Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Eva Luna #1 Mon 11/1/10 Life In The Big City Ain’t As Easy As Apple Pie
At the same time, Daniel Villanueva is speeding to work along one of the Los Angeles freeways. (Note: the credits say filmed in Miami but I guess palm trees are palm trees.) He’s breezin’ along in his hot, apple-red Ferari convertible, his blonde wavy tresses blowin’ in the wind, his face grinnin’ from ear to ear. (I suppose I’d be smiling like that myself if I could afford one of those…..) He walks inside the huge ad agency he works at and has his own little surprise celebration. Dan the Man has just been named Copywriter/Ad-man of the Year. A minute later in walks Leonardo Arismendi, stepson of the company’s owner, Don Julio Arismendi, and asks what’s up. A couple of the female hotties from Dano’s team explain they’re celebrating Dano’s award. Dan gallantly tells them it was a team effort and thanks them all. Leonardo politely congratulates Dano and then shoos the group back to work. He tells Dan that if he weren’t his almost-BIL he might be very envious of him, but one look into his eyes and Viewerville knows he really is anyway. Leo bites into a juicy red apple from one of the huge glass bowls that seem to be loaded and sitting out everywhere and he stares daggers into Dan the Man’s back as old Dano walks off to his office.
Next we see Marcela Arismendi’s limo pull up. It’s obvious she’s one hell of a b!tch witch on wheels cuz everyone starts walking around the agency like they’ve just been given an enema. She’s rolls on up to her office and the first thing she does is fire a secretary with a sick kid because she came in a couple minutes late twice.
Somewhere else in that small southern California town, Eva’s kid sister, Alicia, is thumbing through a book. A security guard who knows Ismael tells her he needs to speak to her father and to give him the message.
Back at the ad agency, Marcela tells her personal assistant (some guy with an ascot and a swish) that she wants him to write out a $40,000 peso check to some children’s home that same day. “Giving to charity always makes me feel more relaxed.” (Note: not only is the witch wearing Halloween colors, but what’s more, she always wears a black glove on one hand. Something tells me it’s not because she’s a Michael Jackson groupy, but we haven’t been told why yet.) She and Swish Guy are excited about the company’s 25th anniversary dinner celebration the company is having that night. The press will be there and it’s going to be a big blow-out.
Said sister and model, Victoria, calls from the beach to congratulate Dano on his success. She tells him they’ll have to have their own personal celebration that night after the dinner party. Afterwards, her beach buddy, Claudia (?) wonders if Dano will ever propose to Vicky since they’ve been dating five years and he’s never brought it up. Vicky says he took the death of his wife hard but, little by little, she’s managing to get him to forget the dead wife and to fall in love with her.
Back at the ad agency, Dano wants to find the girl responsible for the slogan and to pay her for it. Leo says she gave it to them for free so why spend the dough? Dano says no, they’ll do it the right way and have his sexretary find the girl so he can give her some sort of compensation.
Later in the day during a break, Eva tells her daddy that her big dream is to work one day in an ad agency and to live the good life. Daddy brings up the girls’ mother who supposedly abandoned them and ran off with another man when they were little. As far as Eva’s concerned her father brought them up and is the only one who deserves their love.
That afternoon, Alicia remembers to tell her Aunt Matilde about the security guard’s message for her dad. Matilde says she’ll handle it for her as Alicia is generally a bit scatterbrained.
Tilde gives Eva’s dad the message and begs him to leave the past in the past. Otherwise, he might risk losing his daughters forever she says. She’d die of unhappiness.
At the dinner party that night, Vicky and Dano take publicity pictures with the press. Vicky notices one of the babes there is undressing Dano with her eyes during the shoot. We get a hint of Vicky’s fangs and claws.
Eva asks Tia Tilde to read the tarot cards for a birthday present and tell her what fate has in store for her.
At the Arismendi manse, Marcela gives a dinner speech, but during it she seems distracted by a shadow near the door inside the house.
Tilde reads the tarot cards which say that Eva is pretty, intelligent, and that she has a way with words. Up comes a bad card and Tilde refuses to continue. Eva talks her into it though, and Tilde tells her that the card says she’ll suffer a tragedy through which she’ll meet the love of her life, and that is going to be Heaven and Hell. A couple minutes later, Eva’s dad passes out on the couch. Tilde revives him and they put him to bed. He sends the girls out of the room and they continue their private conversation from earlier that evening.
Meanwhile, back at the dinner party, Dan The Man gets applause for his award. Leo is not a happy camper. The single babes at the other table are all smiling at Dano and giggling amongst themselves. Marcela gets word that her hubby, Don Julio, needs to see her right away. She comes in, gripes about the guard dog and tells him the tabloids want to know the truth about his accident. She doesn’t want to tell them anything about that, she says, since things need to be kept “positive” for the good of the company. (Hmmm. Is that why he's stuck in the wheelchair?) It’s obvious with the snide remarks they keep launching at each other that there’s very little love lost between them. He hands her an envelope with divorce papers in it. (Nope, no love at all.)
Alicia and Eva think their dad’s been acting a bit weird lately. Eva mentions their talk at lunch about what she’d think if their mother ever came back.
In the bedroom, Ismael tells Tilde that she knows he’s dying and if the security guard has located the girls’ mother, Debora, then he needs to know about it right away.
Marcela is pissed off about the divorce and gripes at one of the servants, Rita, about Rita’s having waited too long to give her husband his medication.
Back outside on the patio, Vicky finally asks Dano who the giggling, staring babes at the party are. He tells her the one in the orange dress is Mariza, his new ad executive, and yes, she does work with him. Vicky reminds him about their little “after party” they had planned, but he begs off because he’s got a school event with his daughter, Laurita, early the next morning.
The next morning while Laurita and Dano have breakfast together, Claudia and Vicky are at the gym. Vicky is griping to Claudia about Dano going home early because of his daughter. Claudia advises her to win over the little girl because she will have lots of influence over Dan. Vic says that she knows it and plans to get rid of her as soon as they’re married by sending her off to boarding school in Switzerland.
At Eva’s, Ismael tells Tilde that the guard got the info he needed; there was a picture of Debora in a magazine and he managed to get her address through his contacts.
Marcela is still at the house and is grumbling about Julio having played his last card and that she’s going to have to speed up his “ending” for him. Rita comes out telling her that Don Julio doesn’t want to take his medicine and as far as she’s concerned the medicine is supposed to make him better, but it seems at times to give him strange convulsions and instead of making him better is seems to be killing him. Marcela accuses Rita of making a mistake with the medication, but the girl says she’s following the prescription’s directions exactly. She dismisses her and sighs. “Poor girl! What an atrocity! To think I like her so well.”
The young foreman at the apple farm has asked the owner to let Eva leave early to be with her father a bit, since he’s out ill, and he drives her back to her aunt’s place. (He seems to be one of the good guys, and he also seems to have a thing for Eva.)
Back in the city, Leo ignores a phone call from El Gallo, a hood and loan shark. Apparently, Leo is a compulsive gambler and he owes El Gallo big time bucks. Leo’s been avoiding him.
At the same time, Vicki goes into Dano’s office for quick chick chat-spat with his new ad exec, Mariza, over her her making goo-goo eyes at Dano. “—I want to know what the Hell you’ve got going with my boyfriend! Well, answer me!!” (Excuse me, but are we back in high-school or what? I mean, I was such a nerd in high-school, and this is so "in-crowd". I am having a hard time trying to relate.)
Dan and Laurita discuss her drawing of a happy family –one that includes a future mother. Laurita points out a woman in the house picture and says that is the mother she hopes to have again one day. Dano assures her she'll like Victoria but she says no, it's not her, it's somebody else, though she doesn't know who. (So I guess that knocks Victoria out of the running. Vixen Vicky just doesn't know it yet.) FF>>
When Eva gets home Ismael tells her that they’ll be moving to Los Angeles and they have to leave that night. She wants to know why that soon. Ismael will only tell her to trust him because he can’t tell her anything else yet.
Leo promises El Gallo to pay up just like he always has. Things have gotten a bit complicated and Leo says he needs a bit of time.
Back inside Dano’s office, Vicki tries shaking the crap out of Mariza. Mariza yells back that he’s just her boss! Vic demands to know if Mariza’s interested in having a relationship with her boyfriend or what. Mariza doesn’t back down. She just looks ...annoyed. “--Well, who wouldn’t be?” (So far so good. I like this kind of “bring it, babe” attitude.) Vicki tries turning the “owner’s daughter intimidation factor” up a notch. “--How dare you say that??!!” It's okay, cuz Mariza can deal. “—Well, it’s the truth and you know it, or otherwise you wouldn’t be in here complaining to me over a couple of looks. But I don’t blame you. I’d feel the same way if I were you.” Vicki has a fit and throws the container full of pens at her. (Wrong answer I guess.) “You don’t know what I’m capable of in order to keep some woman from getting in my way!” Just then Dano walks in and the two women are suddenly all smiles with each other. “Hey, I thought you two didn’t know each other.” (Puh-leese! --Are there really mega-bitches like this or do they only exist in some overpaid scripwriter's fertile imagination?)
Across the hall Leo tells his sexretary that he needs to make sure his mother signs a check for him that day. He is surprised that she still isn’t in to work yet.
As it turns out, Marcela is begging Julio to reconsider and apologizing for taking Leo’s side against Julio in the past. He reminds Marcela that Leo nearly bankrupted his company and instead of making him responsible for the debts she protected him. She wounded Julio pretty badly by doing that. She humbly agrees and says she regrets it totally.
Dano and Victoria are at lunch now. He tells her about Laurita’s drawings of her house and family; he manages to leave out the “mother” figure in it. Vic brings up their private celebration she has planned for him and says he should come by tonight since he couldn’t the night before. He grins and agrees.
Julio isn’t persuaded and yells at her that he wants the divorce papers signed yesterday! Marcela turns on the waterworks and begs him again to reconsider, but he’s wise to her and says no.
That night Eva, Alicia and their father take the bus into L.A. A smooth-talking young guy introduces himself as Tony and sits down beside Alicia.
At the Arismendi manse, Marcela is on the phone with somebody. She tells them she doesn’t care how much it costs; she just wants it done! Leo gets home. After a bit of small talk, Marcela and he agree that Dano’s award not only has put their company on the tip of everyone’s tongue, but now they can start charging higher prices for their services.
Meanwhile, Dano and Vicky are gettin’ nekked. She’s stripping and stops to ask him to tell her he loves her. He refuses. (Well, we know what kind of relationship Dano considers it.) This progresses (or regresses) from there. Big chandelier, big bed, champagne, skimpy black negligee, deep fake-bake tan and long, bleach-blond hair ….well, you get the idea.
At one of the bus stops Alicia takes out her wad of bills in her wallet and waves them around. Eva gripes at her to put them away. Tony secretly notices the stash of cash and a makes a mental note. The next morning when they wake up and are ready to pull into the bus station in L.A., Tony’s gone and so’s Alicia’s cash. Eva’s complains that it was Tony who took it.
They make their way to the boarding house of Tia Tilde’s friend. The only thing wrong with the room is that they have to share a bathroom upstairs at the end of the hall with some of the other boarders. Later in the day Eva goes out looking for work but can’t find a thing. Alicia meets up with one of the other boarders, a girl named Isabel. Later on she introduces her to Eva. Isabel offers to get her on as a masseuse where she works.
Dano’s sexretary calls him to let him know she contacted the owner of the apple farm and has gotten the name of the girl who came up with the slogan, but the girl left town and didn’t leave a forwarding address.
At the same time, Marcela gets back to the manse and Renata, the head housekeeper, tells her that Rita was raped and killed the night before on her walk home.
At the mall, Isabel instructs Eva on how to hawk for massage customers. She fails with a couple, then Dano comes by talking on his cell. She interrupts him and eventually sweet-talks him into the massage; She doesn’t really know what’s she’s doing, though, and she ends up hurting him and ticking him off. (Hell, having to watch this whole scene was painful for me!) Eva makes the mistake of insulting him in front of the owner of the concession and gets fired.
In another part of the city, Ismael checks the address he was given and ends up at a gated community. One of the workman there tells him to come back the next day because the Sra. will be interviewing a relative of his for a job at that time, then she’ll be going on a long trip after that and unavailable. Ismael agrees to return the next day.
Marcela tells the housekeeper to let Rita’s family know that she’ll cover the funeral expenses for them.
Ismael finds a church and asks the priest to give him confession.
Eva is leaving the mall and notices Dano as he’s talking to some clients. He looks up and sees her at the same time. He seems a bit embarrassed about the dust-up they just had. Can’t tell if Eva’s angry or just bummed.
That night, Renata tells Leo the news about Rita.
Ismael gets home and tells Eva that she’s to go with him the next day and she’ll find out then why they’ve come to L.A.
Claudia, Leo, Vicky and Dano spend a day on Leo’s boat. Leo oohs and ahhs over Dano's Ferari and asks to drive it sometime.. Dan tells Leo he shouldn’t gamble like he does or one of these days it'll bite him on the ass. Later on Dan tells them all about his rotten masseuse experience and says yeah, she was sort of pretty, but klutzy and didn't know a thing about giving massages.
Alicia finishes taking her shower in the communal bathroom and forgets to lock the door. (Oh, yeah, She's supposed to be scatterbrained.) Who opens the door on her accidentally then --of all people-- but Tony!
At the same time, Eva and Ismael are only a block or so away from the house he’s taking her to. He tells her to remember that he will always love her and her sister no matter what. He starts to cross the street without thinking to look, and an apple red Ferari races up and knocks him through the air. Splat! Poor ol' Ismael’s dead before he hits the ground. The car stops for a second or two then races away. Eva is left screaming for help.
Labels: eva
I have been looking forward to seeing Eva Luna and finally it's here. So naturally tonight I was feeling tired and headachy while watching it and so was "off" and not getting everything. I appreciate your recap so much because it filled in the blanks and I don't have to rewatch.
It's off to a good start, things are moving along. We know who are the villains and who are the heroes. Very glitzy and slick. I like the first meeting between Daniel and Eva being when she ineptly gives him a massage! LOL.
I did find it funny that in this telenovela universe, Everyone In Los Angeles Speaks Spanish So It's Okay To Address Strangers On Busses or On The Street In Spanish. LOL! But hey, this is telenovela-land, after all.
Also straight out of telenovela-land was the really nice accommodations that Eva and her family can afford! In Los Angeles!
BTW, Sweeney32, not only does Everyone in Los Angeles Speak Spanish, I learned from "El Clon" that so too does Almost Everyone in Morocco!
I usually steer clear of the super slick telenovelas written by, for and about 20-somethings that are shown at 1 or 2 in the afternoon. This tn has the same feel to it, here, but since it's got a few big name actors in it and it's Uni's first launch into this kind of thing, it gets a primo evening schedule.
Actually, the acting is better than I expected, tho' the acress playing Marcela needs to tone it down a bit. Wonder what that darned glove of hers is all about.
This story definetly has a darker edge than Dinero. I feel like Dorthy from the wizard of OZ. I am not in Kanas any more. This will be the first non-comedy novela I have watched and after tonight I feel like I will have to wear my seat belt!!!
Had to rolleye about the big red-delicious apple industry supposedly in SoCal.
Going to high school in the Inland Empire, the school bus got pelted with grapefruit trying to negotiate the groves.
Thanks recappers!
They must think we are all about apples up here. They know the big Manzana. The show is produced in the US, but the audience is not strictly...
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Sweeney32: Sorry! I forgot to put your name on the post (the one right after yours.) chalk it up to very little sleep and no caffeine.....
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Jeri: I hadn't realized that about the type of fruit in the bowl. I suppose nuts wouldn't make a large enough visual and peaches or pears would rot and soften too fast? Dunno, flags and presidential portraits would be too political and jarring. What else do you think might actually work instead of apples?
one little detail that I am sure will be important later. When the girl (Laurita?) was showing the drawing to her dad (Dani) she pointed to the woman in the drawing, he made the reference to his girlfriend and the girl said no it doesn't look like her... (I think from some preview commercials we have seen that this will come back in very soon).
So we have Marcela involved in the murder of Rita and the attempted murder of her husband Julio... and another little detail I noticed... when Eva's dad was talking to Matilde about Eva's mom, next scene we see Marcela. Could she be the mom with a different name? That would make Eva and her sisters related to the Arizmendis... interesting! I am totally speculating here, this is not the remake of any other story that I know of... but they are clearly showing some hints about it.
Jardinera, this was a great first reacp. I only half watched, but got the gist of everything, except I hadn’t seen that it was the evil lady who ordered the hit on the maid. What a horrible thing to do, and all because she was catching on that the old man's meds are killing him, not healing him? Are we to assume evil lady is also the mother of Eva and her sisters, since they always cut to her after Eva’s dad speaks about his long missing wife? Of course, that doesn’t make sense given the ages of Eva and her sis, and the ages of her evil rich kids Leo and the Ho. Oh well. I guess that’s one of the mysteries we have to solve as this goes along.
It was a nice surprise to see Harry G. as the little girl’s driver so soon after Dinero ended. He's also playing a good guy cop in Verdad. And although he's still playing a bad guy, Julian Gil (Leo) looks way better here than he did in Sorti when he had that long blond hair.
Regarding the hints about Eva and her sisters being Marcela's kids, I got a good clue when their dad kept saying he was feeling guilty of how they were raised, maybe he could have searched for Marcela earlier and they would have had a more wealthy life... who knows, but that made me think Eva and her sisters are related to (should have grown around) more riches somehow.
Ismael's wife is named Debora, but she could have changed it and she could be Renata as well as Marcela. The only thing they said about Eva's mother is that she ran off with another man I think. Later, tho' Ismael mentions to Tilde that her picture was in a magazine, so I suppose she's a society dame or some rich gal. Marcela reminds Julio that they were both widowed when they married and how they helped each other get over their lost loved ones when she asks him to reconsider the divorce action.
Episode 1 parts
1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39zHBFzCG94
2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9Q_QJwDTvM
3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r934duSpV38&feature=related
4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JttVBGaU8k&feature=related
5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXL_Pc4jMds
I think I'm going to like this show. It seems really good so far, and Guy Ecker is easy on the eyes. I'm just tuning up my beanie to cover farm workers affording such nice accommodations.
If you want to, go to my new website https://sites.google.com/site/telenovelasdesquiciadas/ and print out one of the Bingo cards. We can see how similar this Uni novela is to the typical Televisa fare.
Mark off the clichés as they occur, and if you get to Bingo first, you will win...glory and bragging rights, I guess.
Pata - yes, strap yourself in for a ride particularly if Dinero was your first TN (it is wonderfully pleasant compared to most TNs). Hopefully it won't be as dark as ENDA.
Julia - Thanks for the bingo cards. I won't be able to play until the end of the week but I'm looking forward to it.
Joan
http://novelasyseries.univision.com/eva-luna/capitulos-completos/video/2010-11-02/eva-luna-cap-1
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