Welcome back to Heritage House with the eighth episode of ABC’s splashy wine country drama Promised Land. The latest installment, titled “La Verdad Te Hara Libre (The Truth Shall Set You Free),” premiered today on Hulu. Margaret and Antonio are inching closer to their takeover of the family business, but are they both beginning to have a change of heart? Here’s a recap of this juicy new episode.
(ABC/Paul Sarkis)
In 1987, Marta (Ariella Amar) arrives at Heritage House and overhears Margaret (Kerri Medders) and Lettie (Katya Martín) frantically trying to save Manuel Rincón (Manuel Uriza), Billy and Joe’s father, whom Lettie just shot in self-defense. In his final words, he begs Lettie not to tell his sons that he was stealing. She promises not to tell. When he passes, Lettie wants to call the police but Margaret says they can’t, instead coming up with a plan to bury Manuel in the vineyard.
(ABC/Paul Sarkis)
CECILIA SUÁREZ, JOHN ORTIZ
In the present, Lettie (Cecilia Suárez) has her coffee in the kitchen when Joe (John Ortiz) enters, commenting on the way she tossed and turned all night. He tells her that he found out that the bones belonged to his father and she widens her eyes, saying that’s not possible. Joe brings up the last conversation he had with his dad when he told him he never wanted to see him again. He’s regretted it ever since and felt like his dad took his words to heart, but now he knows the truth. Lettie says now that he knows, he can move on. “No, Lettie,” he says, ”I want to find out who killed my father.”
In the past, Lettie found Billy (Rolando Chusan) and Rosa (Ariana Guerra) enjoying breakfast when she returned to the worker’s camp, her nail beds full of dirt. She tells them she was with Margaret as Joe (Andres Velez) works his way through the camp, trying to get other workers to join the strike for an extra water break. Billy argues that they will all be fired and new workers will be brought in, but Joe convinces Billy to join his cause.
(ABC/Paul Sarkis)
Carmen (Mariel Molino) wakes up in San Francisco, having spent the night with Nati (Gigi Zumbado), the marketing guru she hired. Both girls talk about how relationships don’t work well for them, kissing at their perfect pairing. Carmen then talks business, telling Nati that a restaurant is asking for more of their sangria and it’s become a top seller for them, but Mateo doesn’t want to produce more because he doesn’t want to be associated with it.
Mateo (Augusto Aguilera) finds Junior (Miguel Angel Garcia) in the Heritage House kitchen, informing him that Billy left town and asking if he’s okay (Father Ramos had become a mentor to Junio). Marta (Susan Ortiz) is there too and Mateo asks her how Lettie is doing as Antonio (Tonatiuh) enters, getting caught up on the current events. Carmen arrives home and Antonio teases her for doing a walk of shame in front of the family. She too is shocked that Billy left and her initial reaction is to ask how Lettie is doing, which Antonio finds funny. Carmen changes the subject, telling Mateo that they have a marketing meeting. He’s not excited about it because it’s harvest time and he doesn’t care about the sangria.
(ABC/Christopher Willard)
Antonio finds Javier (Julio Macias) in the barrel room and Javier asks if they can talk business over email instead of face-to-face. Antonio would rather talk over dinner, but Javier is adamant that they only talk business, saying the Antonio he once loved is never coming back to Sonoma. He’s clearly still upset by the way Antonio walked out on him during their last intimate moment.
(ABC/Paul Sarkis)
Joe and Antonio speak privately about the bones, with Joe determined to find out who killed his father. Antonio sees how emotional his dad is getting and says he should be used to pushing his emotions down, a lesson he learned when he was kicked out for being gay. Joe says that was the biggest regret of his life, but Antonio says it made him who he is and he’s grateful for it now. Joe tells his son that he never settled things with his father and he won’t repeat that mistake with his son.
Veronica (Christina Ochoa) goes to the gym, having rented it for a private session, when Tomas Gutierrez (Matt Cedeno) arrives, the flirtatious union negotiator from the previous episode. She tells him she is taking him up on his offer to be her sparring partner and while they box, she talks business. He gets a cramp and sits down, Veronica helping to massage his hand. She tells him that he undermined her the other night and that it won’t happen again, but she would like to continue negotiating over dinner, inviting him to Heritage House for dinner. Unlike last time, he does not proclaim this to be a date.
(ABC/Paul Sarkis)
Lettie rushes to San Francisco to visit Margaret (Bellamy Young), telling her that Joe found out that the bones are his father’s. Margaret convinces Lettie that they’ve kept the secret long enough and should tell him what happened. Lettie is afraid, so Margaret suggests they go out to dinner somewhere public so Joe can’t make a scene. Margaret gets a phone call and steps away from Lettie. “The bones in the vineyard, they’re Joe’s Father,” Antonio says on the other end of the call. Margaret is careful to make it sound like a business call, letting Antonio know that she already knew and that she’s with Lettie without saying those words.
Back in 1987, Lettie scrubs her fingers clean and gets emotional, looking down at a bench engraved with “Lettie + Billy.” Billy approaches and asks Lettie if she’s okay, confessing his love for her as she breaks down. She tells him the truth, that his father broke into Heritage House and that she killed him to save Margaret, apologizing. “It’s over now,” he says, pulling her into a hug. Later, Billy consoles her as she watches Joe talking with workers. Billy tells her it wouldn’t be wise to tell Joe, saying the work he’s doing is important. Lettie tells Billy that she loves him.
Veronica is cooking when the doorbell rings and Lettie brings Tomas in, who brought a bottle of tequila. Lettie excuses herself, announcing that she is having dinner with Joe. Veronica asks Tomas to cook with her in the spirit of collaborating, but she already started and asks him to taste the sauce. It’s spicy and Tomas becomes speechless. She chooses this time to talk about the amount of wage increase she’s willing to offer, which is lower than he was fighting for.
In Nati’s office, Mateo and Carmen argue, but Carmen begs him to listen to Nati’s ideas. She pitches a viral ad campaign, with a long-term goal of having their sangria in high-end restaurants within one year and in supermarkets within two. Mateo confesses to being a wine snob and not caring about this sangria and Nati gets an idea for their brand, sweet and spicy, like their opposing personalities.
(ABC/Paul Sarkis)
Lettie goes to the barrel room and finds Joe swamped with work and stressed, telling her he needs to cancel dinner. She reminds him that she had something important to discuss, but she is distracted when she sees Antonio leading Marta into a meeting room, asking why Marta is there. “She’s been the eyes and ears of Heritage House for 35 years,” Joe says. “She must know something.” Lettie follows Joe into the room and watches as he and Antonio question Marta, who says she knows nothing about the bones while playing with a bracelet on her wrist. Joe gets angry and Antonio asks Lettie to take Joe to dinner, but he says he’s not going and instead leaves to work on preparations for the harvest.
Alone with Marta, Antonio says “You just lied to my father. I sincerely hope you don’t do the same to me.” He admires her bracelet of the patron saint of truth and recalls a memory from his youth from the day his mother Margaret left. He asked Marta when his mom would be back and remembers that she began to play with her bracelet as she lied. She becomes emotional in a good way, saying “I knew your secret before you did and I loved you even more for it. You were fearless. Not just because of who you loved, but how you loved with your whole heart, never afraid of being hurt until Joe sent you away. And then this hardness took over.” Marta reminds Antonio that his father loves him and that he grew up in another time and did what he did to protect his son. “You have to protect him, the same way he protected you,” she pleads. Antonio tells her he needs to know what he’s protecting Joe from, begging her to tell him the truth.
(ABC/Paul Sarkis)
Antonio rushes to Margaret and says “Marta told me. I know it was you and Lettie who killed my grandfather.” He sees the way it’s torturing Joe and wants Margaret to tell him what happened. But Margaret’s allegiance lies with Lettie, who saved her life that night. She tells Antonio that it’s up to Lettie to tell him and he accuses her of having a soft spot, being afraid to break Joe’s heart.
(ABC/Paul Sarkis)
Dinner has gone well for Veronica and Tomas, who are now drinking wine. They bond over the fact that he’s divorced and she is going through one, coming to business terms that include ten days of paid leave and the revival of the English as a Second Language (ESL) program that Lettie started. They clink glasses in cheers and move to the barrel room to find the finest wine at Heritage House. Toasting again, he moves in for a kiss and Veronica stops him. But then she is the one to lean in and initiate a make-out session.
Carmen and Mateo are filming a commercial for the sangria in his barrel room, but the shoot is not going well. Afterward, Mateo tells Carmen that her vision is amazing, but it’s not what he’s passionate about. “I want you to have the company,” he tells her. She hugs and thanks him, saying she will buy him out, which is a relief because he has bills to pay.
Back in 1987, Rosa gets a call that she has been accepted into junior college. Billy and Joe arrive, having gotten all of the workers on board with the strike. They open a bottle of wine to celebrate and Joe says “I just wish my father were here to see this.” Lettie seems like she’s about to tell him what happened but instead asks him to keep her company while Rosa is gone. He promises he will always be there for her.
In the present, Lettie stands at the old workers' camp reminiscing. She walks over to the bench and looks at the etching, which now says “Lettie + Billie + Mateo.” She suddenly imagines young Billy behind her, telling him how happy they were. The specter of Billy tells her she needs to tell Joe what happened and she cries, saying she’s scared. Billy reminds her that she’s the bravest woman in the world. “Where are you, Billy?”, she asks. “You know where I am,” the phantom responds. She moves to touch him, but it’s just air.
(ABC/Paul Sarkis)
Lettie pulls up to Heritage House and notices Margaret’s car parked outside. She rushes in to find Margaret telling Joe the truth about his father. “Why didn’t you tell me?”, he angrily asks Lettie. When Lettie says she tried last night, he yells that she had thirty years to tell him. “You let me believe that I drove him away. You saw that pain and you said nothing.” Lettie promises to regret that forever but says she doesn’t regret what she did, saying if it happened again she would save her friend. “I think you should leave,” Joe says. Margaret looks down, unable to make eye contact with Lettie.
On the day Rosa left in 1987, Margaret was at Lettie’s side. Rosa and Lettie hugged and Rosa called Lettie by her real name, Juana. Margaret consoled her friend as she said goodbye to her sister.
(ABC/Paul Sarkis)
The next morning, Veronica brings Joe a copy of the final union negotiations and he almost immediately notices the return of the ESL program, which Veronica says was important to Lettie. Joe gets angry, tearing the paper in half. Veronica called the agreement a win-win, but Joe says he just wanted a win. He says he is reopening negotiations, which makes Veronica furious. She tells him he’s being selfish and that he’s not thinking about Heritage House. “I AM HERITAGE HOUSE!”, he screams at her.
Back in 1987, O. M. Honeycroft (Tom Amandes) hears about the strike and goes to the vineyard. Joe is the one who steps forward, clearly the leader of the strike, and O. M. asks his foreman Gonzo (E. Ambriz DeColosio) to do something. Instead, Gonzo takes off his hat and joins the workers. “This is a war now,” O. M. threatens, telling everyone that he will hire the next busload of workers that arrives. Joe counters, saying “We like our chances.” Billy leads the workers in a walk around the property.
Lettie has gone to Mateo’s house, cooking him dinner in gratitude for hosting her. When someone knocks on the door, they’re both confused because Mateo wasn’t expecting anyone. Mateo goes to check the door and calls back that it’s someone to see Lettie. She quietly prays that it’s Joe, having come to his senses and there to apologize. She was not prepared to see her sister Rosa (Jacqueline Obradors) standing in her son’s living room.
(ABC/Christopher Willard)
That night, Antonio goes to see Javier, who tells him it better be about work. Antonio comes clean about his intentions to destroy his father and take control of Heritage House, rambling about his theories about Carlos Rincón, the name that startled Joe when Mateo said it at the anniversary party in the first episode. He produces a wallet that Marta gave him, which was from the body of the man whose bones were recently unearthed. Inside the wallet is a card identifying the man as Manuel Rincón and a photo of him with young Billy and Joe. Antonio has learned that the real Joe Sandoval was a math teacher who died in 1986, the same year his father came to Sonoma. “He’s undocumented,” he concludes. Javier asks Antonio what he’s going to do with this information. Antonio talks about how he let his anger consume him, which kept him away from the people who love him most. He’s decided not to do anything, tearing up as he vows to take his father’s secret with him to the grave. “There you are,” Javier says, moved by Antonio’s return to form and leaning in to kiss him.
(ABC/Christopher Willard)
In the final scene, we see Margaret sitting across from someone in her office, their identity is hidden from our view. She tells the person on the other side of the table that Joe has changed and is no longer capable of running Heritage House. Margaret announces that she’s launching a takeover of Heritage House and, with the person on the other side of the table owning lots of shares, she would like to join forces. The camera pans around. “Let’s talk,” Veronica says.
(ABC/Paul Sarkis)
The twists and turns just keep on coming. We conclude with a look at next week’s episode, streaming March 22nd on Hulu and titled “La Cosecha (The Harvest)”
It’s harvest time and Joe finds himself in a standoff with the labor union, while Mateo and Carmen scramble to pick from the harvest for their labels. Veronica and Antonio weigh offers from Margaret, and Lettie makes a major decision. Young Joe strikes a deal on behalf of his fellow workers.