Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Doña Bárbara - Wed., April 1: El Miedo burns; Santos saves DB; the authorities refuse to believe that Sapo was responsible

Sapo et al open fire on people trying to escape from the burning house.
Santos et al arrive at the boat landing. The hear shots and smell smoke and realize that El Miedo is being attacked. Santos tells the women to stay at the river but we know how likely Marisela is to follow that advice.

DB comes for Eustaquia and takes her down to the secret room.

Gonzalo wonders where everyone went.

Santos and his party start firing on Sapo and his guys from behind. Sapo splits his forces. When the boat captain announces that the national guard is there, Sapo's men want to leave but Sapo says that he won't leave until 'that witch' ('esa bruja') is dead.

DB gets guns from the secret room and starts firing back.

Santos goes inside the house through the tunnel into the secret room and Marisela follows him.

Santos joins DB upstairs. He asks if she is ok. "I'm fine, better than ever," she says, "This is the worst moment of my life. I need you and you are here. You see how much you love me?"

Santos and DB return fire.

The bad guys take off. Santos brings everyone to Altamira. Santos asks DB if it was Sapo who attacked El Miedo but she won't admit it. She starts to have cramping and Marisela takes her upstairs. DB says that she only needs a little rest and doesn't want the doctor. In a sweet scene, DB thanks Marisela for saving her life. She asks Marisela why she did since Marisela hates her. Marisela replies that it seems that she doesn't hate DB as much as she thought. DB asks if Marisela will forgive her but Marisela says that doesn't matter. DB tells her how Lorenzo forgave her before he died. She says it would be odd (curioso) if Marsiela forgave her too one day. Marisela asks who it was who attacked the hacienda and DB confirms that it was the enemy she warned Marisela about. She says she can't tell Santos who it was and she makes Marisela swear not to tell Santos either. DB says that this secrecy is the only way to protect Marisela and Santos from evil.
Geno and Pajarote reconcile and she is about to tell him about the baby when Gervasia arrives and tells her Melsesio wants to know what is going on.

Melquíades manages to get back to El Miedo. He assumes DB is dead until Juan Primito arrives and tells him that DB is ok.

Pernalete and Mujica arrive. They asks who did this. Santos says that he suspects Fidel Castell. Gonzalo arrives. Santos says that only DB actually knows what happens.

JP brings Melquíades to La Chusmita and tells him not to tell anyone except DB where he is.

DB tells Marisela that her huge engagement ring shows how much Gonzalo loves her. Marisela says that she can't get used to it and DB says that Marisela didn't inherit her modesty from DB.
DB continues to claim that nothing is wrong. She sends Marisela out to get her some coffee. JP shows up, tells her about Melquíades and DB says that she wants leave with him.

Marisela brings Dr. Arias to see DB but she is gone.
Gonzalo and Pernalete team up to insist that Santos has no proof that the attack on El Miedo was led by Sapo.

Los Mondragón and their cousins arrive at El Miedo and wonder what the hell happened.
Sapo tells Facundo that DB isn't just a woman. She's a witch who killed his four friends. DB seems to have gotten a psychological advantage over Sapo.

JP brings DB to La Chusmita. She says that she is losing her baby.

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Comments:
It was kind of unbelievable to me how Santos et al were firing upon Sapo and his men from behind and Dona et al were firing upon them from in front and they still managed to climb into the car and drive away. No one could shoot them when they ran around the car to get in? No one could shoot the tires out? I hate to admit this, but I found myself yelling these questions to the tv! ha-ha! Then, I couldn’t understand why no one seemed to be concerned about Melquíades. After the gun battle, everyone was standing around talking at Santos’s house. At the police station, everyone was standing around talking. Maricella didn’t think to say: “Hey, I wonder what happened to Melquiades who was shot, bleeding, and possibly dying in my room? Maybe we should go look for him?” Once again, I found myself saying to the tv: “Hello? Go find Melquiades!” I think I need to get less involved in this.
 

Hi Jody:
I wasn't too concerned about the gunfight. Most TV gun battles are ridiculous with tons of lead flying and no one getting hurt.

But you are right about Melquiades. Why wasn't anyone concerned about what happened to him or how he got wounded.

I also couldn't understand why if this baby is so important to DB, she would not only refuse any medical treatment but drag herself to La Chusmita where Melquiades and Juan Primito are certainly not going to be much help if she is having a miscarriage.
 

I figured she drug herself to Melquiades hoping he could conjure up some magic to stop the miscarriage....some kind of potion or brew!
 

I think she may be planning to pretend she's still pregnant after the miscarriage and that she didn't want the doctor because he would tell Santos.
 

Here’s a post about the final chapter of Part 2 of Doña Bárbara, the novel. Marisela is now very much in love with Santos but isn’t actually telling him so. Santos knows she loves him but is resisting his feelings for her because, quite frankly, he fears “bad blood”. He weighs both sides: alcoholic father, larcenous mother who kicked her out while a toddler, not good. On the other side, she has all the attributes needed for the wife of a llanero, being used to a hard life, resourceful, cheerful, and very intelligent.

Marisela overhears some gossip between Casilda and another woman. It seems Juan Primito has been there on an errand for DB. What she has sent him to do is measure Santos from head to foot with a piece of string and bring her the string. Apparently there’s a sort of brujería in which you get the exact height of the desired man on a length of string. Then you put that string around your waist and wear it. The man will be yours soon. The narrative goes on to say that DB, despairing of getting Santos to come to her, decides to resort to witchcraft. Juan Primito, somewhat slyer than the actor in the telenovela, gets Santos to let him measure him by “haciendo el bobo”, counting on Santos going along out of kindness to a mental defective. I should also say that up to this point there is actually nothing going on between Santos and DB.

Marisela panics. On some level, she believes this will work. She asks Pajarote to saddle Catira, the mare Carmelito broke for her, and to ride with her to El Miedo. When they arrive, Marisela leaves Pajarote outside, asking him to respond to her whistle if she needs help. She goes in. In the novel, she has no memory of ever being there. She finds DB in her “dark room” portrayed perfectly in the telenovela just as written in the novel. Marisela walks up and snatches the string from DB before she can get it around her waist. She catches her completely by surprise. And she calls her “bruja”! This has a profound effect on DB. She feigns supernatural powers so that all will fear her, but no one has ever dared call her a witch to her face.

They struggle over the string and it isn’t looking good for Marisela because DB is called a “hombruno” several times in the novel, able to rope cattle and do all the work on the hacienda as well as a man. Just then, in a telenovelaesque twist, Santos shows up in the doorway saying: “Déjala”. There’s a wonderful sentence then in which DB is described as trying desperately to change her murderous expression during the struggle with Marisela into a pleasant one for Santos’ benefit, ending up only with a grimace.
 

Thanks so much for the next installment of the novel, novelera. Santos may be a little presumptuous in worrying about Marisela's parentage. Marisela should worry about marrying a man whose father killed his eldest son.
 

Thanks Jean & Novelera! Great stuff to add to our viewing pleasure.

Poor Melquiades, he's just chopped liver. DB went back to find him because she needs his help. She's also going to continue using this bebe to 'get' Santos back. Whether the bebe lives or not, DB will use whatever she can to get what she wants. It's all about the Dona...
jb
 

Wow, your ability to capture such fantastic shots blows me away. Thank you Jean!

Novelera, I sure do enjoy when you share the novel with us. Your last paragraph in particular, describing DB's face, was very descriptive.
 

Thanks, Jean. I, too, wondered why Maricela said nothing about Mel...what a truly tragic figure...totally devoted to another tragic figure. I also agree that Dona did not want to see the doctor because she knew that she was losing the baby. I had a miscarriage and the feeling is pretty scary. I agree that she plans to keep saying that she is pregnant. Dona and Mel will probably go out exacting their final revenge on the old toad.
 

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