Caray, Caray!

Muchas gracias, Jean, for the very helpful recap. There was a lot of Spanish I didn't understand last night, and your recap supplied what I needed, starting with the link to the translation from Khalil Gibran. I'm not sure why a bunch of young children would sit around apparently with great interest while Ali recited this. If my beanie weren't already tightened to the max, I'd tighten it a bit more.

I agree completely with your remark in response to Mohamed's explanation of why men rather than women hold the baby during the purification ceremony. Brava! (Alas, Islam is far from the only patriarchal religion in the world. Sigh.)

I had next to no idea what Mama Skank said to DaughterSkank, so I am most grateful for your account.

I'm puzzled by Nati's response to Daniel. When she ran after him, I thought perhaps it was because she recognized him or at least sensed something familiar about him from her childhood, but instead she yells at him to stop persecuting her and to leave her in peace. Huh? What's up with that?

I also didn't understand how Nati planned to sell the refrigerator from the apartment. Was Ugly Druggie going to carry it down the stairs?

Por fin, Capítulos Culminantes!!
 

Wonderful job, Jean! And I'm so glad you got a nice, meaty episode this time! [But did they actually say something about 'capítulos culminantes' or has Zoraida been reading your coffee grounds?]

And did you know that on Twitter, Telemundo calls Clon fans "Cloncitos"?

Just to mention a couple of my favorite asides today:

"I say that when a man can carry a baby to term in his belly and be in labor for hours to give birth, then he should stand in front."

“I'm not sure I understand how this would have worked. All they brought was a list of stuff. Does the scary drug guy have a truck to pick stuff up with like the Salvation Army?”

And I thought that the opening scene -- where Lucas confronts Natalia at the club and drags her out -- was brilliant. Everything about it, the writing, the acting, the editing was pitch-perfect!

So Inquiring Cloncitos want to know:

Is that a different actress playing Consuelo?

Are we to assume that Nati's brain is still so befogged by drugs that she thinks Daniel is Lucas?

Is Dora showing that she understands the mechanics of cloning now, but refuses to accept that the way Daniel was conceived negates the fact that she is his mother?

And can anyone explain why Dora had an in-vitro procedure in the first place? Since it was Osvaldo who was infertile and Dora was young and healthy (and poor), why didn't she just have an artificial insemination by donor done? This would have been safe, easy and cheap. The procedure she was supposed to have had -- hyperstimulation of her ovaries and then harvesting 32 (32!) eggs, with planned in-vitro fertilization and then reimplantation of several embryos in the uterus -- would have cost tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars. It would have been risky and unpleasant. And in any event it would have been inappropriate in her case. Did I miss the explanation or was it just in service to the plot, no questions asked?
 

Great recap, Jean.

NovelaMaven, I thought Dora told Leo that she went in for and had artificial insemination. Did I miss something???

Sometimes Daniel reminds me of Skinny (of Fat and Skinny), especially when he scratches his head and gives a dumb smile....shrugs his shoulders and mozys (sp) on.

Ann-NYC
 

I meant to add a sperm donor.

Ann-NYC
 

GLad the recap helped with the Spanish Juanita.
You made my day, NM. Thanks as always for the support and the great job you do on your recaps.

Capítulos culminantes was announced in the previews. I just posted the screenshot.

I'm not sure why Nati reacted to Daniel as she did. I would guess that in her drugged up or strung out state, she isn't surprised to see her father's face everywhere. She has had hallucinations before.

I think Consuelo is the same actress. Her hair was pulled back. I don't know if I had a posed a picture of Consuelo before. I can check.

I still don't think Dora understands the mechanics of cloning. I sort of got the idea that she thinks Leo or Lucas somehow fertilized her egg.

There was no reason mentioned why Dora had in vitro fertilization instead of the much simpler and less expensive artificial insemination process. We mentioned this when it happened. It was service for the plot pure and simple.
 

No, you're right, Ann -- that IS what Dora says. But that doesn't seem to be what happened. In a simple artificial insemination, the woman goes to the clinic when she is ovulating and the donor semen is put into her uterus. (This is what we are supposed to believe that Karla did at home with Roberto's pilfered semen sample).

But the fact that Dra Silvia had left Albieri with the famous 32 eggs means that first the clinic stimulated Dora to produce them, then they removed them for fertilization with donor sperm outside the uterus. Then a few of these eggs were to be put into Dora's uterus.

There's no way all of that stuff could have happened without Dora being aware of it. So I suspect it's just another disconnect, another opportunity to tighten one's beanie and move on! :)
 

"There was no reason mentioned why Dora had in vitro fertilization instead of the much simpler and less expensive artificial insemination process. We mentioned this when it happened. It was service for the plot pure and simple."

Ah, ok, thanks Jean! That's what I get for coming late to the party!

So I wonder, how many 'culminantes' make up one 'último'?
 

Ann - Dora did tell Leo that she had an artificial insemination. But the procedure they actually showed when she had it done was in vitro fertilization. They harvested eggs from her, were going to fertilize them in a test tube and implant the embryos back into her. As NM pointed out, a very expensive and risky (in terms of the success rate) procedure that is only done when the woman can't conceive normally. All the tests done on Dora indicated that she was fertile. It was Osvaldo who was sterile. However, the only way Albieri could have made the clone was to remove the nucleus of one of Dora's eggs and insert Lucas' DNA. Hence in vitro instead of the turkey baster.
 

Thanks for the info. Is there a possibility there are other eggs of Dora's stored??? Although your child is your child and another cannot console you unless your child loses its life.

Ann-NYC
 

Thanks yet again Jean, that was wonderful.

Add this to the list of telenovela cliches: There's no caller-ID or call logs in telenovelas. (When it would be useful, anyway. Lucía used to check Roberto's phone.)

I saw two things I had been waiting for: Amina's hair (for the second episode in a row, perhaps the only times other than Nazira's fairy tale), and por fin someone notices that Daniel is legally an adult.

I have no idea how Nati and Paula's plan was supposed to work. I agree that Nati's response to Daniel was drug- (or withdrawal-) induced.

I agree with NovelaMaven that the opening scene with Lucas and Nati was well done. That and the scenes at the end of locking her in were, as you say, pitch-perfect.

Consuelo looks the same to me, although shots of her in the earlier episodes were mostly from different distances and angles.

"how many 'culminantes' make up one 'último'?" Very nice NM.

Ann: no, the other 31 eggs were destroyed in Albieri's attempts to clone Lucas.
 

Excellent recap, Jean, with really great screen shots.

It sure looks like Zein is definitely out of the running in the race to win our less than enchanting heroine. But I didn't like the way it happened, with a smug little brat who reminded me of Malicia getting her own way.

I've noticed a couple of instances of foreshadowing. For one thing, Amina was VERY forceful in saying they couldn't allow Said to go to Fez. This seemed to me to be hinting they might have a way to keep him from going there. And there's not much time left after capítulos culminantes for Said and Jade to actually get back together.

The other foreshadowing is Dora's insistance that, if Daniel goes to Morocco, she'll never see him again. I think she's right.

I concur about the great acting of Ochmann and Laura Perico in the nightclub scene. These two worked together before in Victoria, where she played Victoria's angry younger daughter and he played Victoria's much younger lover.

Luisa is seeming fairly sinister lately. I think she's hoping something DOES happen to Daniel in Morocco - to get Albieri off the hook.

Leo is, as usual, completely clueless. He doesn't try to win over Dora at all; he's ready to bury her in court at the first sign of resistance. And he's less than clueless in offering Nati some token job thinking it will keep her off drugs. If he woke up and smelled the coffee, he might have noticed how well that's worked out for Clara.
 

Novelera, I didn't like the Zein scene much either, although I guess it did what it was supposed to do. Not only was Jade disenchanted with Zein, so was the viewer (or at least I was). I hated seeing him, with his deep hummus gaze, spinning a line -- "In my country..." And if the bratty girl had identified herself as "the woman Zein just had sex with" or "the girl in Zein's bed", it really wouldn't have made Jade (or me!) feel any better.

And as for foreshadowing, Daniel's goodbyes feel very final and wistful; he, at least, doesn't expect to be seeing these people again.
---
When Natalia goes to Alejandro's apartment to look for something to steal, and then opens the closet and sees only empty hangers, there is a moment when she seems to pause and take in the fact that he is really gone. But the moment vanishes quickly, and she shifts back to the soulless task at hand -- checking to see if there is any meat left on the bones for picking. I found it an incredibly sad moment. The girl is within the monster, but the monster is far more powerful and is clearly in control.
----------
The Khalil Gibran text is interesting. "Your children are not your children..." We hear this early on, and now as we are nearing the end, we hear it again. And in between, we have had a lengthy exposition about -- in one way or another -- owning one's children.
 

Jean, thank you for another stellar recap and you always choose the perfect screen shots.

I can only surmise that Nati's comment to Daniel had to be because of her relationship with Daniel when they were children. Everyone thought she was nuts and had an imaginary friend. I am sure she thinks the same thing is happening now.

I am so disappointed in Zein but as everyone has said, I guess it had to happen. I just thought he was smarter than he turned out.

How is Raina going to keep Said out of Fez?

Rosemary
 

Jean, thanks, recap was super pero super duper! I was disappointed in our handsome hero Zein having feet of clay, so to speak.
Also, my guess is that Karla's baby will turn out to be Leo's clon-solation prize, if they do away with Daniel, as seems likely.
Joan
 

Jean, thank you. I always enjoy your and NovelaMaven's superb recaps.

I agree with Rosemary regarding Nati's comment to Daniel. When she was little everyone said her friend was imaginary and now she thinks she's hallucinating again.

I also think that Said wants to bring Jade back to humiliate her. With the birth of his son, he now feels empowered to resist her. He wants to show her that she no longer has any power over him.

Prinny
 

Thanks, Rosemary and Prinny, for your explanation of Nati's response to Daniel. It had puzzled me, but what you say makes good sense.

Joan, I hope you're wrong about Karla's turkey-basted creation being a "clon-solation" prize for Leo. I like the term, but I frankly hate the idea that the insufferably egocentric Leo will get anything to console him. He'll probably already have Cristina--that's more than he deserves, IMHO. Also, I suspect that whatever DNA testing is done will be simply to prove that there's no match with Roberto.
 

Prinny and Rosemary,

Remember when Nati passed out on the beach and when she saw Daniel's face bent over her she said "Papa???" I can't help but think that in her drug-addled brain, she can't quite tell the difference between Daniel and Lucas (who everyone keeps saying are 'idénticos').

Joan -- clon-solation! Very nice!
 

NovelaMaven, my point about Nati's comment to Daniel is that she doesn't know the difference between imagination and reality at this point. As a child she had a real friend (Daniel) that everyone keep insisting was her imagination. So, because of her experience as a child Daniel appears real but is it her imagination again? She doesn't really know because of her drug addled mind. I think she is afraid of telling anyone about it because of her past.

Rosemary
 

Ahhhh...I get it, Rosemary. That makes sense! -- Sometimes it takes me a while :-)
 

I agree with Joan's idea that Karla's is more likely to be the Clone's baby than Roberto's (I was out of town during the Roberto thing so did not know what she had done to ensnare him, now I see she pilfered sperm?? I need to know more about this! Can you tell me what episodes this happened on, dear recap maven?)

Second, while the acting Nati is doing is very good, I am very tired of seeing her character drugged out and thuggish. I can't believe she would go back to the SAME drug dealer that kidnapped her. There are others in the area, I know for sure. Anyway, I would have kicked her to the curb a long time ago.
And I am also tired of Jade blaming Lucas for everything! it's been 20 years, for crying out loud. Has she not made any decisions she is willing to take responsibility for? So I am glad estamos en los ultimos capitulos, ya me canso de los chillones! (I'm sick of the crybabies)
Also, Latifah has always been one of my characters and I loved it a few episodes ago when she smacked mouthy daughter and said she would not accept her emotional blackmail anymore! Bu-yah! Put a veil on the bitch and move on, girl!
 

Anonymous 2:51, I disagree quite strongly with your characterization of the episode between Latifa and her daughter in a previous episode. The really unreasonable person in that scene was, as usual, Mohamed, who was freaked out that his daughter has talked to a boy. Mohamed throws a hissy fit, yelling at Latifa and accusing her of not being a good mother. He also says that he had wanted Zamira educated at home. Zamira quite understandably says that she is not going to leave school, and that's when Latifa slaps her. The slap is really uncalled for, but Latifa has always been very insecure about her marriage and fearful about the possibility of Mohamed sending her back. So while the slap was undeserved, it was understandable given her heightened insecurity in the face of Mohamed's ranting. I think your calling Zamira a "bitch" is totally inappropriate. Like you, I am a fan of Latifa, but that doesn't mean I think her treatment of Zamira in this episode was justified.
 

Jean great work on this recap once again and thank you.

I have to ask but are we sure Jade is not taking drugs herself? Her logic seems even more stupid and crazier than Nati's. She's blaming Lucas because Zein has taken up with another woman? WTF? Wow i highly recommend this novela to piotential drug users not for the PSA it has through out the whole novela. I just want them to experience the insane logic of Jade and tell them imagine how this person would be if she was taking drugs?
 

We have some very interesting comments this weekend. Nice to read all these points of view.

Prinny, you could be right about Said wanting to bring Jade back to humilliate her, but I don't think that's it.

I think there were clues that even the birth of a son hasn't cooled Said off about Jade. I think he still wants her above all things. Because of the jump forward in time, I believe Said thinks enough time has elapsed for his plan to work; that is, his crazy plan that Jade would respect him because he was cruel to her and that respect would lead her to love.

I don't think he would have told Jadiya his secret if he wasn't planning on a happy reconciliation and reinstating Jade. Any plan to torment her would be obvious to her daughter.

Juanita, I agree with you. Latifa slapped her daughter because her fear of losing her husband overrides everything. She wants her daughter to stop being rebellious because she fears she'll have the same fate as Jade, cut off from her family. She's tried and tried to help her daughter, to go along with the plan to deny the onset of menstruation. But when push comes to shove, she slaps her in frustration after seeing that her husband is ready to turn on her for not being a good mother.
 

About the scenes with Nati and Daniel, I agree they were a little confusing, but I disagree with the interpretation that Nati thought she saw Daniel, her childhood (perhaps imaginary) friend. She does not know that Daniel grew up to look like her father, and the three times she saw Daniel recently (twice in the last episode) she was too confused by drugs or withdrawal to see anything in him but Lucas. And I take it she hasn't even heard of Daniel's recent involvement with her family. So when she saw him, she could only understand the experience as being haunted by the face of her father, who she thinks is persecuting her. It's nothing to do with a memory of her childhood, because she has no reason to connect that to what she sees.

Novelera: I think you're right about the foreshadowing in Daniel's goodbyes, and Said's expectations of a happy reunion with Jade.

To play devil's advocate for a moment, I think there's something to Anon 2:51's comment about Latifa. She has been a bit wishy-washy about setting and enforcing rules for Zamira, and has allowed her to manipulate the situation. That's not a good situation for a parent to be in, so one way or another Latifa should reestablish proper parent-child relations. Slapping her is almost certainly the wrong way to do it, but it's also not obvious what would be the right way, given the perpetual culture clash this family lives in. Each side finds the other's opinions and behavior grossly immoral (and not without reason), so there is no easy solution, corporal punishment included.
 

Anon 2:51, Consuelo arrived on the scene on Tuesday, July 6. There were hints of what she and Hilda were plotting (See Friday, July 16), but the first time Consuelo actually stole what we assume to be used condoms -- eeewww! -- from Roberto and Lucia's trash was on Tuesday, July 20. You'll have to look up the episode numbers -- I don't have them in my notes. There have been several references to their brilliant scheme since then. And remember, we are interpreting what we saw: the writers haven't been explicit about what the sKanks are doing.

I confess, anon, that I really like Samira. Of all the kids in her generation, she seems the nicest, and the least spoiled. And I don't think Latifa was exactly making a parenting decision when she slapped her. It was a moment of desperation and loss of self-control. As a daughter, I feel for Samira; as a mother, I feel for Latifa!
 

Finally caught up for the week. Thank you for all the recaps and the snark. Still can't get over how Marisa can't understand what she did that made Nati hate her so much......Lucas's indecision is as bad as the Chump's. They're both on my excrement list this week. Marisa is a permanent entry, tho'.
 

As a viewer who started with episode in which Said takes a second wife the summaries AND comment have been great. Almost daily there are comments and suggestions about the motives of the women in the cast. At first I read opinions as generic. As the program is coming to an end the men seem weak and very selfish. The women whose characters have some depth are " in the real world". Zoriada will continue on with next generation of preteen and teen girls. Will she marry? Probably not. She has done amazing things for a women who cannot read. Consider what that means in todays world. Whould Jade teach her to read simple signs. Not in the story line, but in life Jades character would at least have compassion for someone who has given her so much. All the family members Zorida helped but little is offered in return. Gloria is the women for now. She built a business, raised a child and is outspoken. Even the old gentleman wants her.