Caray, Caray!

Nice recap Jean as always. But I want to talk about what Lucas meant when talking about being compared to Daniel or other men. I believe he was talking about the comparisons in their personalities, not in sex. You see, Daniel reminds Jade of who she believes Lucas used to be, romantic and humble, not as she believes he is now, cold and distant. She see's in Daniel that same unknown dynamic that caused them fall in love at first sight unlike Said or Zein who try to impress themselves on her by being charming, giving her gifts, etc. Jade could leave with Zein and actually find him to be a better man than Lucas but even then she would realize they never established that same unique connection (Remember when she mistakenly told Lucas, thinking he was Zein, that she needed time to learn to love him). The same thing happened with her and Said. In tonight's episode she said that if it wasn't for Lucas she may have fallen in love with Said. So when Lucas talks about being unable to defeat Daniel is because even though they are two different people, they both have one thing in common and that is that "Unknown Dynamic" I mentioned above.
 

Thanks, Jean, for another excellent recap. I agree with your rating of the episode. Yawn yawn yawn. And what wasn't yawn-producing was irritating--Enrique's blather, of course, but also self-righteous, self-centered Mohamed. I used to find him somewhat endearing, but last night I was hoping he would have a coronary. I also feared that the deranged Fer might actually kill Clara. And is it possible that Clara and the Chump might reconcile? I sure hope not.

There are fewer and fewer people to root for in this TN.
 

Jean thank you once again for recap a yawn episode, if they were going to extend this novela to bore us to death that are certainly succeeding with that mission.

Juanita i can't see Clara ever going back to Chump reason being how he was so easily manipulated by Malicia time and time again.Like Julio told him how he could even trust the words of someone he barely even knew over Clara's after all of these years. No i believe that ship has sunk for good his doing.

Enrique was right in telling Clara to go tell Rogelio what she is going through. If she wants to be stoic and silent then it's on here because this is causing further misunderstanding in their relationship. Right along with Malicia and her nastiness.

Now the previews that they showed for the whole week Mohammed faints, and Daniel and Lucas fight it out over Jade while she is there.
 

Jean, thank you once again for the recap and Spanish Lesson. I am learning much more Spanish thanks to you and the other recappers.

Last night was a real bore. Daniel is making me crazy with his head scratching. I can't decide if I would like smack him everytime he does it or send him some good dandruff shampoo.

I hope that Daniel and Nati get to see each other before long. It will probably be good for both of them.

Rosemary
 

I was surprised that Daniel didn't see the many pictures of Nati as a child that I have seen in her room. That would confirm that he knew her as a child.
 

Thanks for another fine recap, Jean. No sweet smiles in the screen shots today. Too bad.

While this was a gloomy episode, I guess I'm the only one here who didn't find it boring. In fact, I thought it developed several important plot points including:

-- Latifa and Mohamed's family: Is he really going to break her heart by taking a second wife?

-- Lucas and Daniel's feelings for Jade are out in the open. Is Daniel really ready to withdraw from the contest?

-- When Fernando hit his mother, we heard him hit bottom too. It's live or die time for him. And it's high time Clara found a support group like Nar-Anon to help her past the crisis.

-- Karla reminds us she's still the sKank of old when she regrets aloud that Osvaldo isn't around to pay off their credit cards. It leaves us hoping that not only does the goofy paternity plan fail, but the sKanks are left scrubbing toilets to pay off their debt.

Jean, nice point about the absence of photos in Nati's room. That would have led to an interesting scene.

And Rosemary, yes! the head-scratching is driving me nuts, too! I wasn't fond of it the first time, but repetition makes it seem an even cheaper trick.
 

Jean, I too expected Daniel to see something in Nati's room that would have told him that he knew her.

NovelaMaven, thanks for your remark about Karla. I knew they were talking about credit cards and overspending, but I totally missed her statement about Osvaldo.

And yes, I too am finding Daniel's mannerisms a bit much, especially the head-scratching. I'm surprised Telemundo didn't try to line up sponsorship by Cabeza y Hombros or whatever it's called en español.
 

Thanks Jean. I enjoy your brevity-is-the-soul-of-wit style, especially bits like "Pablo makes the right noises."

How high on the plot-meter? Maybe a 2. I agree with NovelaMaven that we got to one of the key plot points of the series: Lucas and Daniel now know they are in competition for Jade.

The "action scenes" at the beginning were funny, perhaps unintentionally. Fer grabbed and threw things oddly carefully, and he even threw some flowers on his head. Then we get a silly POV shot of someone in a scuffle with disco-Enrique. Nazira popping up from the couch was also a good gag, which I'm sure was intentional.

Lucas is out of Jade's heart just like she's out of Said's. Does she expect him to come begging? Love for her is immediate, overwhelming, devil-may-care passion. If Lucas shows any concern for his responsibilities, for the law, or even for Jade's own plans to be with her daughter, he doesn't love her. I doubt they would be happy living together, once she realized he has to take breaks from worshipping her---you know, to keep his job, to see Nati, to sleep.

Why did Daniel come to talk to Lucas? Lucas asked him about Jade, but was it Daniel's plan to talk about her? If so, why? And why didn't he already know that Jade had been with Lucas? She kept calling him 'Lucas' and talking about their past. (I also expected him to see Nati's childhood pictures. We've seen the pictures sitting there, but he conveniently missed them.)

Can Lucas beat Daniel? In lots of ways he's better for Jade. They have more in common than she and Daniel. (But like Anon 5:39 said, Daniel is more confident and impulsive, which Jade likes.)

And boy, Mohamed is really laying into Latifa lately. He openly questions her parenting, her religion, and her dedication to him. I thought she had a good response, that Samira is his daughter as well, but he wasn't buying it. I wouldn't be surprised to see him at least consider acting against her, but I imagine they'll resolve the issue by the end.
 

Great work, Jean. Yes, that was one frustrating episode.

I think I'm less sick of Enrique than I am of Rosa. Waaaay too much time is taken up with her nutty reincarnation talk. But I FF>> through both of them now.

The actor playing Fernando did a bang up job with his scene with Clara. He was really scary. I don't think he's long for this world.

For a minute there I thought Latifa was going to scare Mohammed into sensible behavior when she told him she'd pack and leave right now before he could get the second wife. But she caved right away. Bull-headed Mohammed needs to experience the consequences of his actions, and losing Latifa, whom he really does love, might snap him out of it.

I'm totally bored with all the Daniel scenes now. Let's get some bad cells around that mole dividing and soon! I know, that sounds really mean, but the kid is a pain. He makes no effort to do anything useful. He just mopes around longing for Jade, wandering between Dora's and Leo's.
 

Golly gee! Apparently I'm the only watcher that liked this episode, or at least most of it. Perhaps we even discovered something about Malicia's motives: She doesn't is jealous enough to make certain nobody else is happy???

We found "Mama" Zorida is willing to help Latifa as well as Jade. I've always like the relationship between Zorida (my favorite) and Jade: with Z being the protective and overly permissive mother and J the bratty (but lovable, to me) child. The relationship, to some extent, seems repeated with Jade and her own bratty (and less lovable) child.

My strong feelings for some time about Mohamed being a totally unlovable and unreasonable man were underlined.

But mainly, mainly the dual role so powerfully handled by Ochmann (head scratching and all) really gave me goose bumps. The deep (and demeaning?)depression of Lucas, the fear and uncertainly of Daniel. We were treated to some Class A acting and I found it very compelling. I'm glad I watched. Lois
 

Lois, you are not alone! Well, except for the head-scratching. I'm afraid you're on your own with that. (When Mauricio Ochmann gets invited to guest star in La Parodia, he will have his self-parody ready-made.

[The only other "serious" character in this novela who is inexplicably -- and inexcusably -- saddled with this degree of self-parody is Marisa with her high-price hooker wardrobe.]

Novelera, compared to his age-mates Fernando and Natalia, Daniel isn't in such bad shape. And he hasn't exactly had an easy time of it. I sympathize with the character and I hope there is a way out for him, although that damned "mancha" has been looming over the story since the beginning.
 

NovelaMaven, you're right. Compared to Fer and Natalia he looks better. However, both Fer and Natalia were in school before they became addicts. Daniel doesn't go to school. He doesn't work. He doesn't even seem to help Dora and his abuela do anything.

Sorry, this is the tough mom in me coming to the surface. If my son were that much of a deadbeat at that age, I'd have kicked his behind multiple times and made it clear that, if he weren't either in school or working (and thus contributing something to the household), he'd be out on his ear.
 

Novelera, even though the writers don't tell us what Daniel is doing when he takes off for months at a time, I've always assumed he was doing odd jobs. When he was in Mexico (Cancún, was it?) and was spotted by Albieri, he was working at the resort, wasn't he?

If he were a thief or if he were sponging off others, wouldn't they have made a point to show that side of his character?

And when he comes home to Dora and Estela, we never hear him asking for anything. On the contrary, he comes home with little gifts for them.

I agree that if he were living with them, it would be different. But that's not what we've seen -- he is a welcome visitor, the prodigal son returned, for now.

To me he seems not so much shiftless as simply lost.