Caray, Caray!

Thanks for the post and heads up Jean. They had been re-airing "Paraiso" in the 2 PM slot last week but I guess that was just for that week. Yesterday (thursday) they had another round table discussion about it (they had one the day it started). Now that they started a re-run of "Frijolito" I guess that slot is no longer open so they're taking it from PdG :( Sigh, hopefully they'll move it back to 2 hours once they're done with the "Juramento" opening week.

Re: Raquel et al impromptu bath - I felt they deserved something, but it was a bit much. Then again, Raquel recently had Benito hosed outside the house 'cause he tripped on a manure pile. Guess she had something similar coming, but her losing the wig was pretty humiliating. I have no idea why they cast someone so young (relatively speaking) in the role. It's not like she has to be fit to do acrobatics or something.

That Dinora is one sick puppy. She's almost as bad a thug as Armando. At least she went straight for the guy that turned her down rather than trying to knock off everyone around him.

I liked the sweet scene with Eva and Melissa. Melissa 'caused trouble as Eva foresaw, but luckily it was in her favor!
 

Today was a good day to record (and keep) because the DVD set skips right over Juan and Norma's romantic date and all the wonderful things they say to each other.

I am not looking forward to the violence coming up, though.
 

What was the last thing that happened on Friday? I'm so far behind it's scary! Thanks.
 

Marie: Juan and Norma had a romantic date (Oscar and Franco talked him into taking a good car instead of the truck--I thought he should have taken the truck! I would have ridden in it!). But crazy Dinorah hired thugs to kidnap him. On his way home from the date he stopped to change a flat tire for who he thought was a little old lady, and was knocked out by the thugs. The last we saw he was lying in the road with blood oozing down his head. How nice. And then of course next week it gets really bad.
 

Marie Celeste- Friday's episode stopped about 7 minutes into Episode 97-2 on You Tube after Ruth dreams about Libia.
 

Thanks, friends! Aww…the lovely 'Last Date' for single Juan & Norma; how sweet was that? When Martin almost invited himself along & Juan actually agreed that he come, I almost laughed out loud. Cute idea, but I don't think I'd go for it, either. Good call, Abuelo.

Cindybin, I loved the fight Juan put up about using Oscar's car. Juan Alfonso Baptista (Oscar) cracks me up with his line, "You're more stubborn than a mule! ('¡Mas terco que una mula eres!'). When Juan finally gives in, the flash of expression on Franco's face is just priceless. Then in spite of Oscar’s instructions to treat the car “like a 15-year-old girl” (‘como una señorita de quince’), we hear tires spinning on the pavement as Juan peels out. :-D

But I'm also glad Juan lost the car argument. He does need to be willing to step up a little, I think, to build his social confidence to match that of his brothers. One of the sweetest moments of the date was when he was telling Norma that he was practicing being less coarse, in preparation for the big cruise that the brothers were giving them for a honeymoon. He was so adorable! The wordless goodnight scene was classic Juan & Norma. With chemistry like that, who needs words?
;-)

As much as I detest Raquel, the dousing of her & her friends also made me wince. That was a more humiliating display than I thought Juan capable of when it came to dealing with women. Down the line, Dinorah will prove deserving of something like that and more, but for Raquel and friends it was a bit heavy-handed. I’m glad others are as bothered by the choice of actress playing her as I am. I too never understood why they had an actress as young as this one playing such a much older character. It just looks so hokey.

Now comes a hard part of PdG. In my opinion, Mario does some of his best work in the next 10 or so episodes. Ironically, while that would normally be a great thing, given the subject of the new story arc (Juan's kidnapping) it makes these next episodes tough for me to watch, but I’ll survive. ;-)
 

Hi Marie Celeste:
I'm probably in the minority here but I don't find the chemistry between Juan and Norma as compelling as the relationship between the brothers. The scene in the stable between the brothers and especially Juan telling Norma when they were dancing about the honeymoon cruise and that his brothers love them enough to send to the moon made me tear up.
 

Howdy Juanchas ;)

Jean, you're not quite in the minority. While we love the chemistry between Juan and Norma (the exchanges of looks alone make one weak in the knees), I think we love the relationship between the brothers as well. All three of these guys are top notch and together they put together Freud's description of the male psyche: Juan is definitely the Id - all knee jerk reactions, Oscar is the Superego - very calculating, and Franco would be the Ego, and a cute one at that. They also seem to be very comfortable with each other. Wouldn't be surprised if they went out for beers after the shoot.

Someone mentioned there were some parallels between this one and LT (let us all have a moment of silence for this one - victim of bad ratings and writers who decided to start phoning it towards the end...) and from the previews it looks like we are about to see another one: Mario Cimarro, held in chains by psycho beeyotch who wants to kill him, but also really wants to jump him... With this next batch airing at one-hour slots after Monday, they're not gonna just rip the band-aid off...
 

Well said, Margarita. While I admit I’m a sucker for great onscreen romances, PdG is so impressive to me because the principal cast members do make such a great ensemble, playing off each other so naturally, thus giving us so many character relationships that ring SO true.

I think telenovelas more commonly focus on the chemistry in the romantic pairings so it’s usually more noticeable there. Here we have it not just romantically (times three!), but also with the unexpectedly great dynamic between the brothers. I LOVE any scenes between any of them; even the fights. Anyone who has brothers can relate to that. ;-) In an episode quite a ways down the road, Juan & Norma have a brief but lovely exchange about how important his brothers are to him, but I don’t want to give anything away so I’m keeping mum.

Jean, I also love the stable scene when Franco tells Juan & Norma that he’s got workers lined up to build them a house. The hug they give each other is so dear. It’s one of those moments when I wish I had someone beside me that I could turn to & say, “Aww; how sweet is that?!?!”

And I owe you a million thanks for the translation for the last line of what Juan says to Norma while they’re dancing on their date; the line about the brothers love them so much that they’d send them to the moon. I have watched that scene literally dozens of times, listening my hardest to decipher exactly what Juan was saying but between the music & Mario’s mumbled delivery, I couldn’t get it. Because of his saying ‘luna de miel’, earlier I kept thinking the ‘luna’ of the last part must have been somehow referring to the honeymoon again but without being able to separate the other sounds, I couldn’t make any sense out of it. Thank you, thank you, thank you! :-D