Episode 9

Episode 9

In the restaurant…

Mario tells Armando that the party needs to continue, it doesn’t matter that he and Suji (or whatever her name is) have to go. Armando doesn’t want to give his car keys to Mario, so Mario promptly sits back down with his girlfriend and they start to kiss again. This makes Armando and Gabriela really uncomfortable, so Armando gives his keys to Mario. Gabriela wants them all to leave together so as to avoid Armando having a heart attack over having to leave the restaurant alone with her, but Armando the Handsome Fool has faith in Mario the Idiot… Armando tells Mario to take Suji home and come back right away. Once Mario and his little friend have left, Gabriela stands and changes her seat so that it doesn’t look as if Armando and she are “together.” They toast the deal, but with WATER. Gabriela, an intelligent woman, tells Armando that Mario isn’t his best friend - instead, he’ll be the death of him. She tells Armando he’s handsome, successful, cultured, intelligent [Merci: yes, but with extremely high levels of fool!], attractive. Gabriela makes it clear to Armando that she’s not flirting with him as she respects his wife. At this, Armando remembers he hasn’t called Betty. Gabriela asks if Betty is the jealous type and Armando says no [liar!], that Betty doesn’t worry about anything.

In Betty and Armando’s magical apartment…

Betty is ‘like water for chocolate’ (??) because Armando hasn’t called, but she swears she’s not going to call him - she is not Marcela Valencia. She mocks how Armando had spoken to her before leaving -“Monstris, I’ll be home early.” Just then the phone rings and Betty realizes it’s Armando. She runs to her room and throws herself on the bed before answering, and acts as if she had been asleep [Merci: i don’t know why she did that - it’s not as if he had a camera there and could see where she was when she answered…]. Armando starts to speak to her very lovingly but screws it up by lying to her that he’s there with Calderón and Gabriela. He tells her they’re just finishing up the wine and eating desert and in 20 minutes he’ll be home. He tells her he loves her [Merci: which is the truth, Armandito would be a little angel if he weren’t such a LIAR]. When he hangs up, he wonders in a complaining tone where that cretin Calderón could be…

Where is that cretin Calderón?

The cretin Calderón, who has the hormones of an adolescent at the hight of puberty, has had the so-brilliant idea of taking Suji to a motel. There they are met by an employee with two cups of brandy who effusively greets Mario, asking if he wants his usual room. Mario tells him yes.

To add to the night’s complications, Gutiérrez arrives at the same motel -it appears EcoModa has an account there- with a Miss Ramírez [Merci: I think this is the character that’s going to be the new secretary - she looks a bit like Patricia]. The employee offers them two drinks and Gutiérrez, a rat as always, tells her they’re just there to discuss her promotion. She reminds him she has a boyfriend. He tells her they’re just going to talk business. They’re given Room 69, which Gutiérrez finds quite enchanting…

Mario parks the car, leaves the emergency lights on and the doors open and runs off to behave badly with his little friend. Just then Gutiérrez passes by en route to his room, notes the car and realizes it’s Betty and Armando’s car. Miss Ramírez doesn’t want to stay -she doesn’t want the bosses to find out she’s there. Gutiérrez tells her not to worry, their room is at the very end and no-one will see them. She also doesn’t want Gutiérrez’s wife to find out. He tells her not to worry about that, either - he and his wife are separated, practically divorced. They get to the room and Gutiérrez immediately puts on a little music, and starts to make himself at home, taking off his clothing. She questions the need to disrobe and he tells her he always does so when he talks business. Then he tells her she’s going to get the position of secretary to Gabriela and Kenneth. He asks her to take off her jacket and give him her purse [Beth: i think - it could be his briefcase, or he hands her his wallet or his briefcase - it’s not clear to me, at least, from how it’s written]. She reminds him again that she has a boyfriend and he is married. Just then his cel phone rings and of course it’s his wife. He states that his wife does care about what he does since she’s so in love with him [Beth: in spite of which they’re practically divorced…?]. Because of that she can’t know he’s in a motel. After a big waste of time, he tells the girl to turn off the music and turn on the TV so it’ll sound like he’s at someone’s house. He answers the phone and tells his wife that he’s at an employee’s house, that of one Galindo, who is sick. She doesn’t believe him, so he changes his story for yet another mess. At last, she asks for the phone number of “Galindo’s” house and Gutiérrez tells her the service has been cut off. He sends his best to the children and hangs up. Then he tells Miss Ramírez that they have to hurry and talk about the promotion. She tells him it doesn’t look to her as if he’s about to separate from his wife, and he tells her he is, but his wife isn’t. Then he gets on his knees and starts to kiss her arm…

We see Calderón and the drunk girl back at Armando’s car. Mario tells her they are late. He asks the employee to open the exit so they can leave, and to charge the room to his account. Immediately we hear the sound of a crash… You don’t have to be a nuclear engineer to know that Calderón crashed Armando’s car - the third nightmare of the night!

Back at the restaurant…

They bring the bill to Armando and he and Gabriela talk about where Calderón could be. Just then the cel rings and it’s Mario. Armando asks him where he is, telling Mario he wants to leave already, that he and Gabriela are tired. But Mario has the wonderful news that he’s crashed Armando’s car into a taxi and he needs the car’s documentation. You can imagine Armando’s reaction to this news - poor guy, what a cross to bear!! [Merci & Beth: this is what he gets for trusting in Mario Calderón after all his experience with him]. Armando asks the waitress to bill EcoModa for their tab. He tells Gabriela to take a cab to her hotel while he goes to meet up with Mario. She tells him no, she’ll go with him [Beth: not that i blame her for being curiouse, but why??]. We see them in the taxi and Armando doesn’t really know where they’re going. He gives the exact address to the taxi driver who, thinking Armando is going to the motel with Gabriela, tells him not to worry, he knows the way well and why they’re in such a rush to get there. Neither Gabriela nor Armando knows what he’s talking about. They arrive at the motel and the same employee greets them and offers them brandies. Armando just about dies of shame and explains to Gabriela that in Colombia motels are used by people who are going to “do things.” Gabriela can’t believe it. To top everything off, the employee recognizes Armando and asks where’ he’s been… Gabriela can’t help laughing because now Armando really wants to die. Armando explains to the employee that he’s looking for Mario and his car. The employee tells him they’re at the corner. Just then we see Gutiérrez leaving in his car and demanding the gate be opened. Of course, he runs into Armando and Gabriela; they exchange greetings. Armando gets out of the taxi and goes to speak with Gutiérrez, and greets Miss Ramírez. Armando tells Gutiérrez not to mistake things: he isn’t there for anything to do with the motel. He tells Gutiérrez to forget he saw him there, that this night never happened. When Armando returns to the taxi, Gabriela asks if they can trust Gutiérrez not to say anything. Armando tells her that it’s not in Gutiérrez’s best interests to say anything since he’s out with an employee and not his wife. Armando pays the taxi driver 10,000 pesos and he and Gabriela head for the corner to find Mario.

Mario and the taxi driver…

Mario is arguing with the taxi driver he had the crash with, telling him that it was just an inconsequential little fender-bender. The taxi driver, who knows Mario looks like Money, complains that he’s bleeding and shows Mario that he has a cut on his face. The policeman [Merci: who I think is the same as when Armando was dressed as “Princess Lily” and trying to get into EcoModa] tells the taxi driver that if he is hurt they’ll have to go to Legal Medicine (??) for treatment. Just then Armando arrives and starts yelling at Mario. He calls him a disgrace and asks how he could have done this. Mario tells him he couldn’t help it, that he didn’t want to do it in the car out of respect for the baby, Armando, and of course Betty. Armando tells him of course, since it was getting late and he (Mario) thinks he’s Juan Pablo Montoya, he had a crash. Armando says the problem has got to be resolved and hands the car’s documentation to the policeman. Armando says that nothing serious happened, but the policeman indicates the injured taxi driver who wants to be indemnified. The taxi driver wants them to pay him “4 sticks,” or 4 million pesos. Of course, Armando refuses [Merci and Beth: the interesting thing is, Armando doesn’t demand that Calderón pay, since he was the one who caused the whole mess]. The taxi driver starts to complain that his head hurts, that he can’t see anything. Armando tells him he’s a lying thief. At this point, and to make things worse, the policeman asks Armando to whom the car belongs. Armando replies that it’s his wife’s car. Mario tells Gabriela in an aside that it’s obvious since Armando and Betty are always together… Armando looks at Mario as if he’s going to kill him and says he has his own car, but they use this one. The policeman tells him that they’re going to have to impound the car and Betty will have to go pick it up the following day. Armando is about to have a nervous breakdown - his only option to avoid this is to reach an agreement with the taxi driver…

At this point, Mario’s girlfriend complains that she’s tired, cold, and wants to go home. He tells her she can’t. And now Armando’s tragedy turns grave - the girlfriend gets into Armando’s car and goes to sleep in the back seat. [Merci: Can you imagine what’s going to happen?]

Armando, Mario and Gabriela start to talk to the taxi driver. Armando tells him he’s not going to give him 4 million pesos and offers him 100,000 instead, but the taxi driver tells him that it’s not enough to even get rid of a toothache. Armando then offers him 300,000, but the guy tells him he thinks his neck might be fractured. Armando then says fine, they’ll see him in court. So the taxi driver astutely says that if Armando does that his wife will kill him for having had an accident coming out of a motel. Armando shouts that HE didn’t have any accident coming out of a motel. The taxi driver asks for 450,000 pesos… Meanwhile, the cars are being towed and Armando finally agrees to give the taxi driver a check for 500,000. Throughout all this, Mario does nothing, even though he was the one who caused the whole mess. They realize they’re about to tow the cars away and Mario (so friendly and cooperative) tells the policeman that everything’s been fixed. So the policeman asks Armando to sign a document and give him either his home or office address. Armando starts to panic - the taxi driver gets a very interested look on his face when he hears that Armando works at EcoModa. Mario remarks that he hasn’t seen his girlfriend and suggests maybe she’s left in a taxi. Armando wants to leave and Mario, such a gentleman, tells Gabriela they’ll take a taxi and he’ll see her to her hotel. The taxi driver -cheeky!- offers to take them. Gabriela asks Armando what he’s going to tell Betty and he says he can’t tell her anything. Mario says he’d rather be boiled in oil. Armando says he’d rather commit suicide. Gabriela, who we already know has two fingers in front [Beth: ??? is honest as a Boy Scout??], tells Armando it’s better to tell the truth… Cheeky Mario suggests to Gabriela they go to the motel and she of course says no…

We see Armando en route to his apartment in Betty’s car, innocently thinking that the worst is over. Of course it isn’t since Suji is fast asleep on the floor of the car with her head pillowed on Camila’s diaper bag. Armando arrives at his building and asks the doorman to open the garage door. He parks the car and goes up to his apartment. The elevator opens and Betty leaves running so that Armando doesn’t find out she’s still awake. He arrives in the bedroom, takes off his clothing and gets into bed. Betty tells him he’s home at last. He says yes. She asks him what time it is and Armandito the liar tells her between 12:30 and 1am. She turns on the light and the alarm clock says 3am, so she asks him to look at his watch which also says the same thing, as does her own watch. Betty reproachfully reminds him he’d said he’d be home early, so Armando tells her a half-truth: that he’d been so late getting home because he’d crashed the car. She asks him if he’s ok, and he assures her he is, that in the morning he’ll take the car to the insurance agency. She asks him if he was alone and he tells her another half truth, that Mario and Gabriela were with him while he resolved the problem. Then he very lovingly kisses her and tells his “princess” to go to sleep, all the while thinking “My God, thanks!” that everything worked out fine…

In the morning… [Merci: Wow, we’ve reached the fourth day after only nine episodes!]

We see Armando in front of the mirror putting on cologne and talking to himself. He says he can’t believe that he’s lied to his wife, although it was a just a little lie. He swears he will never lie to Betty again, nor go out with Calderón… We hear Camila crying and Betty tells Armando that Don Hermes is already there so they call all go to EcoModa together. Betty kisses her father and Don Hermes tries to greet Armando with a kiss but Armando won’t let him. Don Hermes tells him at home they should be more familiar and Armando should call him Papá. They all get into the elevator and Camila begins to cry with great gusto. They arrive in the building’s lobby and Armando announces he will go get the car. Betty stays with Doña Julia, who asks what happened the night before. Betty explains about the crash, how Armando got home late because of it. Doña Julia says he was drunk but Betty replies he wasn’t. Then Doña Julia says it was Calderón’s fault, and Betty says they can’t always blame everything on Calderón…

Armando gets off the elevator to look for the car, and his cel rings. It’s Mario, telling him that Suji’s sister called him to say her sister never got home. He also wanted to know if Armando was still alive. Armando says yes, all is well [Merci: Ay, Armandito, if you only knew what’s in store…]. Armando tells Mario that Suji is a nightmare, an alcoholic. Just then Armando notices that said alcoholic nightmare is in his car and lets out a shout. He tells Mario, who replies that he (Armando) should get her out of there however he can [once again, the good friend…] and don’t get him (Mario) into a mess (- incredible!). Armando asks “Mr Army” (?? god of the armies??) to protect him. He opens the door to the car and gets Suji out; she asks him what discotheque they’re at. He tells her they’re not at a discotheque, and she has to leave. He tries to get her into the elevator but she won’t go. She tells him she’s very tired, she didn’t sleep well. Then she hears Betty calling to Armando and remarking to Doña Julia that the likely thing is he’s having trouble starting the car because of the crash. Sujo asks Armando what happened to her, if he fell asleep. He tells her no. Armando doesn’t know what to do with Suji. He tells her his wife is looking for him and she asks him his wife’s name… Armando puts Suji in a little room like a trash room and we see Betty coming down the stairs to the garage…

Advances for next week:

Who knows what will happen, we see Betty arriving where Armando is… When will this man learn to follow his own advice - that lying is a sin that costs dearly?