Thugs Of The Caribbean: A “Cane” Recap

Posted by Sarah

I missed a lot last week, apparently. Alex didn’t get to bust Old Man Samuels because Ellis (not Alice, as I’ve been writing up to now) was secretly still on her dad’s side and got Alex’s lawyer to confess that Alex stole the evidence against her dad and is also involved in not-so-above-board land deals himself. Ouch. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Israeli mob got pissed that Alex replaced them as truck drivers, so they executed three of the drivers and the media had a field day reporting on Duque’s associations with organized crime. Pancho told Alex to take some time off, leaving Frank in charge. Henry finally got Goldilocks in the sack, only to be told it was just a one-night stand. Isabel started working on an art auction and caught the eye of one of the artists.

Just goes to show ya, when a show’s got this much going on, you can’t miss a single episode.

Now that I’m caught up, on with this week’s recap:

Some of the thugs are held up at gunpoint outside of a bar, and one of the thugs, Ramon’s nephew Chicho, recognizes one of the robbers. A shootout ensues, and Chicho’s wounded.

Cut to Alex and Isabel having a shower together. Alex tells her that he wants to get away with her for a few days, now that he has all this time off. She says she can’t, and suggests he call some of his friends and make plans with them instead. “But all of my friends have jobs …” Alex pays a social call to his thug buddies, and Ramon invites him on a trip to the Caribbean with him, Chicho and a few others. Alex declines and goes to his office, where he finds Frank in a meeting with Henry and Pancho et al, who are having a brainstorming meeting without him. He goes in to get some stuff from his desk, and the room falls silent — everyone’s uncomfortable and it’s clear they don’t want him to interrupt. He plays it cool until he gets to the parking lot, where he throws his stuff into his car, calls Ramon, and accepts the invite to the Caribbean.

Isabel’s setting up for the art auction, and the sexual tension between her and Hudson, the artist, catches Rebecca’s attention. When Isabel runs off to do errands, Jaime comes in and tells Rebecca that he’s having his bachelor party that night. Rebecca’s mad, “Do you think that kind of thing is appropriate for a married man?” That’s what happens when you get married and don’t tell anyone, though. You gotta play along. She doesn’t get it, he makes it worse, and she retaliates by having a bachelorette party.

Isabel comes home to find Alex packing, and when she asks who he’s going with, he acts like she’s interrogating him. She gets mad (anyone noticing a pattern in this episode?) “Fine. You go on your trip. Have a great time. Come back in a better mood.”

Alex arrives in the Caribbean to find plenty of booze, gambling, and chicks in bikinis. After he wins at the casino, he goes back to his room and finds something in his bed. Someone in his bed. “Alex Vega? I’m Simone. A complimentary welcome gift from Ramon.” Alex takes a BIG drink. “I’m married.” “I’d be out of business if it weren’t for married men.” Eventually, Alex convinces her that he’s married married, not just married. She leaves her number anyway, because “I don’t usually get ones that look like you. Who knows? I may even waive my fee.” As she walks out, she tells him she has a girlfriend, and Alex is left sitting there with a big dopey grin on his face. Poor guy.

Back at the auction set-up, Isabel’s cranky and Hudson and she fight about painting placement.

Frank’s brainstorming meeting isn’t going well until Henry suggests that Duque get into the beer business to get them through this crazy time in the rum business. Beer is stable and reliable, and they could use the Duque brand’s reputation for quality to launch a premium beer. They run some numbers.

Alex watches the sunset with Ramon, and they bond over their resistance to contentment.

Hudson apologizes to Isabel for calling her a “socialite dilettante” and cooks dinner for her at his place. After which he gives her a trés sexy kiss on the jawline.

Jaime’s bachelor party has more booze and unclad female flesh than you thought could be crammed onto your tv screen. Rebecca’s party looks more subdued, but then the strippers show up. Everyone but her is having a great time. Then her ex shows up, and she asks him to take her home. He drives her to his place, but she says she can’t do it, and asks him to take her to her place.

Alex and the guys are held up at gunpoint (geez, Chicho’s a magnet for this stuff) but Alex talks the robbers down, which is fortunate because Chicho’s got his gun behind his back. The gang goes to a shooting range and fires machine guns at watermelons, bottles and pillows for a while.

Henry and Frank pitch the beer idea to Pancho, who says, “Alex wants ethanol. You want beer. Doesn’t anyone want to make rum?” Yikes. Fifty brownie points deducted.

Alex is at his hotel and the thugs have their tv up really loud, so he goes over to tell them to be quiet. Instead, he walks in on them beating the crap out of a guy who’s duct taped to a chair. It’s the guy Chicho recognized during the first holdup of the episode. Guess we know why he was so keen to go to the Caribbean … Alex looks like he’s going to puke, but he verbally participates in the beating and then walks out of the room, disgusted. He goes for a walk on the beach, and Staind’s “Outside” plays as we look into Alex’s tortured face.