Saturday, August 30, 2008

Fuego en la Sangre, 08/29/08: Everybody’s Got a Secret to Tell



You’d think after having the place set on fire that Juan would know enough to keep his doors locked, but no-o-o-o-o! As handsome and eager to please as Juan is, he is just that dense at times. We must assume that there are no locks anywhere in Casita Reyes, or for the bakery either, for that matter.

Sofia attempts to distract Juan from his bad mood after Fernando’s surprise appearance by talking about her knitting clothes for Baby Reyes. Unbenownst to the two of them, crafty Feo is still lurking behind the door outside their living quarters. He hears that Juan is about to bake some “Sofi cake”. As soon as Juan and Sofia go into another room to look at her progress on the little clothes, he sneaks back inside and tippytoes his way through into the bakery. He takes out his pink can of poison (Note: we know it’s poison because it says so in big black letters “VENENO” (POISON) under the black sketch of a skull). Fernando sprinkles a little white powdered poison into the wheat flour on Juan’s prep table, and as soon as he hears Juan making for the bakery he sneaks out the front door.

Juan bakes the cakes with the poisoned flour. (Oh no! Say it ain’t so!) When the Sofi cakes are cooled and ready to eat he brings the tray of them into the dining room and sets them on the table for the entire family--Augie and Quintina included--to eat. (Will they or won’t they????)

Fernando, meanwhile, returns to his office to wait for his dastardly plan to succeed and pours himself a shot of Tequila. “Tomorrow they’ll all be dead, but especially Sofia, who will die slowly in the arms of her beloved Juan.” He snickers evilly at the irony of her dying from eating a cake named for her. (Cantú does one mean snicker when he wants to–and that’s why he gets paid the big bucks. Gawd, I love to hate this guy’s characters!) Fer knocks back a shot.

Meanwhile, in the living room of the sardine can known as Casita Reyes, the family is eager to wolf down Sofi cakes, but nobody is allowed to start till Sarita brings in the hot chocolate. (Query 1: what is it about that family that they never seem to use both sides of their table? Query 2: What is it about the director and the crew that they can’t manage a long shot with people sitting normally around said table?) Since the cakes were made in honor of Sofia and her pregnancy, she gets the first bite and she doesn’t have to wait for Sarita to bring in the hot chocolate.

Across town in Rosario’s dressing room she and Eva are chatting. Eva notices how down in the dumps Rosario seems to be and Rosario finally admits it’s because she is depressed over her decision to break it off with Franco so Sarita has a chance with the singing lothario.

Back at the Reyes’ little dining table, we watch Sofia in slo-mo as she enjoys every little morsel of her 3 bites of Sofi cake with love in her eyes for her hunky husband-of-the-heart, Juan. Finally! Sarita brings in the hot chocolate. Franco gets up to take some of the cake. (Dunno! Maybe he’s eaten some during the commercial! Viewerville needs to know!) Suddenly he keels over, managing to spill the two pitchers of cocoa all over the cakes and ruining them for everybody else.
===========

Feo returns to the hacienda for the night, but before going upstairs he takes a look around and begins counting his proverbial chickens before they’ve been hatched. (This dude is in serious need of a mustache to twirl.) He thinks to himself, “By now everyone of the Reyes’s should be dead and all this will be mine.”

Unfortunately for Fernando, the doctor was in and he has now come by to examine Franco. He tells Juan and the others that Franco’s collapse was a matter of overdoing things so soon after being released from the hospital (not from eating Sofi cake during the commercial break). As Sofia goes for a glass of water so Franco can take his medicine, she begins to get sick from the effects of the poisoned cake she’s eaten and nearly passes out. Juan grabs her up and rushes her into the bedroom for the doctor to examine. (Query 1: Does this doctor charge? Query 2: Does he have to give a discount on a two-fer house call?)

Meantime, Eva arrives back at the Hacienda Elizondo, formerly known as San Augustin. Crabiela, in search of another victim to harass, doesn’t miss the opportunity to pounce on Eva as she returns home. Crabi taunts Eva about spending time with “her daughter,” but Eva blows her off and tells her that nothing Gabi has to say interests her anymore. What does interest her though, is why she continues to nag at Sofia and goad the girl constantly by telling her she’s not really her daughter. Gabriela starts to answer when she is caught short of breath and has to lean on the railing. Of course Eva offers to help her and of course Gabi refuses help, especially from “her worst enemy.” Eva makes her realize there’s nobody else around just then to help her. (I guess Feo crashed in his own bed for the night and didn’t tell the old battle axe.) Gabriela is forced to rely on Eva to get her up the stairs and into her bedroom.
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The doctor finishes examining Sofia and tells Juan that she is suffering a bit of food poisoning. (Man, I’m thinking that kid of hers is gonna be one heck of a tough SOB when it grows up, considering all the cr@p it’s had to go through just to make it through the first trimester.) Of course the doctor has no idea from what or how Sofia got sick. It’s just good that whatever it was, she ate too little of it to be dangerous.

While Sofia is being examined in the bedroom, Augie tells Oscar and Jimena that it doesn’t surprise him a bit that Feo has changed his mind about divorcing Sofia. It’s just like him, but he’s going to make it a priority to find out why. Oscar then tells Augie about the letter of Bernardo’s he found and lets him read it. Oscar mentions that he went back to check out the office again later, but didn’t find anything else.

Back in Gabriela’s bedroom Eva is helping her lie down. She asks Gabi why she called her “her worst enemy.” Gabi’s answer is that Eva stole the love of her daughters from her (wrong—we all know your high-handed and abusive attitude towards them did that) and she encouraged their rebelliousness. If she’d had half a chance Eva would have stolen her husband’s love from her, too. (Wrong again. Bernie never loved you, and anyway, Libia gets those honors.) Gabi whimpers then about not knowing whether it’s better at this point to be dead or alive. (Too bad we don’t get a say in it.) She complains she hasn’t slept a wink at night from all the nightmares of her being surrounded by cheats and traitors. (After doing the bedroom bop with Fernando every night that might make sense.) This includes Eva, someone she’s treated like family for years. (Yeah, we know how that inspires loyalty.) “I fed you and gave you a roof over your head, and this is how you’ve repaid me?” (Talk to the hand, woman.) Gabi runs Eva off (again-- I’ve lost track by now) and tells her she never wants to see her again.

In their bedroom Juan and Sofia discuss the night’s events and chalk the evening’s scare up to bad food, though Juan cannot imagine what she could have eaten that was spoiled. (Ok. Ok. It’s obvious there’s no such thing as a National Restaurant Association certification in those parts, so give the guy a break.) Sofia figures it was just a combination of nerves and the bad news that Feo had changed his mind about the divorce. Juan then swears he’ll be true to her with or without a marriage certificate and at least she’s there by choice and doesn’t have to take abuse any longer from her uh…significant other.

Talk turns to his maps of the lost estate. Juan wants to recover his past and to find out who killed his parents, but he’s worried it might cause a split between the three couples. She disagrees because she and her sisters all know they are well within their right to recover what is theirs. He’s not doing it out of greed. She just is dying to know how Mama got hold of the land without her grandfather knowing anything about it.

Eva has given up on Gabriela and goes over to visit Augie. She tells him that Gabi got sick while she was there at the main house a bit earlier. The two of them were arguing over the same old thing: Sofia and whose daughter she really is. Eva mentions that Gabi was just about to reveal something important when she got sick and simply couldn’t get the words out. “Gabriela, as usual, gets sick when it suits her,” says Augie. Eva says not this time. She really didn’t think Gabi was faking. It actually seemed she had a hard time breathing. Augie mentions in passing that Sofia had a bout of food poisoning, then tells Eva about Bernardo’s letter accusing Feo of being the low-down conniving lout that they suspect (and we know) him to be. He tells her that Bernardo apparently hid bits of incriminating evidence all around, but nobody’s been able to find any. Once they do, though, Fernando’s goose is definitely cooked.

Late that night, Juan watches Sofia sleep and thinks to himself, “How ironic life is. My desire for vengeance drove me toward true love and meeting you.” He worries again (and for the umpteenth time--I know, I know) that he might lose either Sofia or his child when she finds out the truth about Libia. (The pulley squeaks and the anvil rises.) He would be losing the most valuable things life had given him if that should happen.

Juan has flashbacks (in case we’d forgotten the story) to the time his brothers told him Libia had a lover, to their finding out she was pregnant, the shock in seeing how old the guy was when he told them he planned on marrying her; and then the terrible night she went missing and the sheriff told them he’d found a body in the river that turned out to be Libia, to their burying her and their swearing to avenge her death. “Can you --will you--forgive us once you find out the truth?” he wonders aloud.
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The next morning Feo sends Armando to the Reyes’ house in order to see if they are all dead. Armando knows Feo is murderously strange, but all the same he wonders why Feo’s asking him to do that and what he’s done that should make him wonder if they’re all dead. Feo barks at him not to ask questions, and says just go over there and do what he’s ordered him to do. Armando should act like he wants to buy bread at the bakery and then find out what he can about whether anyone’s dead. Armando leaves to do as he’s been told.

So, Armando gets to the bakery and starts playing with the bread in the baskets while he listens to Pedro tell Rosario that Franco had a small relapse and that Sofia had some sort of minor food poisoning but that they are both now just fine. When Rosario hears this she immediately runs out to check on Sofia, but when she goes onto the adjoining patio she notices through the window that Franco and Sarita are kissing each other. A single tear falls from her eyes.

At the same time, Eva and Sofia are chatting inside the bedroom and she tells Sofia that she went to the hacienda again. Gabi was about to divulge something important but she got ill and couldn’t continue. Angelic Sofia is frightened to hear that Mama was sick again! Eva tells her not to worry; it came suddenly, like it always does and only left her unable to catch her breath. She is a bit disconcerted because Gabi again made her doubt Sophia’s true background. It was almost as if there were some big secret about her birth. “It’s so powerful a secret that for some reason she refuses to reveal it. --But that’s not to say that you are necessarily my daughter, either.” Sofia says she doesn’t know what to think herself, whether she really isn’t her mother or if she only enjoys making Sofia suffer. (Don’t they call that a sadist? Call a spade a spade. Crabi qualifies.) “Well, come what may,” says Sofia, “ever since I was born she’s worried about me and looked out for me. I am grateful to her for that, even though it is still possible that she is not my real mother.” Eva gives her a hug and lets her cry on her shoulder. (Yawn.)

Back in his office at the Bad Love, Fernando is having a temper tantrum because Armando has given him the news that the Reyes’ are all fine. “Damn it! It can’t be! It can’t be!” After calmly watching Fer emote, Armando says, “I don’t know what it was you did last night, but nothing happened to any of the Reyes’s. The only thing I can tell you they are saying is that Sofia was poisoned, but it was minor and she’s just fine now.” Fernando, furious at the way things turned out, thinks to himself that nothing is going his way and he’s is just fed up. F.E.D. U.P.!

Rosario has joined Eva and Sofia in the bedroom and says she’s so glad nothing happened to her. Eva says she loves to see the two of them together like that, knowing that they care for each other. Sofia then asks Rosario, since they are not about keeping secrets from each other, if she is determined to sacrifice herself for Sarita’s happiness. Eva chimes in and says it just doesn’t seem right the way she’s suffering over Franco. Rosario says that she saw Franco and Sarita kissing when she entered and it made her very happy seeing the two of them together like that. It seems that nobody believes her, though. Rosario doesn’t even believe it herself.
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The same day, Oscar and Jimena have their meeting with Pablito’s teacher. It’s not that Pablito is misbehaving. It is Quintina and Grampa Augie who are disrupting the class and he’s got to report it the same as for any of the other “students.” (Oh, puh-leese! I don’t understand why these two are even allowed in that classroom, let alone left to disrupt it. None of this makes sense. Sorry, but I have no patience with this stupid scene.) He wants to know why Quintina skipped school today.

Quintina is apparently hiding under one of the display racks in the bakery. Pedro is putting out freshly baked cookies into that same display rack. (Forget plastic gloves, but would it be too much to at least expect a spatula? Lord only knows where those hands have been.) He notices Quintina hiding under the display. When she gets out she asks him what’s the matter, she can see from his face that something is just tearing him up inside. It must be a bad love, right? “Love leaves and the pain stays,” she says. He replies that it is and that in his case love never actually arrived, it only left. On cue we suddenly see Franco and Sarita playing kissing games over Franco’s soup. (Ohhhh! That’s who and what he meant.)

Juan walks into the bedroom and finds Sofia daydreaming. She says she’s worried about Rosario. Rosario told her a secret. Juan kids about not telling secrets. He gets maudlin suddenly, and says something deep about some secrets ending up hurting and even destroying people. He promises Sofia, though, that if she is worried about anything happening to Rosario he’ll take in Luisito. Sofia answers that it’s not the secrets that destroy people; it’s the lying and the deceit that do. “That’s what buries love. But, since those don’t exist in our relationship, as long as we continue to tell each other everything we’ll be fine.” Juan gulps and nods guiltily.
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We beam over to Eladio and Rigo who are walking through their little corner market. Rigo wants Eladio to admit he has the hots for Natalia. Eladio admits he’s not exactly indifferent, but says he can’t be bothered falling in love right now. It would wreck his plans to leave and make a new start [in the U.S.]. Rigo tries to reason with his brother so that he won’t run off [to the States], and we get a sociology lesson here on the Mexican view of the causes for illegal immigration. Rigo says he could understand and might do the same, but if a person has property and family, then there is no reason to become a “wetback.” Personally, he couldn’t deal with the homesickness. He was born there and he wants his children to be also; so they won’t lose their culture and their customs. (Here! Here!) He understands that the vast majority of people who are leaving do it because they can’t find work, but that’s not their situation. (This is for another discussion as there are definitely two sides to this debate!) Their mother has worked long and hard to make a success out of their corner market and it’s honorable work. Eladio won’t promise anything, but he will think over what Rigo has said.

Over at the Bad Love again, Eva is telling Rosario that Gabriela sent her packing once more, but no problem. Since they’re planning to get a house she won’t feel so bad about “abandoning” her when the time comes. She now wonders if Rosario won’t have problems with the cantina’s owner when she moves. Rosario comes clean at this point. She says she doesn’t want there to be any secrets between them and wants to clear something up, but Eva cannot repeat it to a soul. (Will someone please at least tell Gabi?) Only Sofia knows besides her. She confesses to Eva that Fernando is the real father of her son and also the man that is continually tormenting her. Eva is impactada at this shocking revelation.
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When Feo gets back to the hacienda later that morning, Gabi is ready and waiting. She just has to know where he went so early, sneaking out like that so she didn’t hear him go. Feo is sick of her jealousy and gripes at her not to start. She still demands to know, so he tells her that he went to see if his plans to get rid of Sofia and the Reyes’ worked, but as fate would have it they did not and he failed. She lights into him about being a useless, stupid, good-for-nothing idiot and the reason everything in her life is a failure. Fernando tells her to watch what she’s saying around him because he won’t let her insult him like that. Everything he’s done has been for her (yada, yada) and if she doesn’t see that then there’s no reason to stick around. She can just make do with things the best way she knows how.

Gabi realizes her mistake and she begs Fernando’s forgiveness. She says she never meant to insult him, It’s just that she’s so frustrated with their situation. She wants more than anything to be his wife and now that hope has been shattered to bits. He tells her to be patient for a while longer. She hugs at his knees, frantic for him. He looks down at this and then looks away, dumbfounded at the desperation and vulnerability of the pathetic old broad.

Back in town, Tall Tweedle has just gotten a telegram confirming the famous singer he’s contracted will be coming in the evening, as planned, to perform there.

At Casita Reyes, while Sofia knits away, Jimena dusts the dining room table and asks what caused Sofia to fall down the stairs that day at the hacienda. What had she and Mama been talking about? Sofia explains that Mama told her that she was not her mother and insisted that Eva was instead, then retracted it all and asked forgiveness when she ended up in the hospital. “It was all a lie, she told me. Nevertheless, every chance she gets she repeats it and now I don’t know whether it’s the truth, or if she’s only doing it to hurt me.”

Meanwhile, Augie goes to see Gabi at the main house. He suggests that for once in her life she act like a reasonable person and show a little compassion. He wants to know the truth: is Sofia her daughter or not? Just then Raqui races into the main house looking for Gabriela. She doesn’t notice that Augie is there with her and blurts out that things with the estate are getting complicated and she needs Gabi’s help immediately. Augie rolls away disgusted. Gabi tells her, “Raquel, I’ve told you. Each of us has to fend for ourselves. I’ll take care of my part and you take care of your own.” Raqui is fit to be tied and yells at her that she’s tired of her constant refusal. “Either you help me now or I’ll tell everybody our secret!”

Augie yells at Raquel to once and for all let loose with the truth and tell him what secret she’s talking about. Raquel starts to make good on her threat. “I gave Gabriela the lands the Reyes’ are fighting over in exchange for—“ Gabi interrupts her. “--Keep quiet!” “—I won’t keep quiet!” Crabi relents. “--I’ll help you out but you keep your mouth shut!” Augie gets into it now. “What was it you gave Gabriela in exchange for that land?” “--Something very valuable,” answers Raqui. “--Something very valuable?” “—Yes.” “--Like perhaps a newborn little girl? Was that it?” Raqui won’t say anything else. Gabi stares daggers at her. Gabi asks Augie where he got this crazy idea and accuses him of being crazy as a loon (or the Mexican equivalent). Then she quickly shoves Raqui towards her office and warns Augie to stay out of this or the witch will throw him out in the street where he’ll be begging for alms with a cup.

That night Armando brings a bouquet of flowers to Rosario who is apparently getting ready to go out on a respectable date. (That tour must have really done some good, since she’s dumped the white trash "naca" outfits and make-up. The heavy-duty hooker look is definitely absent now.) “What do you take me for, Armando? I don’t want a thing from you, so you can take those flowers away.” Armando laughs and says he knew it wasn’t going to work, but Fernando insisted, for some unknown reason, that he should get close to her and treat her nicely. He suggests they keep up the ruse so that Feo thinks it’s working.

Rosario wants to know why she should believe him. Armando says he understands she has plenty of reason not to trust him, but he’s telling her the truth. Besides, it would be worth it to her to have him as an ally and emphasizes that he knows what he’s talking about. She says she’ll consider it. Just then Pedro walks in the open door and ask her if she’s ready to go. Armando leaves and they head out for a night at “El Tumbao.”

On their way to the club an SUV drives suspiciously by. Pedro says he thinks whose-ever in it has been watching them. She wonders who it is. He thinks it’s El Coyote’s boss and that he doesn’t like seeing him with Rosario, so they decide to take a shortcut.

Eva and Ofelia are waiting for the two of them at the club when they finally arrive. Eva says they were beginning to worry and Rosario says they had a little hitch in getting there, nothing serious, but a truck was following them. Pedro tries to allay their fears and says he thinks they just mistook them for somebody else.

The floorshow begins. Ofelia is impactada to find that Margarita, the “Goddess of the
Cumbia" is the act tonight. As the singer walks onto the stage Ofelia recognizes her. “This woman is Rosario’s real mother!” she thinks to herself.
===============

That same evening, Augie goes to visit Sofia and Juan. He tells them that Raqui and Gabriela parlayed a deal in which something very valuable was given in exchange for that parcel of Robles-Reyes’ land. Juan is impactado. “Good gracious! What secrets are these two women hiding?” Sofia says she’s so confused she doesn’t know what to think. “I was just telling Jimena this very day that Mama kept insisting I wasn’t her daughter, then afterward changed her mind and even asked forgiveness. Now I just don’t know what to think! It’s all so painful for me, Grandpa.”

Augie tells them about his run in with Raquel at the main house earlier and how he’d asked her for the truth, but that Gabi objected and so the only thing he managed to get from her was that the property was given to Gabriela in exchange for something “very valuable.” He pushed the envelope, he says, and dared to ask if that valuable thing was perhaps a person, perhaps a newborn little baby girl. Juan figures that makes sense since they were probably talking about Eva’s daughter. Augie agrees and tells them that Gabriela rushed Raqui off to her office at that point and he was unable to get anything more out of either of them. Sofia, however, is certain they were talking about her. Juan doesn’t understand. (Weren’t you listening, Juan? Gabi keeps telling Sofia that she isn’t her daughter and then keeps changing her story!) “You?" he asks her. "Why you?”

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Comments:
Cakes, thank so much, wonderful recap and just to much fun stuff to say what was my favorite.

The scene between Eva and Augie had so many sqauking birds in the background I thought Hitchcock shot it!

I'm so glad Franco finally figured out he doesn't have to force Sarita to kiss him! I liked their cute little scenes. Although the soup was silly, he can feed himself I am sure. But maybe a spoon was confusing since they all seem to eat with their hands.
 

Thank you Cakes, I enjoyed the yummy recap!
And speaking of cakes, Pan Sofia looks like a yummy dessert cake with lemon filling on top and white frosting trim...
Too bad there's not a fan site with recipes.
Anybody: in a lot of the scenes we see men indoors in public places but still wearing their giant hats. Is this standard hat etiquette in parts of Mexico?
"Creemelo"
 

The hat thing..Yep pretty much. You have to remember, there was the upper class and city dwellers, the residents of Mexico City in the twenties, dressed as men and women dressed in America, they were heavier and the women wore white powder on their faces to look more upper class.

In the rural areas the huge haciendas were siezed and the gov't divided up the land to the pesanos. Think 40 acres and a mule. Yeah it worked out about as well for the Mexicans as it did in America for the blacks. Anyway, the little rules about hats indoors or spoon fork and knife were not part of their backgrounds.
These people were basically serfs before that and not that much better off after that time. My husband has some really bad land in Mexico that was his father's, it was his fathers and that is where it came from. That is what is stupid about the land records part of this story, there are very good land records down there. My husband just bought some land from his aunt, it was divided in half when his grandmother died and after my mother-in-law died, the aunt sold it to my husband so it won't be divided up. Anyway he had to go to Mexico, and they both had to go to Guererro and appear in person to get this taken care of.
 

Ooooops sorry, thanks for the recap..you made a slow boring retelling rehash funny.

Yes and now I have that uber Libia & Ber creep fest in my head again
 

Thank you for the recap Cakes -- and speaking of cakes... I saw a photo of a Sofia Cake!! that a bakery in Los Angeles made -- they copied the Sofia Cake from FELS!! But theirs looked like it had whipped cream edging and "S" instead of piped on icing like Juan's.

Juan's Sofia cake looks like flaky puff pastry with custard filling and piped icing, to me. Bet we could make our own versions of this and have a photo bake-off when the series ends!

PanQue
 

Very funny recap, Calamity. Love the sardine can reference for Casa Reyes. And Pedro does need gloves or a spatula and a SHIRT too. Ugh, too much hair for me and especially for being around baked goods.

Since the doctor practically lives at the Reyes house, how hard can it be for Eva and Rosario or Sofia and Eva to have DNA tests taken. That would shed some light and maybe stop Sofia's endless whining and crying over Crabi's confusing claims. Otherwise, she'll never know at this rate.

Been hearing a lot of FELS music playing in different stores.
 

Thanks for the recap Jardinera. Now I know the parts to skip on my tape!

Anon 10:30pm - great idea regarding the DNA testing but that seems way too advance for this novela.
 

Great recap. A simple blood test can rule someone in or out, if DNA doesn't exist in Brigadoona.
I am re-posting this youtube link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5WpMrVxxmo


Some sick individual posted this video on Youtube. Steel yourself before you watch it. mhm



PS. You'll be okay.
 

Anon...Ack!! Stop posting that think! How can you be so cruel. Blech...gag...gak...ack......
 

Thanks for checkin' in, guys. Except for the rat poison scenes and perhaps the 3-way confrontation between Raqui, Gabi & Augie,this episodio was quite a snore.

Beckster: Gotta say I always enjoy your cultural-history examples of life down Méjico way, especially when it deals with your hub's family. > ; ? )
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As for DNA testing, if we weren't in Briga-loon and the timeline was clearer, it would make sense, tho' in noveland, that must never be considered/ even thought of till the very end, years into the future when all the mental and socio-economic havoc has ben caused and all the emotional damage has occurred. DNA testing didn't really come into play legally till about 1985. The original story was written in the last half of the 1940's. Blood typing was about 10 years old back then, but I don't know how common or difficult it might have been in that part of Mexico.
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You know, seeing Armando at that bakery with a tray and a set of tongs, picking through the rolls like some U.S. socker mom when there wasn't even a decent old-fashioned spatula for Pedro, was so awkward, it was almost as pathetic as that school scene with Oscar and Jimena visiting the director's office. You have to wonder if these scenes were written by somebody's first year writing student on an internship with Uncle Jorge's production company. Thank gawd we've hit the mid-point to this telenovela. Time to break out the anejo!
 

Mid-point. Music to my ears!

Thanks CC aka J -- fun summary with lots of good details.
I hope that the buildup for the land confrontation actually goes somewhere.
 

Re DNA--how can we expect something so sophisticated in Brigadoon. I found it funny that Ricardo Uribe never phones (forget about e-mails) Raquel. He sends her hand-written letters. Even in the l940s there were phones --or at least Western Union. The question is --why do we continue to watch FELS???? I switch back and forth from FELS to Dona Barbara. But I think I'm still half-watching because it is so campy and sometimes it really is so ridiculous that it makes me laugh out loud. NJ Sue
 

Beckster, a belated thanks for the answer to hat question.
This show reminds me of "Dark Shadows" back in the 1970's...silly, but gripping. Is that achieved thru brilliant writing or dumb luck?
"Creemelo"
 

Thank you for the recap, Calamity Cakes. (hopefully no relation to Sofia cakes) It was a bit of a snoozer episodio and you made it more fun with your great snarky asides.

Let the record show that I was not surprised that Franco and Sofia survived the poisoning. After all, they're living and eating from the e-coli bakery.

!Ya basta! with the flashbacks. Its just dumb fillers to waste our time.

I have come to really like Rosario and hate to see her in such pain over Franco. BUT, now she knows how Sarita has been feeling, when the shoe is on the other foot.

I watched Dark Shadows back in the late 60s, too. I watched The Very First Pilot Episode. LOL I think it was successful because it was different and campy.

doris
 

Maybe the poison in the pretty pink cans just acted like antibiotics for Sofia who lives & eats in the e-coli bakery?

The characters in the story seem to imply that DNA testing is some arduous and dangerous process. I thought you could get enough DNA from swabbing inside mouth with a Q-tip. What's up with this?

PanQue
 

Hey Jardinera (aka Cakes) your recaps are always a pleasure to read but you're at your best when you are SERIOUSLY ANNOYED with an episode as you were this time.

Certain phrases I especially loved "the pulley squeaks and the anvil rises" and poor old Feonand, who needs a mustache to twirl, is fed up F.E.D. U.P. I suspect you are fed up too with this silly tale, but it DOES bring out the best in your. Thanks....
 

PS Thanks for the link to "cumbia" and salsa music. Very interesting read. I always come away learning something, which is good for this aging brain.
 

Doris, Creemelo -- did you know a Dark Shadows movie is in the works with Jonny Depp? I loved Dark Shadows when I was a kid. Now when I catch it on the Sci Fi channel I love it when the boom operator hits someone in the head with a mic. Very funny! Very Fuego!

Guess that is where drama classes came up with the phrase "willing suspensin of disbelief" sometimes you just have to go with it.
 

Tks, JudyB! Yup, with this one I feel like I'm continually fighting my way out of a paper bag. > ; >)
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Doris: I think I was about 13 or so when Dark Shadows came on and I enjoyed the campy feel of the show, tho' I never got to really see it regularly. Course, what's not to like about vampires and stormy nights spent at cliffside mansions at that age, right?

Molly: Doris has a special beanie she uses as her personal "suspension of disbelief" wardrobe accessory. Apparently they come in all sizes. I've got one too, now!
 

Thanks for being seriously annoyed and reflecting my feelings in your great recap, comadre cakes! So happy to hear we're half way through this mess.

Really enjoy the cultural info, Beckster.

I haven't watched FELS since Dona Barbara started, but I wouldn't miss the recaps...
jb
 

Jardinera: Thank you for the thoughtful recap.

this novela is like an old friend that I see every three or so years. She gets older, but her story is the same. Nothing ever really changes. Or, if there are changes, they are so imperceptible as to be unnoticed.

Loved the Sofia cakes story. Wish I could go to La, but alas I am stuck in Lower AL.
 

ROTF for Dark Shadows. I watched that program, at 4:00 afternoons, while cooking dinner. I would get so upset, I would have to hold my ears and close my eyes. 50 years later I am doing the same thing with spanish soaps. Even though I know the stars get together in the end and everyone goes through personal growth or ditched at some point, I still get upset as if it weren't going to be a happy ending. The part I hated most with Dark shadows was when he had the girl kidnapped and drugged and how many times, kids were playing out side the window and she could not get their attention to tell them she was a hostage. I lost sleep over that. the fact that barnabas was bad and not everyone knew that, is that why you think it reminds you of this soap (ie. Fernando is bad and no one knows the full extent?
 

Molly , You were very brave to watch that video . Can you believe it? Someone sees those two as a romantic pair.Weeeird.mhm
 

I read DH. Lawerence's "The Plumed Serpent", which is kind of a strange and parallel look at history. He was there in the 20's. The book is hard to get through, but I was amazed that he writes about a small town and when I was in Guererro in 1990, it was just like that town in the 20's. You have to remember that 75% of Mexicans are meztisos. While in America, the incoming AngloSaxon immigrants completely overcame the Native Americans, but in Mexico it became a caste system.

Like their form of Catholism, is a combination of the old beliefs and the Church. I remember the first time I ever heard a Mexican make an anti-white remark, I said your white, just more tan. No I was quickly put in my place and told they were not white, they were Mexican. There is a lot of underlying resentment, because most of the wealthy are indeed very European looking. Thus this is why, the rich TeleNovela people are always very light and the servents are dark. This is how it is in Mexico. Lots are mixed with Blacks too as there were lots of slaves esp, in the coastal areas. I ask my husband if people got upset if they intermarried? He thought this was such a strange question. You marry in your class, not by color. Color has nothing to do with it, it is class, it just so happens that most of the brown people happen to be in the same class. The lower 90% of the people.
 

Dark Shadows had melodrama, an other-worldly atmosphere, and an unusual musical score. This I learned from Wikipedia, because for most of the time it was on I was out of the country. I saw a couple of episodes, but for years afterwards I heard fans raving about being addicted to it despite its campiness. Guess that's where the similarity comes from, in my mind.
;o}
"Creemelo"
 

I know I would have loved the original Dark Shadows. And I adore campiness. That's why, despite all the things this novela gives me an excuse to complain about, I can't stand to miss it.

Now, as for the cakes. For the life of me, I don't see how being soaked in hot chocolate ruins them. Makes 'em soggy, sure. But ruined? I hardly think so. Just give me a spoon. (I would be so dead now if I had been there.)
 

Anonymous...
You get a huge-two thumbs up from me for the video post, I love, my husband loves it, my dogs love it..

I think it is awesome after I watched a gizillion of stupid Lety & Fer..musical love videos...

Everything is relative and Fer & Crabi are no different from anyone else..everyone thinks their love story is the grandest purple glitter pen evah, and everyone thinks their own love life is the hawtest. So two-thumbs up for Crabi & Fer love story, even if it does involve, murder, betrayal, and seriously lusting after others.
Those two crazy kids
 

Speaking of videos, if you want to see something interesting, go to youtube and search on the name of your favorite telenovela love theme, + "anime"

Example: search for aqui estare anime
or
pasion brightman anime

Apparently there is a HUGE crossover of telenovela and anime fans, who love to make Japanese cartoon videos of their favorite Latino songs!

Some of the videos are brilliantly done, others are horrendous, but it's the sheer number of these videos that I find staggering.

I guess I shouldn't be so surprised, since so much of anime really is soap/telenovela-ish.
 

Thanks, Cakes. We just keep going around and around, and people keep saying the same thing over and over, and Ferd and Crabi keep trying to kill people. It's like a Mexican Groundhog Day. P.S. Try to find Liz Vega doing the Cumbia on Bailando por la Boda de su Suenos on Youtube...now that girl can dance.
 

MadPoisonBuns: Ground Hog Day, one of the classic movies of our time! Bill Murray is dooomed to keep reliving the same stooopid day over and over and over until he wises up, hmmmm. Do ya think he would fit right in with the Cd Ser-doon crowd?
Molly, thanks for the heads up on new Dark Shadows movie, I'll look for it.
"Creemelo"
 

You know how Juan gets that painful Activa look on his face? And after a few seconds of wondering his next move; we are given his thought bubbling about how all three brothers vowed the vengence pact upon the three virgins? How will he ever tell the truth?

It is always better to tell on yourself, that way you can slant the details in your favor. I mean why doesn't he tell Sofie about the shock of the death of St.Libia the Slow Witted; and how the boyz had met Ancient Ber & he seemed like such a fine guy so in love with Libia. Then she was killed and they found out about Ber the married Perv and decided to seek vengence, but alas when they met the girls they fell in love.

That flatters the dumbass sisters and they will be thrilled the boyz liked Pa. Instead Juan is gonna get caught, I know this cause he spends way too much time thinking about it and dumbass Sofie drops too many hints. How come Sofie the selfless has never bother to ask the name of Sister Slow? I mean you would think they'd be talking kid names.
 

beckster - ITA ITA ITA -- I think all three Reyes and Elizondo kids were deprived of oxygen during the birthing process.

IF they think chocolate sauce would ruin cake, they have not had the "molten lava" cake. yum.

doris
 

beckster: my hat's off to you for getting through anything of DH Lawrence. What an eerily interesting time tunneling experience, though.
=====

OK! MY MISTAKE! READ IT AND WEEP!The latest count I've found is 199 total capítulos to FELS. So we have 10 more to get past the half-way point. BTW how many did "La Fea" have by the time they dragged those characters past the finish line?
 

BTW, I never realized how many DVD sets of Dark Shadows there are with the original cast --26! Each "collection" has a few hundred episodes on it and costs like $50! Must be a really popular collector's item.
 

I asked my husband about the hat question, he said hats come off in church & at the dinner table..otherwise..
Also you never sit down to eat without a shirt on. That would make my deceased very WASP grandmother so happy, males were not allowed to come to the table in sleeveless t-shirts. She no doubt would never eat a baked product again if she saw the boyz baking pans.
 

I for one am glad they didn't feed the poisoned cake to the dog.Mariachi being the bright one, the family couldn't have stood the brain drain.mhm
 

199 caps? iyhiught we were just about over ???? Is this a year???
 

Reminder E Y fans....tomorrow Sept 2nd is the release date for the DESTILANDO AMOR dvd. It is a 4 disc, 4 + hour version. If you can't get enough of E Y bellowing and baying at the moon this dvd is for you. However, he does appear to have a tad more brain cells but not many more. Any way, he is still hawt especially in the Manzanillo scenes which I hope are not edited too much.

G in CA
 

Anon...I had nightmares. I don't mind the May/December thing, but they are creepy like Harlod and Maude. Blech!

Creemelo...Its rumered to be released in 2010 with Tim Burton directing. Jonny Depp will be one HOT Barnabus Collins!

My first goldfish was named Barnabus, he ate the others. I didn't get the irony until I was older. LOL
 

199 chapters comes out to -- approximately 9 months plus! -- like having a slightly overdue pregnancy!! Is that a clue about the new slow baby that Sofia is incubating? And is the slowness of its development the reason why she STILL isn't showing - even though baby jumps & kicks & sings in utero??
PanQue
 

Calamity Cakes, LFMB went 300 hours. You could have cut out at least 100 hours, possibly more, by getting rid of the interminable rehash scenes. I am not exaggerating. Each new development in the story was rehashed multiple times, in excruciating detail.

(The unbelievable amount of rehashing was also in the original Colombian version, and Destilando Amor was almost as bad; maybe it's a Fernando Gaitan thing.)

LFMB was liberally padded with celebrity performances, and it also got extended at least twice. If you were already familiar with the original story, you could pretty much see the splice marks in the LFMB plot where new stuff got added in.
 

Thanks for the heads-up on Destilando, G in CA!
 

Thanks Molly! I'll keep my eyes peeled for Dark Shadows the Movie.
Meanwhile, the Coyote gives me that same feeling of naughty-and-nice that Johnny Depp does, ooh it's so delish!
"Creemelo"
 

Hi, Beckster, to amplify your comments about caste systems -- it's actually that way in our country too, even though we always think/say it's not so -- we have a very healthy caste system in place in the US too. The sociologists put it into place even more firmly in the 1930s when they came up with the categories of pay scales & who of what sex (M or F) & of what color could earn what amount in what order.

But speaking only of -- Native Americans and their being suppressed by white colonists. The Nat Ams on the East Coast were sold to the Portuguese slave traders for rum making supplies and taken to the West Indies, where their descendants have been found through dna.

The rum that was made here then became the currency of the Colonies so that merchandise could still be purchased from England -- which wanted rum & dealt with us on the black market when we split from them. It was a good way to get rid of a body of people who would make trouble & knew the land well & would not become slaves without a lot of problems.

Anyway, the Am Indians then became the lowest rung on the ladder, lower even than the blacks who were imported as slaves & became profit-making tools for the colonists.

People could marry downwards easily (Black + Am Ind) but not upwards (Black or Am Ind & White). Note the word "marry" - which does not include plain old fooling around with other people who cannot tell you no because they are on a lower social rung from you.

Same for other groups of "colored" people, and how they fit into society -- it's still a caste system today.
 

hasn't fuego been going on for about 6 months. It is hard to believe that we are only half through.
 

What is the longest running TN on record, does anyone know? and how common is it for producers to alter or lengthen the run of a TN because of public demand?
"Creemelo"
 

I can't give an exact statistic, but LFMB was extended twice, and then Juan Querendon (which took LFMB's place) also got extended.

I BELIEVE Destilando and Guapos were also extended.

So it seems to be fairly common, if the show is bringing in good ratings. Even if you end up hating the extended parts, later when you think back over the whole thing, you mostly remember just the good stuff.

I heard that Pasion got condensed due to bad ratings. I don't know if that's true or not. My impression is that it's much less common for a novela to get condensed, because then you have to spend even more money to re-edit it, etc.
 

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