Monday, March 08, 2010

El Clon, Mon. March 8- To clone or not to clone, that is the question

In the lobby of the fertility clinic, Dora looks at Lucas with wonder. He says that he's never met her, he'd remember. She says that she feels something inside her as if she's known him all her life.

He asks what she is doing at the clinic and Dora replies that she having AI and she is interested in knowing all about the donor, who he is where he lives... [You're looking at him honey, except that he's donating all the DNA, not just half.]

Albieri is concerned about Diego's mole. He decides to take a sample to have a biopsy done.

Dora's egg harvesting has to be postponed for a month because she had a cold.

Dora tells Vicki that she is depressed about having the AI postponed. She has a feeling that if she doesn't get pregnant this month, everything is going to be different.

Lucas asks Albieri to confirm with Ali that Lucas has decided to convert to Islam. Albieri is shocked and asks if Lucas intends to raise a child under the laws of the Koran. Sure, says Lucas, not having the slightest idea what that means, of course. Albieri remarks on the impetuousness of youth. Lucas thinks Albieri should understand the things we do for love since he just got married. Albieri is spared from answering this because Luisa announces that Leo has come for Lucas.

Albieri tells Lucas not to mention anything about the biopsy until they have the results and Leo tells Albieri that he is taking Lucas to his office to keep him away from Cristina.

Cristina and Vicki are getting a massage.

We get a close up look at Cristina's clown make up - bright green eyeshadow!

We discover that Cristina wanted Leo to hear her message to Lucas. She says that he deserves to be jealous after what he did to her. Vicki doesn't believe Leo has another girlfriend but Cristina is sure that he does. When she finds out who the woman is, she will make sure that the woman never gets near Leoncito.

Back in Morocco, Nariza is complaining to Said about not being able to go to the States right away. Said says that he needs her here to help get ready for his wedding to Jade. At that moment the phone rings, it's Mohamed. He tells Said that Jade doesn't deserve him and he should call off the wedding. Latifa overhears. As Mohamed starts to tell Said what happened with Jade, Latifa unplugs the phone line.

Latifa runs up to Jade's room and tells her about the call. She makes Jade swear that she will says that she is still a virgin. If Mohamed finds out that Jade isn't a virgin, he will think she wasn't one either and she'll be sent back to her family - the worst thing that can happen to a woman. Jade swears.

Said goes out. Nariza tells Abdul that she is sure that Said is hiding something from her. Abdul decides that Nariza is upset because Ali doesn't want to marry again. She admits that and says that she sacrificed everything for her brothers, now they are marrying and she is a 5th wheel. Abdul says that her future is up to Allah, in other words, he's not going to lift a finger to get her a husband.

Said goes to Ali's house but Zoraida tells him that Ali has left for the airport. He asks to use the phone. He calls Mohamed and with Zoraida listening on his end and Latifa on Mohamed's, he finds out about Jade's virginity fiasco of the previous night.


Said asks Mohamed not to tell Nariza or Abdul about what has happened. He will take care of it himself. Ali flashes back to his (few) meetings with Jade. After Said leaves, Zoraida gets a call from Albieri. She tells him Ali isn't there. After the call, she wishes that Lucas had never come to their house.

Lucas is hanging around Leo's office doing nothing. Finally, he says that he is leaving. Leo can't resist the opportunity to ask if he is going to see Cristina. Lucas tells Leo that Diego never would have boinked Cristina if he had known that she was Leo's girlfriend. Leo says that he trusts Lucas; he doesn't trust Cristina. Lucas replies that Cristina was nice to him and listened to his problems. Then Leo has the brass ones to ask why Lucas doesn't tell his troubles to his father instead of a stranger. Lucas tells Leo that he already knows about his problem - his marriage to Jade.

Leo asks why Lucas can't be Jade's boyfriend and get to know her better. Lucas repeats what Albieri told him - Muslims don't date - they marry. Well of course, Leo isn't interested in listening and he tells Lucas that Jade's family just want to trap him. He tells Lucas that he can't believe that he is being manipulated so easily. Then he says that Diego wouldn't have done that. Poor Lucas comes to the conclusion that Leo would rather he had died and not Diego.

Luisa suggests that she and Albieri go out dancing. Albieri suggests that Luisa invite Betty/Molly over for dinner so they can discuss cloning.

Ali arrives in Miami and takes a cab to Mohamed's house where Jade is on the balcony sans veil. She sees him and he sees her. Ali tells Jade that she is coming back to Morocco with him. She says that she will never marry Said. Ali replies that she will learn to love him but if she really doesn't want to marry him, he will cancel the wedding. He will not make someone marry against their will. Jade is ecstatic until Ali lets her know that she can't marry Lucas either.

Lucas tells Leo that he has to pay a dowry so he can marry Jade. Predictably, Leo is outraged. He pays no attention to Lucas' explanation and finally tells him that if Lucas wants to marry against his father's will, he will have to come up with the dowry and the means to support his wife. Marisa shows up.

Jade tries the 'Lucas is converting to Islam' argument but Ali isn't buying. They exchange quotes from the Koran but Ali says that Lucas is only converting to marry her and he won't approve. Jade points out that a cousin of Ali's was permitted to marry a convert. Ali responds that was different because the cousin was man. If Jade and Lucas divorced, she would have no right to her children (????).

In her room with Latifa, Jade says that she won't give Lucas up. Latifa reminds her that the coffee grounds said that her future wasn't with Lucas. Jade says she doesn't believe in that nonsense. Latifa urges her to marry Said but Jade says those anvil forging words: 'nothing and no one will ever separate Lucas and I'.

Mohamed tells Ali that Said is very concerned about Jade's behavior. He loves her but he has his pride and won't take a bride under these circumstances. Ali says that he won't make a decision until he has checked everything out. He will stay until the end of the month. Mohamed starts to bad mouth Jade but Ali cuts him off. He reminds him that the punishment for slandering a women is 80 lashes.

Said is pacing around his house. When he leaves, Abdul suggests that Nariza move up her trip to Miami. Nariza says that she will leave right away.

Jade sneaks out of her house at night to meet Lucas. Lucas tells her that the result of the biopsy on his mole was negative. She tells him that Ali has come to Miami and he won't let Jade marry Lucas even if he converts. She says that Ali is staying until the end of the month and she is sure that she can change his mind. If not, she will leave her family for Lucas. Lucas says the same. They both agree that nothing will keep them apart.

It's 'days later' and Albieri has successfully cultured Lucas' skin cells. Dora has a last night out before her AI procedure. Lucas is pouring out his troubles to Marisa and her suggestion is that they go out dancing. Lucas tells her how much he misses Diego and that he dreams about him all the time. He asks Marisa if she believes in life after death.

In his lab, Albieri says that Lucas' cells are perfect. If he had an egg, he could make a clone of Lucas. At that moment, Silvia is harvesting eggs from Dora for her AI. Silvia tells Albieri about Dora's eggs. It's destiny. Albieri bundles Silvia off to the seminar he was supposed to attend in Washington. He tells Luisa to go home so he can concentrate on his work.

Albieri has doubts - he hears the voices of Betty/Molly, Molina and finally Diego. He says that he will make a clone for Diego.

Nariza arrives in Miami and is shocked by bare midriffs. She arrives at Mohamed's house just as Jade is sneaking out. She calls Jade's name.

The credits roll.

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Comments:
Thanks, Jean, for an excellent recap. I thought you did a great job of capturing all the important parts of last night's episodio.

I still don't understand the connection Dora feels to Lucas ("as if she's known him all her life"). Guess I'd better get my beanie ready for some big-time adjustments.

I loved the scene where Luisa suggests to Albieri that they go out dancing, and he replies that she should invite Betty/Molly to dinner so they can talk about cloning. Ah, Luisa. You've made your bed and now you can lie in it--alone.

I keep wondering how much of the representation of Islamic culture is accurate. Does a woman really have no right to her children if she and her husband divorce?

Anyway, thanks again for the recap. I'm really enjoying this TN, but I know I'd miss a lot without all the help you and Paula provide.
 

I so much agree with Juanita that without you and Paula I would be totally confused. What with my lack of discipline -I still haven't learned Spanish grammer- and the plot only to the point of establishing mysteries, I'm not lost in the woods yet. Thank you Recappers!

I find I am on the side with Leo regarding these 'kids' marrying at this time. Lucas did not and still does not have a adult plan for marriage. And neither does Jade. Dowry?! Lucas said the first thing I would expect this kid to say: You pay Papa and get us an apartment and pay our bills for the first few years until. I'm putting all the rest of that in the script but you get the idea. I'm with Leo, yep, Show me a better plan Son.
 

If you are interested, here is a link to an article about family law in Islamic countries. It appears to say that mothers have physical but not legal custody of young children but they can lose that right under certain circumstances such as marrying a non-Muslim. Once the child reaches a certain age, which can be as young as 7, the father takes physical custody of the child. Of course, if Lucas and Jade divorced it is doubtful that he, as a fair weather convert to Islam, would feel bound by these rules. There is the suggestion in the text that a grandfather, such as Ali could also assert custody of any children.
http://www.expertlaw.com/library/family_law/islamic_custody-3.html
 

Lots of key points in this cap. Thank you, Jean, for touching on all of them, e.g. Dora's "this month, everything is going to be different." Boy howdy!

Didn't you just want to strangle Leo? "Who can listen to you better than your own father?" and "How can you say something so idiotic?" (o algo asi).

Lucas and Jade both just want to play house. Notice that when both Mohammed and Said talk about marriage, they talk about getting their business established, where they will live, etc. With Lucas and Jade, it's just, "I'll leave everything for you," but no thoughts about what that marriage will be like. Lucas has said nothing about getting a job, but we know what IS important to him - not missing a guitar lesson! Heck, they still haven't actually talked about anything other than how they'll get together. Does he even know how old she is? What career does she want? Does she have a dog? Nothing!

Thank you, Jean, for the link on family law. It makes sense. You don't take puppies from the mother until they are weaned, but certainly the mother dog has no legal claim over them. Since in old times in some cultures, children might suckle until they were five, it makes sense the law allows physical custody but not legal right over the children.
 

WARNING! The system is eating the posts. I just posted but it got lost. The system gets in a mood like that sometimes, and it gobbles up several posts. So I recommend that if you write something, you copy and paste it to a file before you hit "Publish," just in case your post gets lost.
 

Ah, young love... they think it's so easy. Lucas.... no guts, no glory.

I am really liking this Said. I think he is so smitten w/ Jade, that he wouldn't care whether she's a virgen or not.
 

So I recommend that if you write something, you copy and paste it to a file before you hit "Publish," just in case your post gets lost.

Paula and others: if you use Firefox as your browser, I highly recommend a free add-on aptly named Lazarus. It automatically saves whatever you write forums or elsewhere in Firefox, and so if disaster strikes, you just click on Lazarus, find the text that has disappeared, and restore it. It has saved me on more occasions that I like to admit.
 

Duh...I wish there were an add-on that would check to see whether I've left out words. What I meant to write in the message about Lazarus is that this add-on saves whatever you write IN forums....
 

Juanita, no te preocupes nada! If we cn rd I-spk, a missing preposition is nuthin!
 

Thanks, Jean. Excellent, snarky recap as always.

I'm pretty mad at Albieri. I know that the novela is called El Clon and we have to have one. But they've made Dora a very appealing character, at least for me. She wants her own child, with African-American (or is it African-Hispanic) genes. She doesn't want to give birth to a white child.

Another thing I don't understand is this egg harvesting business, except for plot service. When they do AI, don't they just shoot the sperm up there some way? Lesbians do it all the time with a turkey baster.

Leo is insufferable. He's rolling in money, to judge by that house. What's the harm in giving Lucas some to get married? Have a nice pre-nup drawn up and let them go for it. If it doesn't work out, well - lots of us made early bad marriages. The fact is that Leo just wants to impose his will on Lucas without any consideration of his feelings. He had one child who, by inclination, was ready to follow in his footsteps. He shouldn't expect both of them to be that way.

I have a feeling that all hell is about to break loose in the Mohammed residence in Miami with the arrival of the awful Nazira.
 

One more thing. The actress playing Mama Rosa has lost all the good will she gained with me when she played Eustachia in Doña Bárbara. She's pushing that redheaded actress down Lucas' throat.
 

novelera: ugh, ITA about Mama Rosa pushing Marisa to Lucas - very annoying. she should just let nature take its course.
 

Jean: Thanks again! You hit all the high points and even the custody clarifications. Terrific! --Grrr! Mama Rosa has lost all my respect because she's interfering with Lucas on Marisa's behalf and doesn't care a whit for what Lucas might want. She's never even met Jade. Just a month ago she was encouraging Lucas to fight for the love of his life. Wonder if she remembers that? I know I'd feel strange and tricked if I were Dora, but I bet she won't care at all because she's so gung ho to have a kid she'll bond with him immediately. JMO.
 

Jean, late to comment as always, but want to say THANKS for recap.
Yah, I agree, AI usually involves, not egg harvesting, but the non-invasive turkey baster thingy. Oh well.
Gotta say, I was eating dinner casserole with stewed tomatoes when Albieri started slicing and dicing that mole off Lucas (ewwww!!!). Then Albieri held it up with tweezers for me to see. Thanks alot Doc.
Joan
 

Jean, late to comment as always, but want to say THANKS for recap.
Yah, I agree, AI usually involves, not egg harvesting, but the non-invasive turkey baster thingy. Oh well.
Gotta say, I was eating dinner casserole with stewed tomatoes when Albieri started slicing and dicing that mole off Lucas (ewwww!!!). Then Albieri held it up with tweezers for me to see. Thanks alot Doc.
Joan
 

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