Sunday, August 05, 2007

Amar #13 - I can't seem to come up with a catchy title

Hello all – I have finally made it back to Telenovelaland. Thanks again to Klee for covering for me these last couple weeks. I didn’t realize that most of the Amar recappers have been pulling double duty, doing both this show and Accorolada! That’s commitment. Anyway, I’ve caught up with recaps and watching a few episodes. The weirdest unexplained thing so far is Leonarda and Andres. WTF. She looks embalmed and I can’t figure out what the relationship is between the two of them. The whole thing is creepy. On with the show –

We see, again, Azul’s happy reunion with Arnaldo. She is insistent that something is different about him. My wife subscribes to TV y Novelas magazine and they don’t believe in saving spoilers, so I know what it is that is so ‘different’ about him, but I won’t say. I have to remember to not read that magazine until it is two weeks old already. For example, it had a spread on the Fernando/Lety wedding at the end of La Fea before the show was actually over. Maybe we’ll get to see what’s up with Arnaldo this very episode so I don’t have to keep secrets.

We also see again Mauricio (I like the use of Morris or Mo here, so if I use either of those that’s who I am referring to. I also LOVE ‘Morticia’ for Silvana. It’s perfect.) Morris is let into the apartment, where he explains to Gloria that he’s looking for Morticia because it was his wife who died in the same accident as Nicolas. Gloria says she is Nicolas’s grandmother, confirming Morris’s and Andres’s suspicions. He says he wants to offer Morticia help, Gloria tells him that she’s still all messed up in the head about the accident and isn’t likely to want to talk about it. He gives Gloria one of his cards and asks to have Morticia call him. He puts on a good show of being genuinely concerned, which of course is total BS.

Arnaldo gives Azul some nice thong panties as a gift. We are totally ripped off, she doesn’t go try them on and model them. I read in a recap a while back that the camera was obsessed with Azul’s butt, that must have been for just that episode. I haven’t seen any lingering shots in the episodes I’ve watched, and here we get denied a thong. Ah well, there is bound to be something for me in here. You ladies all seem to think Diego is quite a piece, and he keeps taking his shirt off or something, so there will something for us guys sooner or later. Anyway, Arnaldo senses that there is a story behind Azul, Morris, and this ‘other guy.’ Azul doesn’t want to get into it. She turns it on him – why is he so sad? He doesn’t go into detail but says he had some problems and sometimes they even make him cry. Cecilia enters and they are introduced. She has the hots for him immediately and it’s obvious.

Ines practices her cello and cries, I guess she isn’t playing well enough. Grouchy scientist dude (I can’t remember the full abbreviation, I’m going back to GSD for now) tries to encourage her. He does a pretty good job, he goes so far as to basically tell her it makes him horny to hear her play, even out of practice.

Mama wants to know what’s up with Diego and Morticia, are they fighting? He says no, they just aren’t together at the moment. He tries to blow it off. She asks about the ‘mother of her grandchildren’ and Diego doesn’t really answer, just says something like “what are we going to do with you?” I’m noticing that so far I haven’t been able to hate on anybody really, or make fun of anybody, this show seems to be much more well-written and well-acted than Duelo (by a long shot) and Heridas. I remember being able to mock Heridas endlessly due to some horrible writing. Maybe something will show up here, I need to mock something to feel right about writing recaps. It’s part of the process.

Cecilia confesses to Azul about wanting to jump Arnaldo, Azul tells her to calm down. Arnaldo comes in and offers to cook for them. Cecilia throws herself at him and takes him to the kitchen. Wasn’t she about to do Diego the other day, now this?

Morris scowls his way back into his own house and has a flashback of the day of the accident, with Leonarda telling him that his wife ran off with the kids and anything could happen. We don’t have any colors in the flashback, the previous shows I watched all had some colored flashbacks. Everything is much more serious here. Back in the present, he gets a phone call but he ignores it. Azul was calling, she leaves a message that she wants to talk to him about something. Morris goes to his reflecting pool and scowls some more.

Paco and Lidia are fighting, he tells her to go off with her boss then, whatever. She makes some excuse that doesn’t really make sense. I’m with Paco (mostly) on this, his woman is screwing him over.

Diego is having a meal with abuelo and his buddy. They discuss abuelo’s work at the Men’s Wearhouse. Abuelo gripes that he couldn’t find work now because everyone wants young women instead of someone like him with 50 years of experience. The buddy suggests having abuelo work full time at the Men’s Wearhouse, abuelo says “Really? You think I could?” Diego says of course he could. (Duh, why would abuelo think he couldn’t? There are already other old guys working there anyway and Diego seems to be the boss. What was he thinking?) They toast the idea.

Morticia is back at Gloria’s, beside herself with the news that Morris had been there. She goes nuts at the idea that Morris wanted to help her. Gloria tries to defend him but Morticia calls him a maldita desgraciado, not a very nice thing. Morticia wants to know if Gloria told where she was staying, Gloria says no, because Morticia doesn’t tell her anything anyway!

Diego hangs up the phone with a sad look on his face, pretending to deliver bad news. He tells abuelo that he can start the next morning. Ha ha what a great joke. They all laugh and celebrate.

Morris asks Leonarda what’s for dinner, she’s making some sort of salmon. He leaves. Azul calls looking for Morris, Leonarda lies and says he isn’t there. She says he’s doing yoga or something like that and says she’ll deliver the message. Morris comes back in and says he’s taking a bath before dinner. He says it like he’s inviting her to join him, or something. Every scene with Leonarda doesn’t make sense. I’m getting a little irritated at that. We need to know what’s up with her already.

Lidia and her boss are discussing some percentage of something when boss’s wife arrives. The boss complains about the babysitter being late. Lidia compliments the wife on her slit up to her waist dress, they look at each other like they want to go to the other room and strip each other down. Lots of weird undercurrents going on in this show. Tell me, anyone, if it didn’t look like they were about to lunge at each other and start doing the lamprey kiss like Lidia and the boss. It totally looked like that.

Morris is moping outside and drinking wine. Azul is calling him again, finally gets him on the phone. She invites him over, he says he doesn’t feel like it. Morris says something about the contract with GSD and says not to tell him, Azul says he isn’t there, and besides Arnaldo isn’t in a hurry to talk to him so he isn’t coming. Then she says there isn’t any problem between them. (confusing, please tell me if I missed something) Morris does his charming act and gives her a kiss over the phone and hangs up.

Now it appears that Lidia is going to watch the kids so boss and boss’s wife can go out. Lots of small talk about nothing. Boss seems like he doesn’t like the idea, but the women tell him it’s fine.

Morticia has a flashback to Morris’s wife in the car with the kids, calling her in a panic. Morticia wants to know what she discovered, but the flashback ends before we get an answer. Back in the present, she mopes some more.

Lidia goes through boss’s wife’s closet. She gets a phone call from boss, she rolls around in the boss’s be when she’s talking to him. I don’t know why she enjoys this so much, but whatever.

Diego comes into Morticia’s room, she runs to him like he saved her from a fire. She tells him that Morris is looking for her. Diego tries to defend Morris like Gloria before, Morticia just acts freaked out.

Arnaldo yells at the girls to wake up and eat breakfast, he has put out a huge spread. The ladies dig in.

Morris and Andres discuss Morticia, that she is very angry and nutty as a loon. Morris doesn’t understand why she hates him so much, what did his wife tell her before the accident? He wants to find out.

Ines practices some more, she sounds better. It has only been one day, wow! The doorbell rings and she angrily wants to know who it is, it turns out to be Arnaldo and she is very excited to see him. We get a camera angle from behind the cello, with Arnaldo looking at it in fear. WTF? Did he have an unfortunate cello accident when he was younger and now he’s scared of them?

Diego and Morticia have coffee. Diego wants her to call Morris, she doesn’t want to. He offers to talk to Morris for her.

Azul arrives for work and is greeted by Morris. Just then his phone rings, it is Diego calling him. Morticia takes the phone away from Diego, she wants to know why he is looking for her. Morris tells her that he has some of Nico’s things at his house. He fast talks and gets off the phone fast, to leave her confused.

GSD nags Azul about finishing her degree. She tells him that Arnaldo arrived and invites him over. GSD is all tweaked that he’s back in Mexico after all this time and couldn’t even call. What a grouch. He wants to know where Arnie is staying, Azul says with a female friend.

Right now, Arnie is with Ines. She immediately tries to get into his love life. He says he’s staying in Mexico and she’ll understand when he tells his story. He changes the subject to her cello, she tells that she was invited to join a quartet but she’s nervous about it.

Diego tries to talk Morticia into going to Morris’s house to get Nico’s stuff that he has there.

Azul enters Morris’s office. She wants to know about his conversation with Morticia. Azul thinks everything will work out fine.

At work, Lidia’s boss is asking her if she looked in his night table, everything at his house looked like she had been going through it. She wants to know what the big deal is, what does he have in there? A diary? She is acting more and more psycho in each scene. What does boss expect anyway, having his teenage piece on the side alone in the house with his kids? She tells him that only wives snoop and she would never marry someone like him. She thinks she’s being flirtatious, apparently, though it’s lost on me. I’ve also noticed that towards the second half of this episode the scenes have gotten shorter, I’m getting some Duelo déjà vu.

Caty comes into Azul’s office. She didn’t dream about Nicolas last night, she wants to know if that’s good or bad. Azul’s answer is so melodramatic that Caty worries that she’s sad. Azul cheers up falsely and says some BS about everyone being happy and loving each other and working together.

Arnaldo returns to the apartment and Cecilia tries to fix her hair up with her hands, she wants him bad. He invites her to join him clothes shopping. She loves his clothes already, but yes she’ll go.

Abuelo arrives with Diego to the Men’s Wearhouse for his first day of work. He is welcomed warmly, especially by the other old guy that is always so nice to Diego. For some reason Lidia shows up and asks Diego a favor. She has a drawing of a dress, she says it’s from a picture from a magazine, he recognizes immediately who the designer is, she wants him to make her a knockoff. I’m guessing it’s the dress that boss’s wife was wearing, or one she found in the closet. Diego says he can’t make a knockoff, but she pouts and he agrees. Chucho – that’s the old guy’s name. Diego says Chuco will make the dress, he’s the best guy for that. Perla, the woman who works on the floor, show sup and Diego introduces her to Lidia. Diego sure likes to hug and kiss people, I don’t question his intent but most of his touchy feely behavior would get him in a lot of harassment trouble here in the U.S.

Morticia tells Gloria about the conversation with Morris. Gloria is muy impactada at the idea that Morris has something of Nicolas’s at his house. She begs Morticia to go get these ‘things.’ She gets waaaay bent out of shape and dramatic about it. Morticia calls Morris to arrange a meet. She tells him to not forget to bring Nicolas’s things. After hanging up, Morris tells Andres to buy some stuff that would belong to a little boy to give to Morticia. Morris tells Andres that he (Andres) is his right hand man for these kind of things. Andres doesn’t seem to like this at all.

Papa goes to the pool hall to see Gisela. She sees him and is not pleased. He says he wants to be friends. She says she’s busy. Paco shows up and says sorry he’s late. Gisela says this is his last chance, show up late again and he’s fired. Papa wants to know why he isn’t on the trip with Lidia’s boss.

Andres has a box full of toys, Leonarda says it all smells too new. She says it’s no good, they need something more personal. She goes to see Caty and has her draw a picture, but not put her name on it. I guess they’ll pass it off as Nico’s. Leonarda is pleased with herself. Andres says he could have drawn that himself, but Leonarda rightly points out that anyone would know if an adult drew it.

Morticia tells Diego by phone of her meeting with Morris. Diego agrees to go with her. Cecilia shows up with Arnaldo, he’s looking for a suit. I would guess that Cecilia told Arnaldo who Diego is, but there doesn’t seem to be any awkwardness, like “this is the guy who wants to do your sister.” Anyway, Diego helps them look for a suit. When Arnaldo goes to try on the suit, Cecilia tries to get metiche and wants to know how Diego is doing, and doesn’t he want to know about Azul? Diego plays it cool. He wants to know, though, why she brought the brother here. I guess Arnaldo doesn’t have any idea who Diego is. She says she came to see him, to see how he was, and besides he’s the best tailor in Mexico. Sure. She’s just a huge gossip. Arnaldo returns and says he likes the stuff, then starts asking about how Diego and Azul know each other. Diego says he knows her less than he would like, Arnaldo asks how would he like to know her? Diego says he wants to marry her. Impactado looks all around. The impactado looks here are better than the other shows I’ve done recently, more realistic. None of that overly dramatic stuff. At least not so far.

Monday – Arnaldo appears to tell Azul that Diego wants to marry her, and Morticia meets with Morris. Then we see her hiding behind a plant and firing a gun. Does anyone really believe she shoots him? Me neither.

Labels:


Comments:
Welcome back, Chris. I agree with you about this novela: nothing to make fun about. I find it quite dull so far, and I haven't been able to sit through an entire episode that I am not recapping. I like Mauricio's mansion, however. I think it looks like a hotel. I wonder if they are filming it at a hotel.

If you want to see thong bikinis, you should tune in to Acorralada, because the girls often wear them there.
 

''The cello makes me horny.'' ...Wow...How many times have we all heard that !!! [????] And, Ferro, reflecting on your comment about your need to mock being part of the writing process...you and Heminway...peas in a pod. I wonder if Leonarda is the mother of Morris and Andreas ? She is a mystery. I am confused about Morticia...is she the girl who left Diego at the beginning of this telenovela? I must admit that I just can't totally commit to this show. Diego is okay, but he is no Rodrigooo or Luisssss. Whenever I look at him, I can't help picturing him in a red bandana defending Hippolita's honor and getting stabbed in the surf for his trouble. I always look forward to your clever recaps , Ferro. Thanks.
 

I ended up going back and watching more of this episode. The point where Mo tells Andres to buy some fake toys was chilling. What a creep. We still don't know what his wife was fleeing, though, do we?
 

Nope, we don't know that yet. I guess she found out something about his shady dealings, I would guess. I'm sure we'll find out at the very end, like the secret of the Cofre in Duelo.
Susanlynn, Morticia is not the girl who left Diego at the beginning of the show, she just showed up out of nowhere and he took her in like a stray dog. I still can't figure out how/why he suddenly felt the need to devote his life to her, especially when she's so clearly unbalanced.
I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call this show dull, though it definitely has that capability. In a month or so, when they get to that point that all novelas reach and they start pumping filler to make the show longer, I hope it doesn't turn into complete dullsville. Heridas suffered from some of that. Lots of people running around in circles doing nothing for months on end. Duelo did that too, but there was so much unintentional comedy there was something to pay attention to. The improved writing/acting in this show actually has the possibility of hurting it rather than helping it, unless they put in some good twists and turns that actually make some sense. Throwing in some beefcake for you ladies and a little T&A for me wouldn't hurt either.
 

I, for one, think that the beefcake is in short supply in this show. I am in no way even remotely attracted to : 1]weird Morris, 2] Abuelo, 3]Diego's cranky father, 4]Lidia's smug, face-eating , womanizing boss, or 5]Azula's grumpy, cello-loving father. We NEED [''got to, got to have it''...SORRY, I went to an Al Green/B.B.King concert last night, and I am still grooving to the beat] Andreas in the swimming pool soon...and not in his clothing like Morris [Que the hell was that about anyway???] Diego is okay, but a little too cloyingly sweet for my tastes. I think that this show needs a shot of macho. JMHO Ferro~Thanks for the explanation about Morticia. She seemed to drop out of the sky onto Diego, so trying to make sense of her sudden appearance, I thought perhaps she was the old girlfriend who ran out on him. Wonder if we will ever meet her. Ferro~ If you are missing the mocking aspect of telenovela viewing , you MUST [''got to , got to do it''---again SORRY..and again I will blame Al Green/B.B.King] watch ''Destilando Amor.'' Sergio Sendel [Cesar/Sleazer of Heridas] is meeting his personal best as a hedonistic, cellphone smashing , womanizing embezzler [when ever I watch him break a cellphone , I can actually hear Verizon stock rising] , and Chantal Andere [Nasty Antonia in Amor Real] is bringing the crazy to recordbreaking heights in this one. There's also the Little Mermaid ...I can't even begin to get into that one right now...let me just wet your appetite by telling you that she has hair the color of a Raggedy Ann doll and collagen plumped lips and she spends a lot of time in a BIKINI beside the pool waiting for the Mexican cellphone smashing champion to visit. Then, there's crazy Acacia who recently buried her dirty old uncle under a pile of rocks in the barn after pitchforking him to death . I could go on and on...Frankie, the gigolo, Rodrigooo [my fav] who can only ''perform'' for his onetruelove [and I am not talking about singing and dancing] . And... Luba is in it !!! But in this one, instead of playing the mother of a braindamaged son, she seems to be the one who got knocked on the head. You would have material to mock aplenty. Give it a look...you won't be sorry .
 

P.S. I forgot Mexican Larry...He's in Destilando , too. He plays a smarmy lawyer adept at dirty business dealings and kissing up to people...''Want some candy ?'' He wears glasses in Destilando and doesn't seem worried about someone putting a curse on him. ....AND, by the way, someone SHOULD definitely put a curse on him....maybe some ''swelling in the humid zones'' [shout out to Diego of ''Alborada.''] I would love to hear your take on these crazy characters. I forgot to mention Isadora !!! ...well, another time perhaps.
 

My wife started watching Destilando. When in Mexico last month, she started watching with her sister (it's a few months ahead there) so now at home she's catching up. She records it on the downstairs TV though, and watches it during the day when she's down there, so I don't ever see it even by accident. I'll see if I can catch one or two episodes on a weekend sometime, just to get a little crazy back into my novela world. Thanks for checking in here, I'm missing the old gang from Duelo! I'd follow along with Juan Q but I haven't watched and I don't know if I can fit another show into my busy schedule. I don't even watch my own show every day, I rely on recaps during the week. I'll have to come over there and say hello.
 

Ferro~~~I think that you would get a big kick out of Destilando. I gave Sylvia a sales pitch on it before she left on vacation [I did a power point presentation...I had coloredcoded pie charts , tables, and graphic organizers], and I think that she might give it a try when she returns. Whenever I watch it and read the recaps, I can't help but wonder what you and Sylvia would be saying about it . If you need the Cliff Notes to catch up without reading all the great recaps that all the excellent translators have provided, I would be happy to do a very quick recap of the actual recaps for you and Sylvia...kind of a Destilando annotation. For example, my quick recap of ''Gone With the Wind'' might go something like this ~~~ Setting : The South just before, during, and after the Civil War. Scarlett O'Hara wants , wants, WANTS Ashley Wilkes but can't get him because he marries his cousin Melanie [Que the hell ???] So Scar marries Frank, her sister's intended. Frank gets shot and dies. Scarlett gets Rhett Butler but doesn't want him. Melanie dies , so she could FINALLY have Ashley , but she no longer wants him...she wants Rhett. She returns to her plantation [Tara] to wait for the South to rise again and to figure out how to get Rhett back. The End.~~~ I could do a similar Reader's Digest Condensed Destilando if you like. ~~~Susanlynn, waiting for the North to rise again and trying to figure out a way to get either Fernando Colunga AND/OR Eduardo Yanez
 

P.s. I just had to tell you that today's secret letters for word verification were---UNNOZLA. Gee. That could be the name of a telenovela heroine. ''Unnozzla, Your lips are like red, ripe cherries. Your eyes are like whirlpools. They make me dizzy. I love you. You make my blood boil. If you kiss me, I'll show you my cofre. Leave your rich , depraved husband and run away with me to a deserted island, mi vida, mi amor, mi Unnozla.'' [Insert big, sloppy facesucking kiss HERE.]
 

Wow, with Chris doing the Friday recaps again and susanlynn it feels like old home week for the duelo gang.

I agree this novela's better production values, writing and to some extent acting make it harder to mock.

Another thing I noticed is how more "real life" they are making this show. It's not about super rich hacienda owners. Mo is a corrupt rich guy but you imagine he's gotten his castle and bling with his shady deals, not through an inheritance. It also looks like most of his wealth is paper, like once the world knows his evil secret, he'll be ruined.

Most of the characters have money troubles and family problems. I am sorry, but I like my novelas kind of dumb and pure escapist fantasy. I have enough reality.

The other odd thing is that this (and Juan Queredon I guess) are centered around GUYS instead of girls. Heck, until recently, it seems like they were mostly named for the main heroine of the show--Rubi, the "Marias," Peregrina, etc. The women here are pretty non-traditional too--We've already had two fantasy scenes with Azul attacking Diego.

The hyperventilating tension in this show may be enough to get us to mock it eventually but at least the writers don't seem to be insulting us like they did in Duelo. I'd rather have the escapism though!! Bring on the Pirates!
 

Oh, one other thing--we finally know Azul's academic status. She hasn't gotten her B.A. yet. I forgot that in Latin America, to graduate with the basic degree of Lic. you have to do all the classwork and a tesis, too. That makes the Lic. actually a little more involved than a BA kind of like the Bachiller title is more than just a high school diploma, there's a year or so of courses in a specialized track, depending on what you will go into next--Somebody who will be studying Engineering will usually take advanced Math/Sci courses, Liberal Arts people will take Language and Lit or Soc. Science. I gusss in the US we are moving closer to that model with the prevalence of International Baccalaurate programs and AP classes.
 

Margaret~~~Like you, I am all about the escaping , and I have had to make myself stop thinking about pirates and Fernando in a bandana and thigh high boots because these mental images were interfering with my real life , and I was fainting at inappropriate times [work meetings, family dinners, etc.]. However. I am pretty sure that this telenovela is mockable. We may just have to try a little harder. I am also hoping that we eventually get to see Andreas [my beloved Marcos from Alborada] : 1] swimming and 2] smiling. It will be worth the wait. He seems to have a pretty minor role. I am also enjoying seeing Blanca of Duelo looking foxy and acting spunky. Bring on the spunk, Blanca. And, I have a feeling that judging by the cello comment Azul's father has the potential to be muy mockable. I also think that we can work with the ''Lidia and the faceeating boss and wronged wife'' thing.
 

And I thought I was the only one who wants to see if Andres has dimples! I've never seen him before, so I'm curious to see how this goes.

I've been having a hard time mocking the show since most of my time is spent trying to figure out what the heck is going on.

I think Hannibaletta (aka Leo) definitely has potential; she's pretty frightening. Lidia and the face-sucking boss have potential based on what I've seen so far. Azul has pulled some pretty bone-headed moves, such as getting her best friend fired and evicting her for getting drunk with Diego. Morticia's mom also seems a bit strange.

I think it's just going to take a little time to see the roles evolve!
 

i never thought i would say it but i also miss the absurdities of Duelo ... i can't make it through an entire episode of this dullsville. cindy
 

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