anita is a very big company and they would never tolerate this piddle farting round with either money or senior management. One doesn’t threaten the revenue stream of senior management in family-owned companies any more than with companies responsible to outside shareholders. Why? Because they are family matriarch/patriarch type folks who have lawyers tied to their hip pockets and they will cut you off without a dime if you threaten the goose that laid the golden egg. Anyway, DamiaM says, he just doesn’t understand. While he was throwing his hissy hit and NOT running the company (like he would be allowed to do that)

·      GWEEEEDO let all this bad stuff take place? How can that be? He KNOWS GWEEEEDO? Really dude?

Casa Arango

·      Flo dives into a pool. She has a lovely figure and the tiniest waist ever. I think I spied a cell pone on the side of the pool.  Enrique is watching her and comes over to give her news about her Poppa but she bursts his bubble by asking him why he is there? He can’t be seen at Casa Arango! Enrique looks a bit confused, as well he might, having just risked his life savings and perhaps his health for Flo as Florencia babbles on about her reconciliation with DamiaM, and show his the engagement ring and how all is now right with the world. She will, of course, pay Quique back for helping out her Dad…Henrique looks gob smacked, as well he should.

A Prison in Merida, Where Guido is wearing an unflattering shade of Khaki—too green, I think

·      Really, nothing of import happens in this scene. The Black Widow, Alfonsian comes to visit Guido in his more permanent home, the nastier jail, he stares at her sullenly and denies stealing from her, she tells him to fess up, so he doesn’t make an untoward scandal at DamiaM ‘and Flo’s upcoming nuptial’s. Yes, they are re-engaged. Guido is sorry he ever had feelings for Alfie and Alfie says the only man for whom she has ever had feelings has been dead lo these many years. W_H_A_T_E_V_E_R_.

Cielo Abierto Fields and the Habanero Greenhouse

·      Don Augusto Cat Food and Elisa meet on her mother’s lands. Happy habanero peppers are growing haphazardly all around. Elisa tells her father that there is no way he is selling the Cielo Abierto growing fields to GABINO MENDOZA. Augusto repeats for the zillionth time, he lost his contract with the la Maria procesadora. Augusto is just happy working with his Princesa over at the now restored greenhouses. They walk away, arms around each other, the very picture of father/daughter affection.

·      But, if you were to look up into the sky, you would see that it is not open and clear at all. It is covered with black cumuli-nimbus clouds bearing dozens of tiny iron anvils poised to fall on the father daughter pair.

·      Soon Elisa and Augusto walk around the greenhouses. The peppers are setting fruit at an astonishing pace. All thanks to Gael, Papa’s workers, Damian, Elisa and Don Lucio. It’s a miracle. Now Elisa offers her vision…habaneros are much more than just a CONDIMENT. Habaneros can be used in cleaning products, health supplements, and medical supplies. Elisa wants to build an habanero EMPIRE to rival and outdo Alfonsina’s. She wants her own procesadora.

·      See what happens when you think big, Elisa. Hire Quique. He can probably help you engineer something. Now all you need is CASH, sister. Hmmmm. Do you have good anvil insurance????

Doc Tovar’s Office

·      Gael comes to visit Paloma at Doc Tovar’s office. She is crying.. She won’t listen to Gael. She takes responsibility for the situation for pushing the relationship. They fight about Elisa. She won’t let him tell her that Elisa and Damian are not siblings after all. She tells him she doesn’t want to see Gael as a novio or as a friend. She just wants him to leave. He looks a bit stricken.

Padre Lupe’s Church

·      A somewhat disheveled looking Carmina comes calling on Padre Lupe at the Church door. Whatever she’s selling, he ain’t buying. He stands, his arms folded across his solar plexus with Jesus and  the cross and a few parishioners all standing protectively in the background for good measure. He tells her that her presence without repentance at God’s house is blasphemy. She says she needs help. “He says you need help”, as he walks toward her? Watch out Padre! I want to scream. Padre tells her that the chickens have come to roost.

·      Carmina says she needs Padre’s help with Augusto. No go, Carmina, Padre tells her that there is a person who knows all the truth,  and that the truth, whether sooner or later, will see the light. Carmina doesn’t believe it. When she puts her hand on his arm, he looks down on her hand like it belongs to a tarantula, not a brown recluse. The bells call him to do service and he closes the double doors in her face. She rolls her eyes at him and walks away.

More (OTT nauseating) Father/Daughter Time in the Giant Greenhouses

·      OK, now they are really overdoing it. Augusto, is all over Elisa wondering why his daughter hasn’t told Damian about their real (lack of ) a relationship. She lies and says she hasn’t had time. He (of all people) starts to give her advice about her love life. She says this delights her. He says it is all part of their newfound perfect relationship as real father and daughter. There are so many things wrong with this scene I cannot begin to enumerate them. I haven’t enough fingers, toes or hairs on my red head.

·      Where was the love, Augusto? Where was the love for 15-some years of this damaged young woman’s life when you thought she was not your biological offspring? This latest act in your ever-changing repertoire of behavior does not make you redeemed in my eyes.  However, I suppose some will say that your most recent behavior means that you are demonstrating that you are redeemable. That is TRUE, and I will believe in his behavior change when he demonstrate about 15 years of consistent kindness, fairness and reasonable behavior to others, especially his daughter

By the pool at Hacienda Arango

·      Freeloaders, grifters and dirtbags Paolo and Florencia sit by the pool and plot their next moves. They are going to steal poor stupid Sabrina’s baby to give it to the Black Widow??? That is diabolical.

·      I am ashamed of myself. I had such hopes for Florencia. I can’t believe I once rooted for Flo to take down the Spider Woman. Pah! Flo is not in her league. SHE IS NOT WORTHY. She could not kiss the Black widow’s shiny black boots or her red patent belt!

·      Karen and the Capon  and I are so over you, Flo. We will help your Dad, but you, you , are just an ordinary lazy wasp-waisted hymenoptera with one sting, trying to steal a piece of fresh meat from Alfie’s web. She has you caught, sister, she will toy with you and she will eat you alive. I am usually loyal, Flo, but no matter how desperate you are you DO NOT steal other people’s children.

In Ingrid’s Private Hell

·      In some little coffee shop in La Ermita, Edmundo Tovar, a man of great compassion and kindness, is trying to do the impossible. He is trying to comfort a mother who has just lost her child. Ingrid was a bad mother, selfish, manipulative and always out for herself, but she raised Kenia and to have to I.D the decomposing body of your only daughter on a cold morgue slab is the worst nightmare of even the least-good mother.

·      Ingrid says she has no one in the pueblo. Edmund remembers that she has a son. Yes, she says. After making the mistake of abandoning him on the church steps when he was an infant, she came back to get to know him (sort of). Some mistakes are too big to fix. He hates her and Kenia is dead. But Gael is a grand young man, says Edmundo.

·      Edmundo is doing his best to comfort Ingrid with an embrace when in walks Begonia and a friend. Before she can make too much of a scene—she does say that Ingrid is the mother of the girl who tried to steal a married man—Edmundo jumps up, and explains who Ingrid is and that her daughter is the one who was found in the Laguna.

·      Ingrid stumbles home to the Blue Hose of Shame. Gabino is grumbling when she wanders in announcing that her daughter is dead. Gabino is shocked. Ingrid is hysterical as she blames Carmina for killing Kenia. She wants to kill Carmina herself.

Casa Castigo

·      Carmina is still there, at the quinta, looking depressed.  Augusto comes in and wants to know why she is there. He is reverting to his usual nasty, nasty, self. Why is she there? Did he not tell her to get out of the house by the end of the day? Out of the house? Out of his life? Just get out, snarls Augusto and he starts to walk away. Augusto! Carmina calls. We hear the sound of a shotgun shell being placed in the chamber. You are not the only one who is macho! Carmina announces! She places the shotgun under her chin in what looks to be a most efficient manner.

·      Oh, my. Your recapper thinks that although Carmina is the Queen of all Drama Queens and is surely bluffing, this is really nothing to bluff about. Death is no laughing matter. And suicide in front of a loved (or hated) one is the second most hostile act you can take against another person. The first is murdering the person himself or herself.  Carmina is very, very mad at Augusto for throwing her out and rejecting her.  She will NOT be able to tolerate this. One of them may not make it through this scene.

·      I have no avances, my friends. I turn you over to the capable hands of our dear Marta Miercoles, who will steer the good ship Passion Pitt forward through the coming storm. I am happy to pass off the helm. EJ shivers.