Saturday, March 28, 2009

Tontas no Van Friday 3/27 I Think I Translated it Right, But I have some Doubts

Doubt. Many of our characters have relationships with each other, and these have changed significantly since the show began. But at this point, not everyone trusts the new relationships. And despite words of encouragement, not everyone believes things will be okay. This episode explores the fragile nature of changes in our lives.

Before we get to these doubts, we revisit some scenes from the other day:

Pat is playing fútbol with his two boys, Candy arrives to tell Soledad some good news, Lucía’s test results for HIV were negative!

Then we switch to the scene where Donato bribes Tina to kiss him, to show Jaime that Don isn’t really in love with Isabel, he even has another girlfriend (not true, of course).

And finally, we see Ed with his mucama (maid), telling Chayo he won’t reveal his salary, and doesn’t want Estrella (the mucama) to say anything either, but as we saw, Chayo taped the whole thing with a little cassette recorder hidden inside a magazine, and Ed’s not too happy when Chayo says she’ll take the tape to her lawyer.

Our first new scene is a family gathering at Santiago’s house, with Santi, Lucía, Isabel, Jaime, Rocío, Tina and Donato , as Santi has called everyone together to give them the good news, that Lucía’s results were negative. Tina is very emotional, and retreats to the kitchen, followed by Donato. She tells Donato how worried she was, and he comforts her, putting his arm around her in a show of tenderness.

The other family members join hands, close their eyes, and give a prayer of thanks, as Santi, the leader of the family, speaks for all of them in thanking God for bringing light to their moment of darkness, and for giving them the news that Lucía is healthy, and Rocío says amen.

In the restaurant, Charly is trying to prevent Meño from overexerting himself, in light of his recent fainting spell from high blood pressure. Meño insists he’s fine, but the two of them each have to care for each other now. He reminds Charly that today Lucía’s test results should be back (they don’t know the results yet), and Charly should go to Lucía to find out if she’s okay. But Charly says he’s a coward, he can’t face Lucía, and he runs out of the restaurant.

At Candy’s house, she and Santiago are sitting on the sofa discussing Lucía. Santi tells her how they’re all relieved that the tests were negative, but Lucía is still angry and upset, because she has to have another test in 3 months, to confirm she’s still HIV free, since sometimes the disease takes a while to develop. Lucía is mad at Charly, and Santi still feels a little mad at Charly, but at the same time, he also feels bad for Charly. Candy points out that Charly is destroyed with guilt, he’s suffering, but he loves Lucía. Santi knows this, and is glad that one of his problems is at least partially resolved, but of course, there’s still the problem of Marissa. He’s going to try to be positive, though.

Humor time. Lulu assures Toño that he has a lot of talent with his sock puppet, Tonito. Toño doesn’t want Zamora to know about it, doesn’t want to compete (with Zamora’s Merengue show). However, Zamora overhears a little of this, and asks who Tonito is. Toño fumbles and stumbles, but Lulu stands up for him – Tonito is a puppet that Toño makes with his sock, and he’s much more talented than Zamora with Merengue! All right, let’s see him, says Zamora, and Toño proceeds to take off his black mariachi sock, puts it on his hand, holds it up to Zamora’s face, makes it say “hola” in a high voice, and Zamora faints from the smell! Tonito then says hi to Lulu, who also recoils from the pungent odor, and Tonito goes back and forth with both Zamora and Lulu coughing and sputtering to get away from him.

Santi is still talking to Candy, now wants to know how she’s doing, he assumes that since Candy told his daughters she wasn’t Santi’s novia, Candy must be going with Patricio, but before she can answer, Pat and Chava burst through the door, back from fútbol practice. After Chava goes upstairs, Santi and Pat greet each other like gentlemen, Santi first is a little defensive as to why he was talking to Candy, then tells Pat that Lucía’s studies were negative, and Pat is genuinely happy and supportive. However, Santi then realizes he’s a third wheel, and awkwardly exits, Candy once again saying how happy she is for Lucía.

And we get our first moment of doubt, as Pat has a look on his face, and Candy wonders if he’s actually jealous of Santi. Well, guess what – he is, a little, making a sign with his fingers about 1 inch apart, which changes into both hands, a foot apart, and he runs upstairs to play with Chava, leaving Candy smugly smiling.

Isabel and Jaime are discussing Donato. Isa confirms the fact that she gave Donato a job despite his prison record, but still thinks it’s strange for him to carry around Isa’s picture, until Jaime says he saw Donato and Tina kissing, which relieves Isa, maybe Donato’s not in love with her. Jaime gets a twinkle in his eye, he has an urge…..Isa’s not sure she’s in the mood, until Jaime finishes his sentence, an urge for some chocolate cake! He then apologizes for the other day (when he had some “performance” problems), but Isa reassures him that men are not like watches, they don’t run perfectly all the time, and neither are women. Jaime offers his shoulder and his tenderness in support of her (with the worries about Lucía), and the two of them hug in a moment of sweetness.

We then cut to a bowl of fruit (sweetness) in the kitchen, as we see Donato take out a large photo of Isabel from under his jacket, as he tells himself he was saved, no one knows, but he really IS in love with Isa!

At Soledad’s house, Beto wants to watch TV, he doesn’t want to do his homework. Sole insists on the homework first, at which point Beto asks if she’s mad at his Dad (Pat). Why would she be? Well, says Beto, because he doesn’t come around as much as he used to (before he found out about Chava). Oh, he just has a lot of work. But, adds Beto, Chava said Pat might live with Chava. No, Candy said that wasn’t true. Well, does my Papá love Chava more than he loves me? Sole pauses waaay too long, before saying of course not, no way, let’s do the homework (but Soledad’s face reveals her doubts and concerns).

Ed’s looking all over for the cassette recorder, can’t find it, when Chayo comes in holding it like a prize. He wants to buy it, how much? She thinks it’s a pretty good brand, how about 3,000 pesos? (about $210.00) No way, says Ed, but he offers 2,000, as Chayo agrees. Ed gets his money roll out of its hiding place under the tv, and the dramatic arms-length exchange is made across the little table which divides their two domains. Immediately he realizes there’s no cassette in it, but Chayo briskly informs him that he didn’t buy the cassette, just the recorder, bye!, thus leaving a stunned Ed, telling himself “she trapped me”, and bemoaning the additional fact that he now has to find a new hiding place for his dinero.

We see Lucía rushing out of the house, not telling Donato where she’s going.

Santiago (in his office) has now told Marissa about the good test results, and Mari says of course she’s happy (however, she seems to be paying more attention to the magazine she’s calmly reading). She then asks Santi to put his hand on her belly, then to rest his head on her belly.

Charly answers the door, and it’s Lucía, screaming that she hates him! He’s shocked, were the results positive? No, negative, but I have to go for more studies, and it’s your fault, I hate you, I hate you, says a frantic Lucía as she tries to hit Charly. He begs her to calm down, she repeats that she hates him, but he responds “And I love you”. She breaks down and they hug.

Pat is finishing up a business call in his office when there’s a knock on the door. It’s Candy, looking very happy and pretty. Okay, why has she come? She wants to know if he was REALLY jealous of Santiago. (!!) He admits, yes, a little. Candy thinks that means that the one who doesn’t trust is Pat. He denies this, he trusts in Candy 35,021 percent, but doesn’t trust Santi. Oh really, do you think those curls (chinos) that (Santi) cut will make me fall for him? Pat doesn’t think that’s funny. But Candy’s just teasing, and she grabs his tie, and pulls him in for a juicy kiss. At that moment, Alicia walks in, and the scene is a little like the one years ago, when Candy walked in, in reverse.

And that’s what Alicia thinks. After quickly recovering from her hurt, she asks what she should do now. Should she slap Pat? Should she strip off her clothes and run out? (I’m rooting for that one :).

Back at Candy’s house, Lucía is still upset, pushes Charly away, as Meño enters. He calmly tells Charly to go upstairs, and sits Lucía down. She tells him the results were negative, but she has to go back in 3 months, and it’s all Charly’s fault. Meño says it’s the responsibility of both, and Charly is suffering, and loves Lucía. Lucía is still distraught, she wanted to be a pediatrician, and he tells her she still can. She thinks the 3 months are going to last a century. Yes, replies Meño, for you, they’ll last a century, but for my son, it’s going to be torture for his whole life (calvario, which derives from Calvary, related to Jesus’s crucifixion). And Charly is really feeling down, Lucía.

Candy explains the difference in kisses to Alicia. This time, Candy is not going to flee. She’ll stay and defend what she feels. Alicia is not impressed. She asks if Candy really loves Pat. Before Candy can answer, Pat jumps in, telling Alicia she knows that Pat loves Candy, he’s told her millions of times. (Candy, though is not saying anything. Notice that she didn’t say she loved Pat). Alicia says SHE loves Pat, and because she doesn’t want to hurt him, she’s leaving now, but she doesn’t think he’ll really be happy with Candy. After she leaves, Pat tells Candy he’s totally sure that he’ll be happy with her. But Candy is still silent. You can see the little bit of doubt in her face.

In the lobby of Pat’s building, Alicia, visibly upset, calls Marissa, wants to meet her at her apartment. In Santi’s office, Mari (who is sitting with Santi’s head in her lap), cooly agrees, without Santi knowing what’s going on. She proceeds to get Santi up, and when he says it was nice being with her, she throws in that it would be nice if they got married. Santi can’t believe she still wants to get married, after all that’s happened, but she reminds him that she made it all very clear to him (that he either marries her and they have the baby, or she leaves and he doesn’t see the baby). She walks out.

Candy now voices her doubt. She’s afraid that maybe the two of them are making a mistake. She doesn’t want to hurt Pat by leading him on. And the matter of Alicia is contributing to her doubt. Pat, though, has no doubts. He tells Candy to listen to her heart, and he’s totally sure he’ll be happy. He then decides to actually listen to her heart (a la Chava), and he gently rests his head against her chest, and what does he hear? Patricio, Patricio, I love you. And his own heart is saying Candy, Candy, Candy.

Meño is still counseling Lucía, who is now calmer, drinking a glass of water. Meño again tells her it’s almost certain that Luc isn’t infected. Almost, almost, why is it almost? Lucía laments. Meño tells her when people love each other, they find a way to unite themselves, and don’t dwell on things that would separate them. Lucía still can’t pardon Charly, and Meño tells her she will also have to pardon herself, because both she and Charly made the mistake.

We now switch to Bárbara at the Institute, greeting a woman named Refúgio. She tells the other ladies not to interrupt her counseling session. After she goes to her office, the others think she’s spending far more time with this one patient than with others, and that is strange. Ever curious, they decide to offer their other services (make-up, nutrition, etc.) and that way they’ll be able to figure out what’s going on.

Apparently, our twisted sisters are starting to come off the wheels of their Crazy Train. Mari is sitting calmly on the sofa with a piece of cheese in her fingers, making fun of Ali, who paces back and forth behind Mari’s back. Ali thought they were allies. Oh, Mari’s says she’s just joking, what’s wrong with a little laughter. But Ali’s upset about Candy, and actually, she’d like Candy to go with Santiago! Ooops, this p-o’s Mari, but Ali tells her to keep laughing, maybe that’ll speed up the contractions, and get that baby out a little sooner.

Santi calls Meño on the phone, asks him to send Charly to Santi’s office, not to worry, Santi “comes in peace” (es un son de paz). After the commercial, a somber Lucía and Charly enter Santi’s office.

Margarita is at Pat’s office, trying to talk him into going back to Marissa. He’s going along with Alicia’s hijo plan, but he’s not going back to her, and right now, he’s very busy, he’s planning a Christmas Eve and Christmas party. His Mom thinks he’s nuts, it’s the wrong season, but he’s insistent.

Santi now goes through a long PSA about HIV with Lucía and Charly. He first tells them the 3 ways you can get it (pre-natal, blood transfusion or sexual relations). Then he explains to Luc about the follow up visit, because her test is 95 percent accurate, but after 3 months, there’s that small chance that it was still developing, so the second test will confirm for sure she is not infected. Charly, though, has to be careful, because he does have the virus, but not AIDS. But with the virus, he has to care for his body, because his immune system is not as resistant to disease as it was before. A cold can become pneumonia, etc., so any time he gets sick, he has to be especially careful. Sometimes when a disease does change into something much worse, the HIV could become AIDS (SIDA, in Spanish). At this, Charly asks if that happened, would he die? And Santi says no, even with AIDS, there are treatments, and medicine is making progress in this, so patients can still live for years, receiving treatment. And Charly is young and strong, he should be able to live a full life. Of course Charly has doubts, though.

In the restaurant, Meño receives a call from Pat. Pat wants to reserve the restaurant tonight. For a romantic dinner, asks Meño? No, for a family Christmas!

Now it’s time to hear Refúgio’s story. She tells Barb that 3 times, she was just about to get married, and each time, the guy cancelled the wedding the day before! In the meantime, the other ladies are reading the same info on Refúgio’s intake sheet (so much for confidentiality). Now, Ref is engaged again, and she came to the Institute to avoid the problem with this fourth novio, and to finally get married. But she tells Bárbara that recently her boyfriend has been acting strangely, distant, not interested in the wedding. Bárbara confirms with her that that happened all the other times, too. Barb asks if Ref ever asked herself if SHE was doing something to upset the boyfriends. Ref never thought of that. Barb suggests making an appointment for the boyfriend to come to the Institute, so they can find out, as we see a hint of self-doubt in Refúgio’s face.

Pat is visiting the little baby’s room that Alicia and Margarita have set up, with a crib, a mobile over it, lots of baby toys, a hobby horse, a high chair, everything in nice blue colors for the boy baby. Ali and Marg say the little boy will be like a prince, isn’t Pat impressed? Yeah, sure, it’ll change his life, really nice, but I’m busy, responds Pat half-heartedly, as he heads for the door. Marg thinks it went well, but Alicia has her doubts, she can tell how NOT into it Pat is. Marg counsels patience.

Back in Santi’s office, Charly is still upset, how can he keep his disease secret from everyone? Santi says it’s a private matter, and you are entitled to your privacy. Lucía says sooner or later, people are going to find out. Santi says you can keep it private pretty much, but you do have to tell some people, like the government, which needs to know for statistical reasons. They have to keep it confidential, since there’s a lot of discrimination against people with HIV. Also, one has to tell a doctor if you’re going to have an operation, and a dentist, and a person with whom you intend to have sexual contact….At this, Lucía shakes her head and asks “Who would want to have sexual relations with someone infected with HIV?”! Charly’s eyes narrow, his head turns toward Lucía, and that’s it for tonight.

Next time: A Monday full of surprises!

Vocabulario:

Calvario – a torture, or hell
Un son de paz – an errand of peace, or to come in peace

Labels:


Comments:
Thanks, Hombre d'M, good detailed recap, and good work drawing out a theme.

In the Pat/Candy/Ali scene, you said, "Notice that she didn’t say she loved Pat." Also notice that when Ali asked Candy if she loved Pat, he quickly interrupted so she wouldn't answer?

Santi, Santi, Santi, when are you going to learn? (In good novelas, characters learn from their mistakes.) He told Candy, "My girls said you don't want to be my novia," hoping she would disagree at least to some degree. When she didn't, he again concluded it's hopeless, and met up with Marissa. Santi, Santi.

Did you notice, when Pat arrived at Candy's and Santi left, how both Candy and Santi felt the urge to give a more 'personal' goodbye but stopped themselves?
 

Hi Hombre. Have you recovered from the emotions of last weekend? You must have because you did a very good job with this episode, identifying a theme and weaving it in and out through the paragraphs. Like music!

I have a little rant I need to get off my chest. I thought Candy was really cruel, playing with Patricio's naturally insecure, jealous feelings. It was all a laugh to her. And she really strung it out at the office, noting not only Santiago's curls, but his big brown puppy-dog eyes (something to that effect anyway) and one other feature, while we watched Patricio slowly deflate from his initial pleasure at seeing her. Then she smiles gleefully and pulls the "just kidding" bit. Typical of emotional bullies. I don't like this chick one bit.

Alicia and Marissa are twisted, but Candy's no angel. Good ol' Lulu is the only one with a big heart at the moment. I'm on Team Lulu!
 

Is anyone else getting just a little bit sick of Lucía's "poor me" routine? Tonight's attack on Charly and then her snide question about who would want to have relations with someone infected with HIV just pushed me over the edge! She is being a selfish little brat, self-absorbed, and taking no responsibility for HER actions. It takes two to tango and she was sure looking for a "dance floor" opportunity with Charly when Santiago, Donato, and Abuela were trying to get the two of them to cool off. She should be grateful she has tested negative and offer some compassion to Charly!

I really admired Meño's patience and kind consejo to her. What self-control! Meño is my favorite character in this telenovela. He is a decent man and probably the only one who shouldn't wear the "tonto" label!

I love the new opening pictures and design. Sometimes I am late coming home from work and miss the first 10 minutes, so maybe it's not new. Anyway, it was new to me since I got to watch from the very beginning last night.

Thanks for the recap - ALWAYS good info! I didn't quite get the % that Patricio trusts Candy, but knew it was more than I could count on my fingers. :) (35,021 - I'm impressed!)
 

Thank you, great recap!
I don't understand Candy at all. She seems to want to like Pat in order to find a good papa for her son. She seems to have some affection for him due to past happy memories.
BUT, when she sees Santi the false front seems to melt a little bit. She is really drawn to him in a genuine way.
I'm not Barb but that's how I see their crazy relationship!
Poor Charly! He loves Lu and she him but they are so young and it's a lot plan a future together with something so heavy hanging over their heads.
Santi and Mariloca, he seemed so happy just being near the baby.
I'm wondering now if he will give in and marry her just to have his son?????

Carrie L.
 

Commenters...be sure and scroll down to the link Carlos and Melinama provided to register your conplaints about the closed captions. In the upper right hand corner you can ask for the English version, and even using the Spanish version you can register your complaint in English. We need EVERYBODY to write in...
 

Carrie, from the beginning, every time Santi started getting close to Candy, she ran and hid behind "What about Marissa?" When he ditched the wedding, that excuse didn't work any more.

What did she do when he became a free man? Fall into his arms? Follow through on all those implied promises she made to him (e.g. "When I see you with her and I look happy, don't believe me;" and "Yes, I'm willing for you to be the love of my life"). Nope, she got back together with Pat in the very next episode! If she can't hide behind Mar, she'll hide behind Pat.

She is in a panic that someone will hurt her. Instead, she pulverizes the hearts of two men who love her.
 

Paula: You're absolutely right. Now that Santi is not going to marry Marissa, why IS Candy rejecting him? I guess there's the baby thing, but as you say, Candy still must be terrified of being hurt. I agree with the other commenters, though, that I don't feel that sympathetic to her.

Judy: I'm still on a high from the wedding, as we're getting all these pictures and videos on Facebook from various relatives (I'm actually just starting with Facebook). As for team Lulu, ITA, she's the most genuine, kind woman on the show. Too bad she's not the heroine.

Deb: I'm not really sure of the percent. He might have said 10 million, 35 thousand and twenty-one percent. I played it a few times, and just gave it my best guess. And the new opening has only been there for a few days - I like it, too. I noticed that they show Alicia holding a baby in the new opening. Interesante!

Carrie: I sure hope Santi doesn't give in and marry Mari just to have his son. Santi should look ahead in the script, realize that Mari's the villainess, and wait for some anvils to fall on her!
 

Hey Hombre, congratulations to you for being on Facebook. That's just way out of my ken. I know my daughters are both on it and communicate that way, but it's all I can do to keep up with my e-mails and blogs. Glad you're still 10 feet off the ground. Hope your wife is equally blissful. And of course, the newlyweds!
 

I like Facebook. I joined a couple years ago when my daughter called and said, "Did you know Ez (her brother) was in the hospital getting stitches last night?" and I said, "No, how do YOU know?" and she said, "I read it on his Facebook page."
 

Yikes, Melinama...well, that would certainly be strong motivation. Maybe I'll think about joining. You all have nudged me into a lot of new computer behavior and I'm sure it's good for the brain cells (and keeping up to date on offspring)
 

Judy, I believe the experts say that anything that is new and difficult to learn is indeed good for the brain.
My problem is I find I really prefer the old tried and true that I know by heart. It is a real challange for me to learn the new and difficult expecially in the computer/tech fields.

I'm sure you're right about Candy Paula. She is so afraid to be hurt that she is hurting the two men who love and want her.
In the process she is driving us all crazy with her not being able to choose!!!!!!!!!

I agree Hombre, I hope Santi doesn't give in and marry Mariloca. He is so in love with all his children I wonder if he will put up with Loca just to have his son near.
That would be a really, really terrible move for him.

Carrie L.
 

Carrie....believe me, I prefer the tried and true also. Anything on the computer that I've learned is because my colleagues INSISTED on teaching me. I bless them for their patience 'cause I'm really a toddler when it comes to technology...except real toddlers learn faster and better!
 

Hombre, great recap - are you sure you haven't been doing this for years??

My Facebook profile number is 1133004546 - last name's Martin so search on that if you prefer but my name might as well be "John Smith" for sheer numbers of replication. Hey, my name's so common I'm even on TSA's watch list!

Point being if any other Facebookers wanna search on the number above and send me an invite, that would be fine. I just ironically invited Emilia to be a Facebook "friend" but, hey, I didn't write the rules.
 

I have been looking for a website like this for months, thank goodness I found it. Thank you to everyone who contributes to this site I really appreciate it.
I made sure that i made you a favorite on my IE.
Thanks again
 

Merle...we're delighted you found us and made a comment. We have many readers who, in their words, "lurk" but don't comment and we really LOVE hearing from you on a regular basis. So again, welcome.

Mike, eventually I'll try and get my a** in gear and join facebook and then I'll look for you. Thanks for including your better half Emilia!
 

You know, Judy, I had thought some time ago when I told Mi Esposa about the Facebook group called "I've been to the Hinton, WV Dairy Queen" she'd leap on it just to join a group about her home town. In fact, an NPR reporter named Noah Adams wrote a really good little book called "Far Appalachia" in which he opened one chapter by saying "The Dairy Queen in Hinton, WV is the center of the universe." You have to go there to understand what he meant.

Facebook, in my experience, is kind of interesting. I don't spend near as much time there as I do here (thanks, Melinama and all you recappers!) but it's not a bad way to keep up with the friends and relations.
 

Hombre: Please accept my belated good wishes on your daughter’s wedding. The wedding sounded lovely and I wish them all the happiness in the world.

Your recap was very insightful and the theme of doubt was perfect for this episode. As you noted, “This episode explores the fragile nature of changes in our lives”. You really made me think: everyone wants to be happy, everyone is trying to be happy, but are any of our characters truly happy? Jaime and Isa may be the exceptions.

I agree with you Hombre and Judy – Lulu is lovely!

I’ve made no secret of the fact I like Pat. But, I really don’t like Candy! I’ve tried to but just can’t get there. Paula you astutely note that Candy is “in a panic that someone will hurt her”. Yes, she is afraid. But, aside from Chava, she doesn’t seem to consider anyone other than herself so she “pulverizes the hearts of two men who love her”. I also agree with Judy that she’s engaged in emotional bullying on many occasions. Toying with other’s emotions is cruel. Period.

I’m with Carrie and everyone else hoping Santi doesn’t marry Mari. But, he may be desperate to hold onto his son at the cost of his own happiness.

Deb, I love Meno also. I think this telenova is unusual as the most interesting and multi-dimensional characters are the supporting characters. Diana in MA
 

Hombre, once again a marvelous recap. You really do good work. As to Lucia,I'm willing to cut her a little slack just because she is what she is, a confused and panicked teen. Teens at their very best are most often self-centered and insufferable. And like it or not her question of who would want to have intimate relations with someone who is HIV positive is legitimate if insensitive. I'm interested to see how this question is approached in this TN.

Judy, both the OSU and Baylor girls are licking their wounds today. The Baylor guys are alive in the NIT (I know, BFD).

Carlos
 

Hi Hombre, thank you for the very interesting and thoughtful recap.

I don't have much to add to the already excellent comments except to wonder about Refugio's story. What's the point and do we know her boyfriend? Just thinking out loud here.

I'm not too terribly annoyed by Lucia...yet. I can only imagine being that age and having to deal with the possibility of having HIV. I give her props for continuing to talk to Charly. So far I don't have an opinion on whether she should or should not terminate her relationship with him based on what has happened. Like Carlos I'm very interested to see how this is handled.

Thanks again Hombre, I always look forward to your masculine perspective.
 

Carlos, I got to watch the Baylor women play because they were on at a reasonable hour...noon. They did a good job though and I was impressed with that little pink and white blonde who came off the bench and made some big plays...was her name Melissa? Can't remember.

Not surprised we lost our game to Stanford...waaaay out west and playing at 11:30 our time...actually happy we came as close as we did.

WILL BE ROOTING FOR THE BAYLOR MEN TO WIN THE NIT!!!
 

Diana, I'm so glad that you've found a way to stay in touch, Thank you ,Judy, you're a treasure. On weekends I'm able to read the recaps and comments using my cell phone, but as yet have not found a way to add to the conversation. I must wait til Mon. to chime in, and frequently the good stuff has already been said.

Judy, well heck! Yes, that was Melissa Jones. She is really a spark plug.

Carlos
 

Merle, thank you for posting. Welcome aboard. Please let us hear from you more. I am much more motivated in writing recaps if I know there is an audience out there. I don't particularly need compliments nor thanks; just shuffle your feet a few times so we can hear that you're listening.
 

Sylvia: I also wonder what the purpose of Refugio's consult was. It would certainly be fun if her fiance is one of the abandonados. The Institute ladies were making a big deal out of Barbara's unusual interest in the case, so maybe it's related to Barbara's marital history (I think she's been divorced twice).

For all you basketball fans, I'm not really much of a fan, but since I'm from Maryland, Go Lady Terps! (short for Terrapins)
 

I can cut Lucia a little slack. She's teenaged and she's terrified, neither of which are particularly conducive to reasonable and sensitive behavior. Also, although she and Charly are both at fault for her possible exposure to HIV, I would say that Charly is a little more guilty for having lied about his sexual history.

I wonder how much services at the Institute would cost. They never seem to have very many clients yet none of the large staff are complaining that they can't get by on their pay.
 

Julia, I've wondered about the institute as well. Seems more social than professional - pretty fancy working space, too. If I'm correct in understanding that's all funded by Marissa's money, then how long will it last?

Maybe they could improve their revenue stream with a limited time only, no interest till 2010 sale on self esteem.
 

I've been meaning to ask if anybody has tried Rosetta Stone or something along those lines to help to learn Spanish. I know it's very expensive, but if it helps me, I may take the plunge.

Love all your comments and recaps.
 

Violet, I have strong opinions on RS and they go both ways.
Pros:
* Great for children under 11 (when language learning changes).
* Good for exposure and familiarity.
* Definitely more fun than most.
* Great for expanding vocabulary
* Very visual, so you etch in your brain the Spanish word and the object rather than the Spanish word and the English word.
* Easy to use, fairly well constructed.

Cons:
* Too expensive
* Lousy for grammar
* Lousy for conversation
* Weak on anything even slightly abstract. While you can easily show a picture that represents, "Two boys jump off the table," how do you represent something as simple as, "I want to learn Spanish"?

Maybe Mike and Emily can weigh in on this.

Check your library. Many have access to RS for free.
Check Destinos on Learner.org. It's a free PBS-produced beginner Spanish instruction program arranged like a telenovela. Like watching a TN where they talk slowly and clearly, but no sex, no wicked villian, and no swapped babies. And the galan is seriously inferior to what we're used to!
Also try Livemocha.com . Free and well done. Not as engaging as RS, but in certain aspects, better instructions.
 

Violet, Santa Claus favored Emilia w/ Rosetta Stone and she seems to be finding it useful.
 

Thanks for your input, Paula and Mike. Emilia must've been a very good girl to get such a nice gift!
 

Well, as Santa Claus sez, "'Tis better to give (Rosetta Stone)than to receive (the iron skillet up side of the head.)
 

Very funny!
 

Violet, I don't have any experience with Rosetta Stone, but I can very strongly recommend The Pimsleur Method published by Simon& Schuster. There are 3 separate courses, each consisting of 30 thirty minute lessons and a supplemental course of 15 thirty minute lessons, all on CD or audio tapes. My drive to work is 40 min. each way so for me it worked very well. I had no prior Spanish experience(I minored in German in college. After completion of all the courses(which I purchased 1 at a time in case I found them wanting). After completing all the courses (about 1 yr. or a bit more) Ifound a brilliant tutor and we get together once a week to study literature, art, culture, and(ugh!) grammar. She was impressed with what I had learned on my own using the CDs and one of our 1st readings was a microcuento by Luis Borges.

Good luck with what ever you decide. The important thing is persistence in your effort.

Carlos
 

You guys are cracking me up. All I know about the Rosetta Stone is it's incredibly expensive. I'd be surprised if the library carried it, since it is so costly. Often the best Spanish language books with CD's here "disappear" after a while.

Violet, I'd check out your library and try out some of their other Spanish audio programs first. I listen to mine in my car. And its certainly helped my pronunciation.
 

Ah, I see Carlos gave you an even better answer, Violet. Go with what he recommends. And what was cracking me up was Mike's quip about the frying pan.
 

Judy, as I understand it, some libraries subscribe to a service that gives patrons access to certain resources including RS. They don't have the disks. You log on through your library account and access RS through that service.
 

That's good to know, Paula. Thanks.
 

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I will look into all of them, that is when my micro class is over in five weeks. Yeah!
 

Thanks Hombre for a great recap.

I'm watching the show a little late, so I don't know if anyone will see this comment, but I had to laugh about the scene where Beto was asking Sole if Pat liked Chava better. My bad. I was thinking I LIKE CHAVA BETTER ha ha. Beto is a cute little boy but doesn't have near the personality Chava does. Sorry, I said it. Beto is one of those kids that has that whiny sing song voice that gets on my nerves. The rest of the young actors are outstanding. They could teach lessons to some of the young actors we have here for sure.
I think Candy's enjoying the 2 galans fighting over her but let's not forget, she's had a 7-year dryspell, so it prob feels pretty darn good.
 

Anon, good point about Candy.

I think we'd all agree with you that the kids in this TN are have a ton more talent than most of the kids in these shows.

It's OK to post a late comment because a lot of us tag the comments to come to our email addresses. It's a good way to be notified of new comments without having to keep checking the blog. So keep commenting, better late than never (más vale tarde que nunca)!
 

Paula's doing the happy dance! Recapping with captions! Life is good! You know the worth of water when the well runs dry!
 

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