Saturday, March 13, 2010

El Clon, Fri. March 12 - Jade gets hitched; Lucas takes the veil and Dora's eggo gets preggo

Jade's plane is gone. Lucas walks disconsolately through the airport. He accosts another veiled woman. He suffers flashbacks. On the plane, Jade asks herself, "Why Lucas?" Why indeed.

At Albieri's house, Luisa is gradually insinuating photos of her and Albieri and hiding those of the dead Laura. When Albieri comes in, Luisa asks him why he was at Dora's house.

Cristina comes home to find Lucas in her house. He tells her that he 'got held up at home' (with flashback to the attempted slap and tickle session). He couldn't get to the beach on time and Jade has gone to Morocco. He asks Cristina what he should do. He loves Jade. She is the only thing that means anything in his life and now she's going to marry someone chosen by her uncle. Cristina almost asks Lucas where his balls are but changes it to his 'manhood' and tells Lucas to take a plane to Morocco and bring Jade back. She tells him to kidnap Jade if necessary but not to come back without her. Lucas looks at her as if he could not have come up with this idea on his own. He'll do it.

Luisa says that Albieri told her he was going to Mohamed's house, which is on the other side of town. How did he end up at Dora's? Albieri produces a totally lame story about looking at a car for sale and pleads exhaustion.

Nariza, the mouth, is haranguing Said about what a mistake it is to marry Jade. He pays no attention. Finally he tells Nariza that he loves Jade and is going to marry her. He says that no one can prove Jade isn't a virgin [couldn't he ask for another examination by the virginity doctors?] He tells Nariza that if it turns out that Jade isn't a virgin, he'll return her and kill the Westerner who, uh, stole the cherry, as it were. He's got it all planned in his mind. The mouth asks Allah what Jade did to bewitch Said.

Lucas sneaks out of his house.

Jade tells Zoraida that she has stopped fighting. She'll marry Said or whoever. She doesn't care. Zoraida points out the love 'em and leave 'em perfidy of Westerners. Jade asks why Lucas stood her up twice. Zoraida praises Ali for ignoring what everyone saw was going on and bringing her back. Jade replies that Ali was just trying to protect his family from shame. Then Zoraida tells Jade how to pass the marriage night proof of virginity test. Jade says that she won't do that. She doesn't care if Ali punishes her. She hopes Said returns her and that Ali kills her.

Jade is summoned to Ali's study to see Said. Glumly, she obeys. Zoraida says that Jade looks like she has lost her soul.

Ali tells Said that there's no reason to delay the marriage. Said tells Ali that Jade got into his heart the first moment he saw her. Ali warns him that she has a strong temperament but a good soul. Jade appears, eyes downcast. Ali blesses them both.






















Rosa finds a note from Lucas saying that he has gone to Morocco. She thinks Lucas will say anything to avoid going to his father's office. Marisa turns up and she believes the note. Leo tells Enrique to cancel Lucas' credit cards. Then Leo blames Rosa for not watching Lucas and she reminds him that it was he who went AWOL when Diego decided to fly the helicopter solo.

Meanwhile, Lucas is in Morocco lurking outside the door to Ali's house.

Zoraida tells an indifferent Jade about the wedding plans and the jewelry Said bought for her.










Then she says that Said and Ali have gone
out to fulfill their zakat duty. Ali tells Said that he can't cheat Allah by not giving 2.5% of his income to the poor. (For more about zakat, click the link above.) Lucas lurks.





The Mouth is pouring out her grievances about the marriage to Mohamed. She says that she will be all over them on their honeymoon to get the truth on the virginity issue. Latifa tells Mohamed that Jade hasn't been with anyone else. She says that Jade made it all up because she didn't want to be married so young. Mohamed replies that he hopes that is true, if not a great misfortune will fall upon her.

It's waxing time again at Ali's house. Ali, with his water pipe, sighs and says that he never thought this day would come. Zoraida needs to get some more incense and goes out of the house. Lucas pounces on her. Zoraida tells him to go away. Hasn't he brought enough sorrow on their family? Lucas asks for her help to take Jade away. Zoraida tells him that Jade is getting married this day and she won't tell Jade that Lucas in in Morocco. Lucas tells Zoraida that Jade is marrying against her will and will be unhappy the rest of her life and it is Zoraida's fault.

The Mouth tells Uncle Abdul that she is in her best dress with all her jewelry to go to her brother's funeral. Abdul doesn't understand her concern. If Jade is no good, she'll just be sent back. Nariza claims that Said won't be the same if that happens. Adbul blesses Said while Nariza wails. Abdul rolls his eyes at Said.

The women are dressing the Jade doll for her wedding.









Who is that veiled person in sneakers? It's Lucas in disguise!









A religious person (an Imam?) tells Said (translated by Abdul for our benefit since presumably Said speaks Arabic) that the Prophet said that a good wife is one of the greatest things a man can have in this life (the others being a big house and a nice car.) The Imam details the characteristics of a good wife, which Jade seems unlikely to fulfill. A woman says a poem over Jade to bring her happiness. All it brings her is flashbacks to being with Lucas. Jade is asked whether she accepts being married to Said. Jade hesitates but finally accepts.

Osvaldo tells a friend that he didn't come back to make up with Dora. He will get another girl - prettier and with fewer issues. Dora finds out that Osvaldo is back in town. She is surprised he hasn't come looking for her. Dora tells Vicki that now that the day has come, she is afraid that she isn't preggers after all. Vicki says that she is sure that Dora is pregnant.

Albieri asks Luisa about Dora. She coldly tells him that Dora is coming in for her pregnancy test today.

The men go through the marriage ceremony with Ali representing Jade while the women, including the bride, wait in another room. There is some chanting and Jade is brought in to greet her husband.






And look who's crashed the wedding - it's Lucas in his veil. Jade sees him.

Ali tells Said that he is giving him a treasure and tells him to make Jade happy. Said says that he will. The Egyptian belly dancer performs. Lucas gestures to Jade to leave but what a dummy. How is she going to do slip out in the middle of her wedding?

On the home front, everyone is very tense waiting for news of Lucas. Leo manages to insult Enrique.

Back in Morocco, Jade is carried in on the palanquin. She tells Zoraida that Lucas has come for her. Zoraida asks if she wants to be left in the street again. She says that if Jade leaves with Lucas, both of them will surely die.

The Mouth warns Said to beware of any trick that Jade might pull on the wedding night. Said (who seems to have changed out of his business suit) says that he can take care of himself.


Now Ali and Abdul notice the strange veiled
woman. Lucas bolts from the house. Since cross dressing is probably frowned upon in Morocco, he is chased by some guys in the street. Once again, Lucas has let Jade down and she is crushed.

Lucas goes to the ruins where he is dazzled by the vision of Jade dancing for him. Then he acknowledges to himself that he has lost Jade and collapses in grief.

Julio asks Albieri where the cells that he cultured from Lucas are. Albieri says that he had an accident and lost them. He is told that Dora has come for her pregnancy test. Albieri is sure that she will be told that she isn't pregnant and the nightmare will be over.

Back in Morocco the newlyweds are about to leave Ali's house. Zoraida tells Jade that the materials for her to fool Said about her virginity are in her purse. Jade refuses to use them. When Zoraida asks if she wants to die, Jade says that she won't escape her death. The wedding party leaves the house.

Albieri says to himself that he never should have gone that far. Luisa doesn't understand why Albieri has changed so much since Diego died. The moment of truth arrives - Dora is pregnant! Albieri is impactado and Luisa cannot understand his reaction.





The credits roll.

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Comments:
Jean, thanks--a priceless recap--you made my day with "the eggo is preggo"!
Wish they would decide whether to make Lucas' character totally spineless or just having a momentary wobble. He's not the hero he was in the first couple weeks...
Joan
 

Thanks Joan. I actually looked up slang terms for pregnancy, of which there are many, to find something unusual for the title. The other one I was considering was 'on stork watch.'

I don't know what to think about Lucas. I have hopes for his clone, though. If he is a combination of Diego and Lucas, that would be perfect. Maybe that's the idea. Diego and Lucas are each halves of one person and thus incomplete. One assumes that there is a reason that the person who is cloned is a twin.
 

Thanks, Jean, for the terrific recap. I too am unsure what to make of Lucas. I've seen Mauricio Ochmann in a few other TNs--Azúl Tequila, Como en el Cine, and Dame Chocolate--and in all of them, he was a much more attractive character than he is here. Indeed, even in Dame Chocolate, where he didn't have the lead role, I liked him better than the galan. As for El Clon, I'm more taken with Said than with Lucas.
 

I was interested in the link you provided to Zakat. In the Wikipedia article, it said Zakat was sometimes referred to as sadaqah. I was struck by the similarity in sound and meaning between that Arabic word and the Hebrew word tzedakah. Ah, the ironies of the Middle East.
 

Thanks, Joan. Juanita~~I'm with you. I like Said. Lucas is irresponsible and has put himself and Jade in jeopardy with his actions. I got a big kick out of seeing him disguised at the wedding.
 

Jean: Thanks for another great and enjoyable recap! Don't know what I'd do without you and Paula. ! 8 ? )

I'm about as worn out from Lucas and this marriage nightmare scenario as Jade seems to be. I've developed a sincere respect of sorts for both Mo and Said considering the patience and self control they show towards La Nariza. She's enough to give anyone a never-ending cluster migraine!
 

Thanks Jean. Said is much more of an adult than the infantile Lucas. He still expect Daddy to fund him and his marriage while he plays musician! I wonder what the virginity test is supposed to reveal. Sister is waiting in the wings and Jade is awaiting her death!


Lynne
 

Lynne, I think the virginity test that Jade and Latifa had to undergo to get a certificate was an examination by a doctor to ascertain whether the hymen was intact. The virginity test that Nazira talks about is probably a display of the bedsheet the morning after the marriage has been consumated. If the bedsheet is appropriately bloody, it indicates that the bride had been a virgin. BTW, this custom is by no means limited to one ethnic or religious group.
 

Can you imagine having Nariza as a sister-in-law ? YIKES.
 

Lynn: ITA re Said vs. Lucas.
========
Susanlynn: I expect quite a few sparks to fly between Jade and La Nariza. In fact, I can't wait! I think Jade will awake from her lovelorn stupor and make life just difficult enough for The Nosy One to get even without getting in trouble for it. At least I'd like to hope she will.
 

Thanks, Jean. Great recap and great photos as usual.

A minor thing: I sure hope they don't have Dora reconciled with the despicable Osvaldo. I had high hopes when they moved him to Mexico that we'd seen the last of him. Dora does not deserve to be hooked up with this macho egomaniac. Of course his talk of another, better woman is protesting too much, and he still loves her. But I can't stand him.

The wedding was SO interesting. I had no idea the bride wasn't even in the room when the groom gets married by an imam. Jade looked gorgeous. Said isn't really picking up the signals or else he thinks it's maidenly modesty. But surely he should have noticed how unhappy the bride is.

I had an insight into a scene they showed for the next episode, but even mentioning it might spoil it for someone else, so I'll callarme.

I was pleased to see Mama Rosa finally at least hint that Leo, who's lashing out at everyone else, is in a large part responsible for his son's death for ignoring his cell while in bed with the blonde.

As to Cristina, she's turning out to be a much more sympathetic character than we had supposed. She doesn't seem to be written out of the story yet. Maybe she really will get Leo in the end?

They can write Luisa out right now as far as I'm concerned. I'm bored to death with her harassing Albieri all the time. He never has a moment either at work or at home when she isn't following him around. As I might have mentione before, this could be a carry-over from the stalker she played in Victoria. In that one she was obsessed with Mauricio Ochmann's character.
 

Novelera, I found myself wondering if Luisa is going to cross over into stalker-ville. She's borderline right now. As a character, I don't much care what happens to her. I'm much more interested in Cristina. Starting to think she's too good for Leo...imagine cancelling your son's credit cards when he is stranded in a foreign country. Sheesh!!!
Joan
 

Telemundo is probably trying to compete with Univision. They do a really good job of letting the videos for the previous evening be available on their website. It's a good marketing ploy to promote their telenovelas and attract a wider audience.

I rewatched the last few videos of Friday evening. Did Enrique tell Leo that he was at his side for smuggling drugs?

I've always been somewhat bemused by what I see as a contradiction. Wives and women in the household have to dress modestly.Yet everyone happily watches the scantily-dressed belly dancer at the wedding. What does Islam have to say about this?
 

Lynne, what Leo keeps saying to Enrique and Enrique keeps being annoyed about is Enrique's past. No one is drug smuggling, but apparently Enrique is an addict in recovery who used drugs and alcohol in the past. Another black mark against our annoying Leo is that he keeps reminding Enrique that he's a weak person.

As is often the case with recovering addicts, he's turned to faith to get him through. Right after Diego's death, Enrique was trying to get Leo to turn to God. Apparently, he's also into paranormal stuff (seems like a contradiction) because he was recommending a psychic who could put Leo in touch with Diego in the afterlife.
 

Lynne--I've been wondering the same thing about the bellydancers. (I noticed in the recap they were referred to as "Egyptian bellydancers".) There's a lot of skin exposed, lots of jiggling, but watching them does not seem to be a "pecado muy grande".
Joan
 

Lynne, Novelera is right that this tiff between Leo and Enrique was one of many where Leo throws Enrique's drug addiction in his face. I didn't translate it in the recap but this is what happened: Enrique says that Lucas must really be in love and Leo says that isn't an excuse. Enrique says it's that kind of passion that causes people to lose control [as Leo well knows viz his behavior with Cristina]. Leo says that Enrique is justifying Lucas because Enrique doesn't have any control himself. Enrique is offended and says that he has his addictions under control.

I also have wondered about how having a belly dancer performing at the wedding is ok. Respectable women only dance for their husbands so is this woman not respectable? Why would you want a such a woman at your wedding festivities?

I'm hoping that after Monday's episode all the business of marriages and virginity will be over.
 

A little internet study reveals that the bellydance performance at Jade's and Latifa's weddings is most likely something that we in the West expect to see and it would not be done in Morocco.

See http://www.esto.es/bellydance/english/history.htm

for an interesting history of bellydancing. The Wikipedia article states:

"Since the 1950s, it has been illegal in Egypt for belly dancers to perform publicly with their midriff uncovered [3] or to display excessive skin. It is therefore becoming more common to wear a long, figure-hugging lycra one-piece gown with strategically placed cut-outs filled in with sheer, flesh-coloured fabric.

If a separate bra and skirt are worn, a belt is rarely used and any embellishment is embroidered directly on the tight, sleek lycra skirt. A sheer body stocking must be worn to cover the midsection. Egyptian dancers traditionally dance in bare feet, but these days often wear shoes and even high heels."

It seems pretty clear that our idea of belly dancing has roots in the Middle East but is mostly something Westerners expect to see in nightclubs [and in novelas that take place in Morocco] and would never have been performed at a real Moroccan wedding.
 

Jean--thanks for filling us in on all these cultural questions! The Morocco setting enriches this novela on so many levels, IMHO.
Joan
 

I had a student from Morroco in my speaking class last semester, but I haven't seen him around campus this semester. If I do, I'll ask him about belly dancers. Oddly, my friend's daughter had a belly dancer at her wedding reception. [The family is not of Middle Eastern descent. ] She danced around the dance floor after dinner. I noticed that an Indian girl in my classes had henna tracings all over her hands the other day. I think that she does traditional Indian dancing.
 

I'm late to the game once again. Thank you, Jean.

You folks have covered most of it. I wanted to toss out one comment. Juanita, you mentioned the similarity of Arabic and Hebrew words. It's not just a coincidence. Both are in the Semitic language family, fairly closely related. Three enlightening images:
1. Common Vocabulary in Semitic languages. Note it lists the salama / shalom for peace, which we talked about last week.
2. The Semitic language tree. Note that Arabic and Hebrew are not only in the same tree, they are both in the Central Semitic branch.
3. For comparison, the Indo European language tree. Note that, for example, French and Spanish are in the same branch of the tree, so that MAY be comparable to the relationship between Arabic and Hebrew.
 

Thanks for the clarification about drugs. Telemundo doesn't have subtitles on their website and obviously my listening skills need improvement :).

When I was on a conducted tour in Morocco, we were subjected to a sleazy belly dance - fat lady! It was law that we also had to have a Moroccan tour guide. I asked him about the belly dancing. He had been at the event the previous evening and obviously enjoying it. He looked uncomfortable at my questions. But then we were tourists :)
 

No problem, Lynne. If there is ever any specific dialog that you don't get, it would be my pleasure to provide a translation. I'm blessed with the English and Spanish subtitles.
 

just stumbled upon your blog here...love love love it!!
You asked a question somewhere asking what was up with the little girl with straight hair and earrings?? could you clarify...
Also..anyone else LOVE Jade's earrings on her wedding day?? Wish I knew where I could find them!!
 

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