Caray, Caray!

That was one crazy lady! And Franco was just as crazy to marry her! But she really put on a memorable performance--a face you couldn't forget!

I am having a problem with Norma's ex husband; I came into this show late but a couple of days ago I zipped through the first DVD to get caught up, to see when Norma and Juan's eyes first met, all the lovey-dovey scenes, etc., and saw where her husband in name only attacked her on the bed after finding out she was with Juan. He slapped her and it looked like he was going to rape her, and that he would have if the family hadn't come in. My question is did he ever show true remorse for this? Norma's mother and sister seem to love him and call him an honorable man, etc. But HE should be the one in jail! That is a pretty serious thing he did to Norma, and I don't see how they could overlook that.

Also, Norma's dentist friend didn't even believe the story about the rat poison; she just assumed the worst, that they were trying to kill her. I thought wow, I'd hate to be tried for a crime and have her as one of the jurors! Too many people automatically assume things, but I didn't think the dentist friend would be quite so judgmental. Also, why don't Juan and Oscar have Quintina (sp?) testify that there were rats in the bakery? Why doesn't Juan show the sisters the rat poison? It would help his case a bit. Juan's explanation for this mess seemed very sincere to me, and I think she should have believed him right off the bat. But then there would be no story.

Other than that, the show is pretty good. I am totally new to Telenovelas--got interested in Victoria because Jeronimo caught my eye, but then I became TOTALLY hooked on La Traicion (I just wish I hadn't discovered it so late! I missed all the good stuff!). And because of LT I have to see more Mario, so here I am watching the rerun of Pasion, lol. I never watch American soaps (except for Luke and Laura in the 80's) and like how telenovelas have an ending--that they don't go on for years and years.
 

That wedding was something else!
I felt sorry for Eduvina that none of the invitees attended. Her dress was nice, not over the top, other than being white and long. Seems to me that if she were the young one, and Franco the old one, people would have attended, even if she was a gold digger. That's acceptable.

It was painful to watch her - wish it hadn't gone on for so long.
But, I did laugh when she keeled over, and fell into the wedding cake, that was the perfect touch.

Don't understand how Franco could go through with the wedding. He's like a zombie with no feelings.
I thought he was the "sensitive" one. I'm sooo glad he (and we) were spared the wedding night.
 

"Spared the wedding night", lol--yes, that is definitely something I would not want to see!
 

I agree Anya. I thought the wedding thing was painful to watch. Mocking older man-hungry women is just too easy.

I could see a hard case like Malcom marrying Eduvina but not Franco but I guess it works as a plot device.

Concerning your questions, Cindybin, I'm not sure how the DVD was edited. At one point, someone, I think it was Armando, suggested that Fernando force Norma to perform her marital obligations. He tries this, she resists and her family comes in and saves her. This was way before Fernando knew she was pregnant much less by Juan.
The Elizondos seem to forgive Fernando everything so there was some scolding but nothing more.

As far as the rat poisoning episode, I think the Reyes brothers saw that there was no way they were going to convince Norma and Jimena that they hadn't been out for revenge from the beginning and that the poisoning accusation was just the icing on the cake of their evil doing, so to speak. Put another way, even if Juan and Óscar convinced Norma and Jimena that they weren't trying to poison them, it didn't really matter. The women had been lied to and they weren't going to believe anything Juan and Óscar had to say.
 

Jean, great observation about "suicide by wedding". I think suicide is exactly how Franco was feeling. He really didn’t care if he lived after losing Rosario. This was exactly his equivalent of sacrificing his own life to benefit the loved ones he left behind.

It killed me when Edu introduced him to her guests as the new owner of the supermercados Trueba & nobody applauded, just deafening silence.

The actress playing Edu did a heck of a job. When LT started, I got a kick out of seeing the actor I knew as Edu's doctor playing Manrique, whereas most folks on the blog are seeing him the other way around!

My biggest complaint with this telenovela (and there aren't many) was with Edu dying on the wedding day. It's just a little too slick, too darn easy for Franco. Although, the boy did take a huge risk, which I guess could have paid off just this way. What I can't figure out is what 3 wealthy men would have married this woman before Franco came along? Eeeewwwww...Thank God the doctor stood up for his good character when she keeled over or he could’ve been a prime suspect in her death. Get used to that police officer. Like Duarte in LT, you'll be seeing him a lot in this show. ;-)

Note to cindybin: The near-rape of Norma by her husband isn’t really prosecuted or followed-through in any way. I’m not sure that with him being her husband if she has any legal recourse anyway, particularly in this cultural context, but the situation does get resolved in a very predictable way. (I don’t want to leak anything, but the resolution is not really a surprise.) As you may have already read here, the official DVD’ s of these telenovelas are so heavily edited that substantial chunks of the stories are lost. This was one thread that was a not a victim of editing, though. It just didn’t go anywhere.

As you’ve noted, Fernando’s mother-in-law, Gabriela & sister-in-law, Sara, think he’s the best thing since sliced bread, most likely because he comes from a good family. They just assume he’s wonderful and usually take his side rather than support Norma. (Weird but true. Norma must have been a problem child or something to deserve this attitude that they seem to have toward her. I don’t get it either.)

Like you, I’m a big fan of the lovey-dovey scenes, and many of my favorite moments were brutally edited or eliminated completely from the official DVDs. I have compiled a playlist of Favorite segments culled from my playlists of complete PDG episodes. If you’d like, send me an email address to marie_r_1658@yahoo.com & I’ll send you the link to the list. These youtube videos are not subtitled however, so if you don’t speak much Spanish they might be challenging. But fortunately, since a lot of Juan & Norma’s communication is nonverbal, you’ll still be able to understand plenty. ;-) I do have to warn you that this list contains segments from future episodes so if you don’t want to spoil anything for yourself, don’t watch anything yet that goes past episode 52 or 53, where we are as of the end of this week (or close to that). Telemundo is broadcasting 2 hour-long episodes per day, 5 days a week, if you’re keeping pace.
 

Thanks Marie, I'll send you an email this weekend. Maybe I can go to the library and use their computers--they would be much faster than mine.

In addition to the lovey scenes, I also appreciate the humor; I got a kick out of today's episode where Oscar dropped the urn with the dead husbands' ashes--that was so funny! And then when he kissed Juan in the truck because he was so happy, and Juan was all grossed out and shoved him away. It's nice to see Juan in those more "human" moments.
 

I was so happy to see Eva turn around and get on the brothers' side. Between her and Quintina, the boys actually have a chance at not being eaten alive by the rest of the world. They do a great job at helping each other see the truth.

I think Norma and Jimena believed the rat poison story. It's the: "we really did fall in love with you and not just your money/suitability for revenge" part they couldn't buy.

Not sure how I feel about Juan getting a new love interest (it's in the previews), but maybe the jealousy can help him get Norma back. That and if he has a brain (and thankfully he has Eva to help him in that department) he will at least sue for partial custody of his kid. Just saying...

I hope the "Indian Savage" guy gets a hold of Oscar before he moves out. It occurs to me that if he wants to use Jimena for more ads, he might want to use Oscar as well...

The other thing I appreciated is the fact that we might actually get a sense of what the heck happened to their parents and how long ago it was. We know the kids were relatively grown when it happened, and that the parents were killed and their hacienda burned down, but not much else (where, when, why?).

Re: Feonando's spousal rape attempts (I call him that because although he's not freak of nature or something, compared to Juan he looks like he got a serious beating with the ugly stick) - When Armando suggests it, Feonando mentions he tried, but it never worked out. Usually dad did the interrupting back then but to his credit, I think he might have actually stopped on his own when he saw terror rather than passion from Norma (I might be giving him too much credit, but he's not really evil, just useless). Of course, finding out that after all this time of keeping him at arms length she had no problem giving it up to the hired help (we know she was in love, but he just sees it as betrayal) probably set him over the edge and it looks like we'll be seeing some slimy behavior from him in the future.

I was surprised that Armando was satisfied with the Reyes bros only getting their home vandalized instead of being killed like he'd hoped. Guess he figures beggars can't be choosers.

Re: Edu's previous hubbies - She married some very old wealthy men that probably croaked within a short time of their marriage (but unlike Franco she actually had to do the deed for a while) and was turning the tables now that she was old and wealthy and could get herself a young buck to make up for the youth she wasted on the elderly. Alas, she never got that last kiss... I agree in the collective relief that we got spared their wedding night. It's bad enough we had to see Libia with the schnauzer.
 

"Libia with the schnauzer..." Margarita, you crack me up.

Aside from the wedding & Franco taking a quantuum leap up the economic ladder, what I always remember about these episodes is how Eva knew just the right button to push to get proud & stubborn Juan to give in and come live at the new ranch. I'm surprised neither of his brothers played that card, but thank God someone did. I loved how you could see Juan struggling to overcome his pride by thinking of what was best for his family, both past & future. Too sweet.

Like cindybin, I also treasure humorous moments in novelas, and Oscar kissing Juan in the pickup here was a classic. Thank God we have Oscar. He's pretty dependable for lightening up the mood.

Speaking of lightening the mood, when the novela's over & there won't be any risk of spoilers, make sure you check out the bloopers from PDG. They're included in the official DVD, and also available online by searching PDG Bloopers on youtube. I love any kind of bloopers but seeing Mario Cimarro break up is extra special. ;-)