Caray, Caray!

In case you missed it Friday. Now that the original recaps cover only 2-3 episodes, I won't be writing the Plot Development summaries anymore.

Over the weekend updated the Characters & Plot Synopsis page and added a yummy picture (not TBLMOE - sorry!). You may want to look through it again, because it will clarify many of the relationship questions that pop up.
 

Tks Paula

Andrés gives slime ball Diego a glass of wine, & he just drops it on the floor. That's after boinking pobre Esperanza again. I think Andrés is fed up with his job, he had to clean up the broken glass & mess. He realizes what a turd Diego is.

I find Modesta a very interesting character, she doesn't miss a thing, she is Juana's confidant, but I don't think she approves of all Juana does. We'll see how she turns out.
 

Carlos~~~Those are two of my favorite actors in that photo. Wow. This episode really moved the story along. Luis and Cristobal track down the maker of Hip's pendant and discover that the person who bought it is none other than Luis's father-in-law. Then, minutes later, they discover that he has been killed. Didn't Agustin look just grand spread out in his uniform ? His son [played by Jan, I think] has the worse haircut ever. And pobre Espy, Diego is out of his sickbed and on her again. He is a devil. I won't be complaining about my job after seeing what pobre Andres's duties include.
 

Thanks, Paula and Carlos. Had to LOL when Diego dropped his pants in front of his mom, Juana, to sit on the pot. He had grabbed his stomach, so he is still feeling the effects of the potion. Perhaps that is another reason he is after Espe, again, besides trying to humiliate Luis.

This tn has humor and love the performance of the acting playing Diego. Laughed when he swatted Andres with his napkin when poor nervous Andres spilled the wine on Diego.

As Paula mentioned a while back, Martin is like a petulant teenager. Marcos has just about had it with the rebellious lad.

GinCA
 

They did some serious cutting! Diego spent quite a bit more time on the pot talking to mama - and suffering - eew! And they cut the rape scene in Diego's study. Just TMI for daytime TV I guess. Actually, I was going to be shocked if they cut the former but not the latter.

Audrey
 

I just realized something. I'll bet they have all the potty scenes with Diego because he's such a piece of crap.
 

Heck, we were just getting to know Agustin. I wonder how long it would have taken for him to hit on his daughter?

If they cut some of Diego on the pot, I'm going to give the censors a pass. Just watching Andres parading around with that chamberpot was stomach churning.

Someone mentioned this before, but I think it bears mentioning again about the street scenes. Some fascinating things going on and probably some other interesting stories unfolding that we are only offered a glimpse of.

Carlos
 

I keep getting so behind on these and having to catch up two or three episodes at a time - it's almost like the first time around! (And since I missed so much of it back then, it's almost like having en antirely new novela, too, except I don't have to try and learn a slew of new names. ^^; )

I haven't even actually watched today's yet, but I wanted to let you know the links and discussions are appreciated even if I'm not quite up to speed on commenting again!
 

Wow, a lot goes on in each episode! This is great!

Thanks for the update of the Characters and Plot Synopsis. I read it and it really helped a lot!

I remembered seeing this clip on YouTube which contains a scene from this episode and also a scene from an upcoming episode, and it has ENGLISH SUBTITLES.

I thought that might be interesting to some of you: YouTube Clip From Ep 15 Alborada with Eng Subtitles. The first scene (with Martin) is from Ep 15 and the second scene (with Luis and Juana) is from a future episode and so contains SPOILERS. (It doesn't appear to be too far ahead of where we are now.)
 

Yes, there is always lots of action circling around the main characters and giving us a window into that past time and place....including but not limited to the use a chamber pots which do kind of kill the aura of romance. I, too, noticed that they cut both the pot and rape scenes. The actor playing Diego seems to be willing to do anything on screen.
 

Carlos, awesome screen shot!

Variopinta, funny that you call Diego a turd since that is what Andres kept carrying out of Diego's room. His face trying not to smell his "cargo" was hilarious.

Paula, thanks again for posting the recaplet and links. I've got to dash so will check in again later, but what a great episode last night, eh? I generally hate any editing but I guess I didn't need to see Diego raping and pooping so OK, just this once, heh.
 

Good morning everyone. Yes, Carlos, I was the one commenting on the background activities first, but surely not the first to notice them. I don't mind the time they take to show street scenes--or getting ready for the fiesta for the Regidor--or even a small number of potty scenes. It's life!

Which brings me to the assassination of Augustin. Carla E. didn't do her usual best for reality's sake. Why would someone as important as Don A. be out walking after dark without a servant or bodyguard, even in the company of a friend. We rarely see Luis by himself. Carla could easily have set up someother way of catching him.

I'm sad, too, that he's gone. But maybe there's a reason for him to be eliminated--to make it harder for Luis to verify Hipolita's parentage. I can't see Asuncion confessing any time soon.

Meanwhile, it will certainly relieve Dona Juana of a big burden of keeping Don A. and his family happy so as not to reveal the baby-switch.

We have a big revelation in this episode. Marcos lets it slip that Don Luis got to Hipolita first and Martin had better back off. Then he clams up as Martin presses him to say where (or when--or how could he have) met up with Hipolita before her trip on the barco. Martin isn't dumb, he's going to be forming a time-line to figure it out, but he can't let go of Hipo yet.
(my word verification is exhumen, something we don't need to do for Don Augustin--we know it is he and he's quite dead.)
Dona Nube
 

Well,Carlos, amigo mio, Agustin DID already "hit on his daughter". Remember as she's scurrying down the stairs and he keeps asking her name and where's she's from, and is she single and mentioning that HE'S A WIDOWER. That was definitely "hitting" and ick-inducing. I was glad to see him go, realistic or not, so the prurient interest in his own daughter didn't go any further.

My grandparents down South had chamber pots for many years so those scenes bring back memories...but not good ones! At least they're not showing outhouses with daddy long legs all over the place but I'm sure there are those in the barrios as well.

I enjoy Carla Estrada's little touches, unpleasant though they can be, at making these novelas more realistic.

And ditto with the commenter who noted that Modesta doesn't always seem to agree with what her doña does. She's not the uncomplicated evil henchman type like Gasca. But she protects Juana like a devoted mother, just as Juana protects the vile Diego.
 

Sylvia - recaplet - I like that!

Doña Nube, you said the loss of Agustín will make it harder for Luis to verify Hipolita's parentage. True. But that coin has another side. I bet Luis will somehow find out that Diego might be associated with Augie's murder. In which case Luis will be even MORE driven to figure out why Augie had control over Juana.

Judy, your observation, that Modesta is to Juana as Juana is to Diego - good point! Novelas love parallels, but they're usually so heavy handed. The parallels in this novela are much more subtle.

One parallel/contrast I'm enjoying is between the half sisters, Hipo and Espy. In both cases their husbands refused their beds and both sisters pleaded. Both were boinked against their will by a sort of substitute husband.

But their reactions are opposite. Espy is the helpless prey. Hipo fights victimization so hard, that she shoots herself in the foot.
 

I have also commented more than once on the background scenes. They've been brilliant, and raised the level of this production right up there with the best of them IMO. Especially in the square - there is always something interesting going on, often some type of crowd entertainment. And every time you turn around you are passing a funeral procession or someone in a carriage, or someone hawking something or whatever. It makes is all seem so real - I love it! I'm so glad they budgeted for all the bit-part extras to create the environment.

I'm getting a great kick out of all the everyday things they are bringing to life - like the servants always having to deal with chamber pots, etc. And there is always some kind of furious activity keeping the servants busy at the Palace.

I really like Diego's special "throne" chair with a chamber pot placed underneath. But I think the funniest was when he was peeing into a pot handheld by a servant - wow! But perfectly plausible for an aristocrat.

And then Modesta is always doing some kind of needlepoint or sewing. Asunción is occasionally sewing too. In a later episode, Modesta is sitting at a spinning wheel in Juana's chambers. In that scene I'm pretty sure she has no idea what to do with a spinning wheel, but it looks good. LOL!

Audrey