Cane looks to be this generation's
Dynasty with a Latin flair. Beautiful people, gorgeous scenes, great music and lots of drama are all featured in the pilot episode. In the first scene we're educated a bit on the Cuban tradition of the cultivation of sugar cane and we learn that the Duque family is known for their rum.
The Duque family is led by Pancho (
Hector Elizondo) and his wife Amalia (
Rita Moreno). Their three natural children are Frank (
Nestor Carbonell), Isabel Vega (
Paola Turbay), and Henry (
Eddie Matos), and a foster son, Alex Vega (
Jimmy Smits). Alex is also Pancho's son in law. In this episode, Pancho is told that he has only 6 months to a year to live.
We have our requisite rivalry with the neighboring Samuels clan, who tried to put the Duques out of business in the past. The Samuels children, Ellis and Lamont, tell the Duques that the father, Joe, is on his deathbed and that they want to bury the hatchet and do business with them. They want to purchase the Duque's fields with the agreement to also provide the Duques with the molasses needed for their rum at 10% off cost.
Alex Vega is a typical big businessman. Cell phone attached to his ear, he does business even as he tries to be a family man. The Vega's are at the park to watch little Artie Vega try out for the little league baseball all star team. Alex sees this stranger watching the kids and he seems to recognize him. Alex flashes back to a scene and where we see a gun go off and a younger version of this man and he goes to confront him. In Spanish, Alex asks if he knows him and the stranger tells Alex that he's mistaken and walks off with a limp.
Isabel notices the man also and when later she asks Alex about him, he lies to her about him. He then goes to the police station and identifies him as a man named Quinonez, who was in the states before, was sent back to Cuba and is now back on a visa. Quinonez has a pretty violent record, which obviously didn't stop his visa from being approved. Alex is told by his police officer friend that Quinonez' visa was sponsored by Samuels Sugar company. On his way to Pancho's house, Alex has another flashback and in this one he sees fire and a dead body and we hear someone say that Lucia is dead.
Later at the Duque familial home, Frank and Henry are trying to convince Pancho to sell out to the Samuels but Alex is against it. He tells them that the reason the Samuels are so anxious to buy now is that the Senate is about to sign a bill to subsidize the production of sugar for fuel, instead of corn. This is where we first hear the line “Sugar is the new oil”. Frank and Alex fight and Frank storms off. Alex tells Pancho that if he feels he needs to sell out, sell ... but never to the Samuels. He shows Pancho the information that he got about Quinonez and tells Pancho that he thinks Quinonez killed Pancho's daughter, Lucia. Alex is convinced that the Samuels have brought him back for nefarious reasons and tells Pancho about him being at the try out.
In addition to Artie, the Vegas have two other children, 17 yr old Katie and a son, Jaime, who has been admitted to MIT, but doesn't want to go. In fact, Jaime, is not going and tells his girlfriend, Rebecca, that he will tell his dad why at the big Duque party.
Oh, ho, ho ... now we see why Frank is so adamant about selling out to the Samuels. It seems that Ellis Samuels and Frank Duque have quite a little thing going on. Talk about a hot sex scene ... And when Pancho tells Frank that he's decided not to sell to the Samuels, and that in fact, he's making Alex the President and CEO of the company, Frank is really not happy. There's gonna be trouble there, count on it.
Earlier we saw this guy washing Alex's car and they made a point of focusing on a tattoo on his hand. Alex finds this guy, Santos, and talks to him. This tattoo is a prison gang symbol. Alex makes a deal with this guy, offers him a good paying job, and tells him to bring his gang friend to Pancho's house tomorrow for the party.
This party is something else. Music, food, alcohol, you name it, it's there. Tons of people and lots of dancing, everyone seeming to have a good time. Even the Samuels show up. In passing we see Frank and Ellis conspiring. Pancho calls his family to a meeting and tells them that he's splitting the company three ways: each of his natural children will get 30% and the remaining 10% will go to Alex. This will give Alex control of the company. Frank storms off and Henry follows him.
Pancho wants to talk to the Samuels right now. Alex wants to wait, but is overruled. When Pancho tells them that he's not selling, Ellis is furious and asks for Frank. When she walks off, Alex watches her and sees a signal pass between her and Frank as she leaves the party. This is when we find out that the kids have lied and the old man Samuels, played by Ken Howard, is not nearly as sick as they said he was. He's not on his death bed, and he's not ready to bury the hatchet. When they tell him that Pancho won't sell, he says that there is no more time for reasonableness.
Back at the party, Artie has disappeared. Alex freaks and has people looking for him. Alex finds him off alone with Quinonez. He's lured him with a new bat and is showing him some tips, I guess. Alex loses his mind and for a minute there it looks as if Alex is gonna kill the man with his own bat. Uniformed security shows up and Alex has him thrown off the property.
Alex goes to the Samuels house and confronts the old man with what he knows. Alex has put together his flashbacks and tells him that he knows that the Samuels hired Quinonez to kidnap then three year old Lucia out of her crib. He tell him that while most people think it was Pancho that shot Quinonez and his brother, it was actually him, Alex that did the shooting. Alex tells old man Samuels to call off his dogs or he will come back after him.
When Alex gets back to the party, he whispers something to Santos. In turn, Santos whispers something to his friend and they go off.
There is a beautiful fireworks display to end the party. We see Pancho and Amalia, Alex, Isabel and the kids. Jaime tells his dad that he reports to Fort Benning in 60 days, and Alex just hugs his son and we see a glint of tears in his eyes.
Santos has Quinonez. He calls Alex and Alex gives him the order to finish him. We hear a gunshot and see Santos and his friend burying the body.
Wow, what an action packed episode of
Cane, brought to us with few commercials thanks to Chevy. In future episodes of
Cane, Quinonez' body is found, the Samuels cause trouble, Frank causes trouble. This is just like a night time soap. I can hardly wait to see what will happen next.
-Ladytex, BuddyTV Forum Moderator
(Image courtesy of CBS)