Caray, Caray!

ROSA DIAMENTE

NovelaMaven, as far as I know, RD is co produced with Argos Co. so surely will have a much better "technical" quality than Telemundo Studios artificial looking productions.
 

NovelaMaven, good to hear from you!

I also like Colombian novelas. They tend to be more realistic, with fewer scenes of the protagonists mooning at each other about how much they love each other. There are interesting plots.

Apparently my theory that El Rostro de Venganza was going to be on after Corazón Valiente was incorrect, and it will be on after Pablo Escobar. I'll probably watch both.
 

Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del mal -

love your comments NovelaMaven,
miss you summaries,

I too have been wondering how this novela will be,
and whether I'll watch,

plus the fact that this novela began running in Colombia 28 May, 2012,
so it will be ripe for spoilers,

not knowing anything about Pablo Escobar,
I found a simple biography of his life at wiki,
what an intriguing man this is,

for example,
"In The Accountant's Story, Pablo's brother, Roberto Escobar, discusses how Pablo rose from poverty and obscurity to become one of the wealthiest men in the world. At the height of its power, the Medellín drug cartel was smuggling 15 tons of cocaine a day, worth more than half a billion dollars, into the United States."

do the math, this was one of the riches men in the world,

" According to Roberto, Pablo's accountant, he and his brother's operation spent $2500 a month just purchasing rubber bands to wrap the stacks of cash—and since they had more illegal money than they could deposit in the banks, they stored the bricks of cash in their warehouses, annually writing off 10% as "spoilage" when the rats crept in at night and nibbled on the hundred dollar bills."

and his business strategy,
"He had an effective, inescapable policy in dealing with law enforcement and the government, referred to as "plata o plomo," (literally silver or lead, colloquially [accept] money or [face] bullets)."

and of course,
"The Colombian cartels' continuing struggles to maintain supremacy resulted in Colombia quickly becoming the world's murder capital with 25,100 violent deaths in 1991 and 27,100 in 1992"

wow,

I won't tell you more on this biography,
because this will probably be a spoiler,
there were some interesting twists and turns in his life,

and then there are the creators of this novela,
"The series was created by Camilo Cano, son of Guillermo Cano, publisher of newspaper El Espectador and murdered by Escobar in December 1986, and Juana Uribe, vice president of Caracol TV, who is also the series producer; she's daughter to Maruja Pachón, kidnapped on Escobar's orders, and niece to presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán, killed in August 1989."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Escobar,_the_drug_lord

so now I'm interested,
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE – VIERNES – Part 1

Sam saves Nicolás, and all the other students, but blows off Willy for the DNA test.

Miggy has an interesting meeting with Nora. He tells her he knows Depraved Despicable Dad’s word is worth nothing. He needs some proof of that, and maybe Nora has some. He asks her why she’s in this prison. At first she says she doesn’t want to talk about the past. Miggy reminds her this deals with the future, a future in which DDD can pay for what he’s done. She tells him she’s in there for murder and drug trafficking!

As we knew would happen, Mr. Double-Digit IQ, JM, refuses to hear Vicente out about the Reptile’s crimes, and Génesis interrupts to be sure nothing is said.

The Reptile has gone to see her papí and tells him she fired three shots and thought of the baby she lost while doing it. She also tells him he took away any chance of her ever being a mother. She wonders why he had children if he only meant to hurt them.

She describes spending time with Juan Cruz, who for the first time we see walking, in a flashback. Never one to resist spoiling the moment, DDD tells her not to get attached; the kid isn’t hers.

Nora tells Miggy the story we’ve been dying to hear, about how she ended up in prison, but they’ve frustratingly decided to play crappy music over her lips moving and her hand gestures. Really?

El Jefe comes to Sam’s agency, anxious about Nicolás. She says he’s OK, but the kidnapper escaped and wants vengeance. He urges her to have the DNA test, and she says that maybe she’s just afraid to find out.

Willy is so very endearing as he begs Ofelia to tell him the truth about Sammy’s parentage. He says he knows that Fernanda is her favorite, but maybe he has a place in her heart. The miserable b!tch doesn’t really lie to him, but says Darío always feared DDD was Sam’s father. Oh, please, let there be big time payback for Ofelia!

DDD tries to strike a deal with the Reptile. He wants her to leave the past behind. He needs a favor. He tells her that, for his silence about her crimes, he wants some of her blood. Of course, we know what that means.

Miggy has told JM that DDD is guilty of having Sam kidnapped all those years ago and that Estela is responsible for the death of her husband. JM says Estela is probably the reason Ángela turned out the way she did. Miggy is indignant, and tells JM he hopes it’s not too late when he learns the truth.

El Jefe and Lorena talk. El Jefe is telling Lorena she isn’t holding up her end of the bargain and going after Willy. Lorena says she’s realized the strength of Sam and Willy’s love. She also tells him about the surrogacy. She’s come to be Sam’s friend, and she doesn’t want the two of them to be brother and sister. El Jefe isn’t so self-effacing; he says he wants Sam to be happy, but with him.

Sam tells Willy about the near thing with Nicolás. She says she’s going to stay with him day and night at El Jefe’s house. Willy is furious. He tells her she’s not going there for Nicolás, but to run away from him. He gets closer and we get another of their very hot love scenes.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE – VIERNES – Part 2

Vicente comes to see the Reptile at the office. He tells her he found out she’s living with JM now. She tells him she’s truly happy. He says he’s bored and lonely, but has an excellent memory. He loses it and starts to choke her, mentioning the death of his brother, his killing of Paula, and all the times he didn’t get to make love to her. JM comes in and subdues him. He tells him he’ll kill him if he touches her again. [This is de rigueur for telenovela galanes. They never suggest calling the cops. Oh no, they always say THEY’LL kill the other guy if he touches their woman.]

Ángela still believes someone might try to hurt her kids. Yawn. She says that Nora’s enemy at least is the father of her children and she knows they are safe from him. Nora tells her not to be so sure.

Sam regrets the roll in the hay. She says they’ll have the test tomorrow. But she plans to stay away from Willy.

DDD comes to the prison to see Nora. We see her amazed face as she sees the back of his head. [Come on, Nora, he’s in a wheelchair! Strangle him! Quick! Before the guards can come!] Nora recovers, and isn’t intimidated by him. She says sarcastically that she never expected him to come see his work of art. He tells her she’s still beautiful. She tells him to cut to the chase; what does he want? He tells her he found out she’s in a cell with Ángela Valdez, and he doesn’t want her to have anything to do with that family [brass cojones!] He tells her he’s always known there was a monster inside him that is now trying to get out. She asks if he’ll have her killed. He tells her it’s a possibility. She gets right in his face and says: “Do it! You have no idea the favor you’d be doing me.”

Vicente has told JM about the Reptile hating him because she thought he pushed her down the stairs all those years ago. She lies through her teeth and says she never thought that.

Miggy tells Peralta to watch DDD like a hawk and to investigate a list of names to see if they have something to do with DDD.

Willy begs Sam not to do the very thing DDD wants – abandon him. She tells him she knows DDD is a psychopath and a manipulator, but she can’t bear it that they might be brother and sister. El Jefe and Nicolás come to pick up Sam, Jefe grinning from ear to ear. Willy asks her to leave Arturo in a very touching way.

DDD tells Miggy he’s aware that Miggy wants to interfere in what he’s doing. Miggy tells him he knows he went to see his wife today. DDD is shocked Miggy didn’t tell Willy and Fernanda about Nora. Miggy says he didn’t do it for him, but because Nora asked him not to. They look hard at each other. Methinks DDD has definitely met his match.

Emma puts on a silly show for Peralta’s benefit, telling him how happy she is to be back in her lap of luxury. She tells him that Camilo isn’t threatened by her wealth and having her pay for nights out. She then plants a big kiss on said Camilo. Camilo looks stunned. After Peralta leaves, he tells her he’s annoyed at being made to look like a fortune hunter.

The Reptile wants to bathe, feed, and put Juan Cruz to bed. JM tells her not to confuse the issue. JC has a mother, and it’s Ángela.

Nora tells Ángela that she thinks DDD may send someone to have her killed.

Willy comes to see his father in a white-hot rage. He tells him he’s not going to let him ruin his life and lunges at him. Miggy holds him back. Willy gets right in DDD’s face and tells him that he and Sam are married, both by law and before God. And if DDD gets in the middle of that with a lie, he’ll kill him.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE – VIERNES – Part 3

Sam shows up at Casa del Castillo screaming for Evil Estela to show her face. Estela comes out grinning. Sam asks how she could even look Ángela in the face after killing her father. EE fires back that she always knew Sam was DDD’s daughter, and that her child was cursed and that’s why they took him from her. Willy tells her to be careful; he’s capable of breaking her face. [Hell, I’m capable of breaking her face!] Miggy calms Sam down, telling her he’s looking for proof of the crimes of DDD and EE.

Nicolás tells his father he heard that Sam and Willy might be brother and sister. He then says that the child, whoever he is, would not want to know them. It seems to have dawned on El Jefe that his precious son might be a product of incest.

DDD congratulates EE on her performance. He says he’s going to find out where they’re having the test and then act. He says he might turn to Lorena. [What? Wasn’t he away the whole time that Lorena was on the scene.] He says he has people following Sam night and day.

There’s a confusing conversation about El Verdugo, who is in Colombia. What’s confusing is that un verdugo is an executioner, or a tormenter. But I guess they mean a real person named Verdugo. He may have had something to do with the kidnapping. Later Nora tells him that El Verdugo helped frame her.

Juan Cruz isn’t sleeping well. He also has a fever. Camilo suggests that he needs his mother.

Crap! Fernanda is in the same clinic where Sam and Willy have gone. She gets a call from DDD asking her to do what he asked. She subsequently gets blood drawn.

Lorena says something that gives me hope. She tells Willy there will be a double analysis. I’m not sure if this means DNA or the test to see if she’s pregnant, though. She then tells Willy she lied to him. Santiago didn’t die of an illness. He was killed by his lover after he told her he was going to stay with Lorena. She says she didn’t tell him before because she was trying to win him. She realized she needed to resign herself and El Jefe needs to do the same. Willy picks right up on the part about El Jefe.

DDD discovers that Sam and Willy’s child lives with Esteban de la Vega. He’s not too happy about that. Ofelia tells him he should tell them that Nicolás is their son.

Fernanda appears to have switched the blood around so that the DNA test will be HERS and Willy’s blood. Gah! [Does a DNA test show blood type as well? What are the odds Fernanda and Sam would have the same blood type?]

JM brings Juan Cruz to the prison where Nora, Miggy, and Ángela are already together. [As we’ve said, this is a prison you can just walk into.] He puts the child in Ángela’s arms. Miggy again tells Ángela to tell JM she’s innocent.

Sam is crying in the Bodyguard office when Jefe comes in. He finally tells her he’s in love with her. She looks quite alarmed at this.
 

Mil gracias, Novelera!

My recorder failed me, so I missed the entire episode. I find Angela's incarceration very painful
and JM becoming increasing DDD,
dumb,deluded and despicable. Being a defense attorney, you would think he would want to hear both sides down to the very last detail at least for old times sake and for the sake of his child.
He doesn't even believe his own defense of Angela or suspect there could be a motive for her confession. If she were in fact this horrible killer, why would she suddenly confess when she was about to be exonerated and about to live the life of her dreams or her evil plotting?
The whole DNA thing once again makes me want to scream; it is so repetetive in novela world and weakens the plot in a most uncreative way.

I am surprised that Sam has not been to visit Angela of late, but I guess she has her own problems , especially now with her 24 hr. duty. Many thanks once again for a tremendously detailed recap.
 

ROSA DIAMANTE

NovelaObserver, thanks for bringing the Argos Company to my attention. From what I can gather, they also have a reputation for sophistication in dealing with "adult" themes like sex and politics, whatever that means.

By the way, according to the Telemundo website, the story starts in San Miguel de Allende -- so even if the novela is a dud, there should be some pretty travelogue-type footage, at least in the early episodes.

PABLO ESCOBAR

Deb, Thanks for all the background info, especially the tragic pedigree of the novela creators.

I suppose we should reiterate that this is a no-spoiler zone, shouldn't we? We've had the luxury of original productions for some time and so it hasn't been an issue here. Thanks for the reminder. And thanks for the nice words.

GENERAL

Novelera, Thanks for making me feel welcome here even though I have been swimming in the Passion Pits (i.e., Abismo de pasión) lately and arrive here still dripping in bathos.

I notice that our format has evolved in the past several months. You, Hombre and Jean have left the one-comment summary far behind. The recaps have become quite detailed; and you have picked up a number of readers and commenters who appreciate the detail. Do you still feel comfortable in the over-all format of the page?

Congratulations on all the terrific writing you've been doing here. You single-handedly kept "Flor salvaje" going and I know many people were grateful for that. And now "Corazon Valiente" -- I have no idea what is going on in that show but I LOVED your snarky reprise of events:

"He tells him he’ll kill him if he touches her again. [This is de rigueur for telenovela galanes. They never suggest calling the cops. Oh no, they always say THEY’LL kill the other guy if he touches their woman.]"

Yes! Exactly!

And your musing on "el verdugo" reminded me that many years ago, on the old "Marcus Welby, MD" show, the nurse was played by an actress named Elena Verdugo. Oh the things that clutter the brain! :D
 

Rosa Diamante

I've been away from my favorite blog for about a month, and am about 20 episodes behind on my DVRed episodes of Corazon Valiente, but I'm looking forward to RD.

I,too, noticed that it's not on my cable providers schedule yet, and I haven't been watching Maid so I may start recording it just in case Rosa shows up there without being on the schedule.

I'm a big fan of Columbian novelas too... even though they still have the requisite TN cheesiness sometimes (and every one I've watched has the token "happy hooker" characters) I love the grittiness of them. I have to say that Gregorio Pernia is becoming one of my favorites; his acting is fabulous and he's just adorable, even when he's being a total jerk.

It's great to be back! Thanks so much to all you tireless, dedicated recappers :)

AnotherAmy
 

GENERAL

Hi AnotherAmy,

Speaking of Colombian novelas ...

Someone over on the Abismo page mentioned that "Yo soy Betty la fea" is going to run on the new station, MundoFox. MundoFox, a joint venture between the Colombian RCN and the American Fox network, is set to launch on August 13. They aim to be a big player in the American Spanish language market just as Fox has emerged as a big boy in the American Anglo market.

I've only seen episodes of "Betty la fea" online (it's the basis for the Mexican "La fea más bella"), but what I saw, I just loved. I sure hope my cable provider puts this new station in its line-up.

Oh and I completely agree about Gregorio Pernia. I especially enjoyed him in "La hija del mariachi" but I've never seen him do a bad job, though he plays some very bad guys.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE:

Thanks for the recap!

It felt like the whole episode centred on the possible incest issue, but now I’m a little more hopeful that it will end soon.

For me the bigger issue with the DNA test was having the chance to tamper with the labels and that nobody would apparently notice that they’ve been switched.

Of course Ofelia won’t reveal anything, despite probably knowing how Willy and Sam could end up feeling. Oh, I too really, really hope that there’s payback for her. I can’t stand her fake "goodness".
Anyway… I don’t understand how Darío "always" was afraid that Bernie was Sam’s father, when Darío always thought that Sam was HIS child until Perla revealed otherwise.

I like Lorena and I really hope that she won’t turn out to be a villain. But her story keeps on changing. So now her husband’s lover killed him? (And then the lover apparently also killed herself?) I also liked the contrast between her unselfish love for Willy and El Jefe’s selfish love for Sam. Hopefully it sticks or she falls for someone else and she’ll reveal some of El Jefe’s plans to Willy. (I think she should have a clue about the cameras, since El Jefe knew to tell her when the coast was clear)
Btw. It was interesting that El Jefe said that love doesn’t change when he told Nico and Guadalupe that it can end.

When Nicolás and El Jefe showed up for Sam, I didn’t like that Nicolás looked so happy when Sam was clearly upset. I understand that El Jefe (who knows the situation) would ignore it, but I would have expected Nico to be less selfish.
At least Arturo sensed that something was wrong. (He looked so sad. :( )

I’d like to know more about the murder and drug trafficking and how Bernie managed to frame Nora,
Hopefully Miggy manages to find something.

Nora didn’t seem as intimidated by Bernie as I would have expected. Actually, she didn't seem scared of him at all.

El Jefe didn’t bother to wait for the results? I hope Sam remembers that he denied being in love with her before, although he can say that it’s more recent.

Hah, yes. Maybe JM needs another nickname. But I don’t think he’s despicable. He did take his child to see Angie after all, despite thinking that she’s a murderer. However, he is simpleminded and incapable of seeing beyond a fixed idea or thinking further than what he sees right in front of him. I find his stupidity mostly amusing, but at the moment it’s not that funny.
(Although I did like Vicente laughing at JM.)
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE

novelera, Thanks so much for the great detailed recap.

As for "Nora tells Miggy the story we’ve been dying to hear, about how she ended up in prison, but they’ve frustratingly decided to play crappy music over her lips moving and her hand gestures", I bet the writers have no idea what that story is! X_X

I like the way Manuel Landeta is portraying DDD. A charismatic villain is essential for any novela. Gabriel Valenzuela isn't a bad actor but his scenes either as a villain or a good guy, bores me to death U_U

The Miggy-Cecilia scenes were really funny ^_^
 

NovelaMaven,
Thanks for the news about the new channel!! I'm so excited... I'm going to look into that ;)

I recently downgraded my cable plan but added the latino package in the process and now I get all sorts of channels from Latin America, including RCN! They're only showing two novelas now, though, neither of which I can get terribly interested in (even though one of them has Scarlet Ortiz, whom I really like).

I've heard a lot about Betty, may have to check it out!

AnotherAmy
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE-

A great recap, as usual, Novelera. I liked the snarky asides.

I, too have hopes on that Lorena's statement that a double DNA test would be done will mean that this false hermanos story will be over. The plot on this novela moves so fast, so I hope this follows suit. Of course, one plot item that has lasted is the false DNA test that showed that Sam was not Ángela's sister. But that is not as important to the plot as Sam and Willy's relationship.

Of course, you don't have to have blood drawn to do a DNA test - all you need is a cheek swab. How incredibly convenient that the Reptile times her visit and ends up in the same room with Sam's blood vial.

The information that we got that Nora was convicted of drug trafficking and murder is probably tying DDD in with the narcotraficantes that Miggy ran into looking for Fabiola. Presumably, DDD has been involved in some dirty business in Colombia for many years.

It seems like JM is beginning to soften towards Ángela. Let's hope so.
 

GENERAL-

The Olympics - from what I found in a Telemundo press release, Telemundo is going to broadcast the Olympics from 9am to 5pm and then have their regular evening programming. I wondered how their much ballyhooed Olympic coverage was going to affect the novelas.

I really only have time to watch one novela at a time, especially if I am recapping it 2 or 3 days a week so I will give Pablo Escobar and Rosa Diamante a miss.
 

CORAZON VALIENTE:

Great recap, Novelera! I'm also hoping the double DNA test somehow clears things up.

Based on Camilo's remarks to Emma, I think it's pretty certain he really is Camilo and not Luis. I think.

JM looked as if he believed Vicente's story how Fernanda hated him, thinking he pushed her down the stairs. But only for a second, and then he was back to trusting the Reptile.

We're supposed to think that Emma will be devastated when she finds out she's "really" poor, having been switched at birth. But would JM just throw her out in the street? I certainly hope not.

Why is it such a shock that Jefe admits to loving Sam? I think several people have already told Sam this.

With all the amazing things happening every single day, I wonder how one whole year passed and....nothing :)
 

Thanks for the splendid recap, novelera! It was revealing in that another thin layer of this onion of a plot was peeled back.

We now know why Nora was incarcerated but we don't know the details of how she was framed. Miggy, the smartest one in CV, knows them so hopefully we will soon know. It's amazingly pompous how DDD feels that he can dictate who Nora's cell mate can be!! Brass cojones, indeed. Perfect call. I like the fact that Nora wasn't intimidated. Maybe his reasoning for not wanting a Nora-Valdez connection foreshadows another key to unlocking the mystery of Miguel Sr and Samantha's kidnapping. We also know of the existence of yet another villain - El Verdugo.

That tired incest subplot needs to go away soon. The fact that Triple D is having Sam followed to subvert an any additional DNA tests is so easy to get around. Like Jean, I immediately thought of cheek cell swabs or of hair. Those samples can easily be smuggled to a private lab. Be done with this nonsense! Sheesh! Then Sam can come out of her temporary brain fart and she and Willy can help Miggy. Sam has always seemed so level headed, so I hate to see her reject Willy because of something a known liar and scumbag says. Maybe once her fears about DDD are behind her, she can pretend to believe him and help Miggy from the "inside". Even better, I'd love for the real DNA test to finally prove that Sam, Ángela, and Miggy are siblings!!

I, too, am also glad that Lorena appears to be listening to her conscience and does not want to hypocritically put Sam through the same kind of other woman heartache that she herself went through. She does seem to be rather unstable though. I wonder if she'll be the one to end up with Miggy?

@ kihaku - Simpleminded is *exactly* the term to use to describe JM. Absolute hilarity! His critical thinking skills are still under construction. Even so, I'm still willing to cut him some slack. He doesn't know what we know and, though it was apparent to us that it made no sense, Ángela (another simpleton) confessed to the murders. He begged her for the truth before he gave up. We know he should have investigated it. His big mistake was to take on the case in the first place since the victims were his relatives. LA is swarming with high profile attorneys who represent the rich and famous.

@Jean - I agree about JM. From the way his character has been played in the last few episodes, I'm getting a sense that he is having little flashes of doubt about Ángela's guilt. Though he came to the Reptile's defense when Vicente attacked her, the nuanced way in which he listened to Vicente led me to believe that he filed the information rather than dismissed it. Miggy is also constantly working on him. I was happy when JM shut Fernanda down by reminding her that Ángela is JC's mother, plus he did bring the baby to the prison for a visit. Hopefully this means that there will be an epiphany sooner rather than later. The three main good guy couples (including Peralta and the immature Emma) are all separated now - something that hasn't happened for a while.

NovelaNewbie
 

CORAZON VALIENTE:

Thanks so much Novelera. You have given us such wonderful detailed recaps. I really appreciate it because I have gotten way behind watching this since I started recaping Refugio two nights a week. But I'm actually fine with not watching while Angela remains in jail and all of our couples remain broken up.

I am really enjoying the comments. Especially the digs at JM's intelligence. LOL!

Even though the whole protagonists as possible siblings is supposed to be cliche, I had never seen it before and then all of a sudden it's a plot point in the three telenovelas I'm following-- CV, Refugio and Abismo! It's an epidemic! The tampered DNA test truth finally came out in Abismo last night so that plot point can now be put to rest. Two more tns to go. :)
 

CORAZON VALIENTE:

Two points about Lorena (both of which might be wrong). First, I thought she said she was already implanted with the fertilized egg from Sam and Willy, and since abortions are NEVER allowed in these shows, I don't think she wants Sam and Willy to turn out to be siblings either.

On the negative side, those flashbacks sort of hint that maybe she's still not telling the truth, that maybe SHE killed her husband and his lover. But that's certainly not proven, just a possibility.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE

@Kihaku – I agree that Darío NEVER thought DDD was Sam’s father, rather that he himself was. But the barb worked because Sam probably wouldn’t have known her father’s secret fears.

I like Lorena too. Either the writers hadn’t yet decided where to go with her or the flashback of her staring with horror at the two bloody bodies was always meant to fake us out. I had decided a while back that what was on the bed was either a murder-suicide or the husband of Santiago’s mistress taking revenge. I’m now leaning toward her with Miggy, but she may not be spirited enough for him.

@NovelaObserver – I love your idea that showing Nora with her lips moving and only music to listen to may mean the writers haven’t yet written the part about how DDD got her in prison! And I also like Miggy and Cecilia together, not permanently, but just for fun. She’s hilarious how badly she wants to get him back in bed!

@Jean – I like your idea that DDD setting up Nora for drug trafficking will maybe tie together the whole Fabiola and LA strip club narcos with the rest of the plot. I was wondering where they fit in. And of course Bernardo is plenty despicable enough to be involved in trafficking.

@NovelaMaven, thanks for the kind words! I hope you’ll be joining us for at least the beginning of Pablo Escobar. The guy playing him was in another narco novela I watched: El Cartel. He played Anestesia, one of those funny nicknames narcos often have. I thought El Cartel was well acted, but I needed to learn a whole new Colombian slang vocabulary and also needed sub-titles for the whole thing to understand the Colombian street dialect and accent.

@Vivi – Welcome back! Ye Gods, three incest stories! The incest trope in this novela better be over and fast because it’s driving me nuts. I can’t imagine a father so heartless that he would cause his son (the child he said at the beginning he adored) such pain.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE

Hombre, Lorena has been implanted with the embryo. They said, however, that several weeks were required to see if the embryo attached or whatever else is required for the pregnancy to be confirmed.

I have no idea if their medical descriptions are correct or not. But, I think a lot of infertile couples have embryos implanted and then it doesn't "take" or whatever the process is. Some of them have quite a few failed attempts.
 

I cut my teeth on "Yo Soy Betty La Fea". I like the writing a pacing of "most" Columbian and Venezuelan" telenovelas in comparison to the Venevision, Telemundo and Televisa productions. What I notice with some of the Telelmundo and a lot of the Televisa novelas is the amount of strange plot devices employed to elongate the run of the telenovela. I'd rather have an engrossing, tight story, which last 86 episodes, than the ridiculous "filler episodes" to stretch the novela. Then we have the protagonistas "in love, out of love" repeadedly. It strains the viewer's patience. Telelmundo novelas don't seem to do this as much as Televisa. Televisa polls the viewers as to what they want to happen while the tns are still in production in Mexico. That's why "Teresa' actually had three endings. They did a similar campaign with "La Madrastra". Considering Televisa butchers most of the "remakes" they do by elongating the plots, combining telenovelas (evidenced in the latest "Corazon Salvaje") they really sell the viewers short. When a newer adaptation or new telelnovela comes along, you can sense it right away. "Cuando" had good writing and we never had to wait too long to move the story along. I guess, since I have been watching many TNs since my intro to the genera with "Yo Soy Betty La Fea" the bar was set very high. Take a breath. I am interested in "Escobar" and will probably watch as I watched "El Capo" and "Victorinos". If the story is compelling, even if it is violent, I will watch because the writer get you to "care" about the characters.
sfchicabonita
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE -

@ novelera

all I know about IVF (in-vitro fertilization) comes from el clon, ha!
so I took a look,

the internet says,
"Embryos Implanted in IVF Fail More Often Than Not"
http://fertilityneighborhood.com/content/in_the_news/archive_1274.aspx

but along the way I noticed,
remember Octo mom,
(I think her doctor was the same guy from el clon),
anyway, he implanted her with 12 embryos !!!
(National guidelines issued by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine specify no more than two embryos are to be used in in vitro treatments for a healthy woman under 35)

in my book, this makes her a real, walking/talking, novela character!
 

Corazon Valiente
Novelera let me add my thanks for a fine recap. As always, much appreciated.
Anyway, since we have to see Angela in prison at least we are spared having to watch her be tormented by the prison-girl-baddies. Guess they all escaped during the break out. (Except the guard). Now the atmosphere in there is more like a YWCA with no indoor plumbing.
J in Oregon
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE:

NovelaObserver:

I too enjoy the portrayal of DDD and I like that we’re discovering more about his depravity and secrets. I liked Luis as villain as well even if he wasn’t as great as DDD. I agree that Camilo is a little boring, but I like the guy.

I also thought that the writers needed more time to figure out the whole thing with Nora or then they weren't ready to reveal something that big to the audience.

Jean:

I also think that whatever Nora told Miggy (as well as the info he got from Cecilia) will lead to his discovering more about Fabiola as well as DDD’s machinations

Hombre:

Emma would still legally be a millionaire. (Maybe the information might make Pablo feel better, though). Besides, JM knows that Emma isn’t his biological sister and it hasn’t changed anything.

El Jefe’s love confession was a surprise for Sam, who didn’t believe Miggy or Willy (the only ones who told her that El Jefe was in love with her). El Jefe himself denied it and Sam believed him. (Why Sam didn’t get it before, is the real mystery. ;) )

Novela Newbie:

Sam is usually level headed, but not so much when it’s about someone close to her. (Especially with Willy her lack of rationality has been frustrating at times.) I expected Sam to have her doubts, although not because of her tendency to let emotions cloud her judgement, but because there had to be that kind of set-up for drama.
I think Miggy manages to be the smartest and most reasonable character, because he’s not in love/obsessed with someone and doesn’t have kids. :) Love makes everyone stupid or crazy (or evil) at times.

JM’s stupidity endeared him to me. At the beginning I didn’t like him, because it seemed like he was supposed to be this "perfect guy", although he had no understanding for his wife and openly flirted with another woman. He’s evolved into a more relatable person with obvious faults. I prefer that to "supposedly perfect". His shortcomings make his character more interesting and I get a good laugh out of his stupidity. :)
On the other issue: JM doesn’t believe even his own evidence for Angie’s innocence. It’s a little inconsistent with his believing her even when the evidence was against her. Also, there are others who still believe in her innocence and JM was supposed to know Angie, so I’m not ready to cut him some slack there. Not only should JM know better, but also his recent reactions and actions have been contradictory to previous ones. I agree that he should have hired a better and less emotionally involved lawyer to deal with Angie’s case. However, he actually did well with that one and was going to win the case, so in the end that wasn’t his worst decision. (Fernanda and Luis would have meddled regardless.)

Novelera:

Hmm… After Darío’s suicide attempt he told Sam that he’d just found out that he wasn’t her biological father (and Sam suspected that was the reason he tried to kill himself).
This reminds me that Sam asked Estela if SHE knew and she denied knowing. Now she’s saying that she always knew and despite that never did anything or showed any kind of disapproval?

Yes, I also had the feeling that the writers hadn’t decided yet if Lorena would be good or bad, or then possibly changed their minds. (I agree that the flashback would make more sense if it had been indeed the lover’s husband who had killed the two.) I suppose it still could go either way, but making her a villain would make less sense in my opinion. Besides, I think it would be a nice change to have a character that is not constantly scheming to break up a main couple and actually has another purpose in the story. I like Lorena with Miggy, but I think he is meant for the real Fabiola.
 

ROSA DIAMANTE

I was able to set my DVR for this, it starts Tuesday the 10th at 8:30 p.m. An article I read stated that Telemundo was trying to get Rosa out before Por Ella Soy Eva starts on Uni next week.

I look forward to any other informaton on El Rostro de Venganza. I don't want to miss an episode of this.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE – LUNES – Part 1

Sam tells El Jefe his declaration of love is the last thing she would have expected. He tells her he knows that, because of her love for Willy, he can’t expect anything. He just wants to be her friend. Just then Depraved Despicable Dad calls El Jefe and asks him to come by.

Ángela finally tells Juan Marcos she’s innocent. Miggy pipes up: At last! She says she said she was guilty in court because they threatened to kill Violeta. She’s still afraid for Violeta and for her son. She says the killer is still loose. Miggy wants her to elaborate on how the threats were delivered, but JM sticks out his chin and says he doesn’t want to hear it, plus he grabs Juan Cruz. Nora tells him she’s got a few years on him, and he ought to learn how to listen. JM manages to drop into a discussion of JC being up a lot at night the fact that he and Fernanda are living together.

Lorena tells Willy that El Jefe is in love with Sam. Lorena says she always chooses the wrong man, but Willy insists that the right guy will come along for her.

Camilo wants to clear things up with Peralta, but Peralta doesn’t give him a chance; he goes into a rant about how caprichosa Emma is.

Nicolás has disappeared from the school and Sam is distraught.

Cecilia has come to Miggy’s apartment and is all over him. She tells him she’s capable of anything for him, even betraying DDD!

The Reptile asks DDD if he isn’t afraid she betrayed him and didn’t switch the blood. He says she knows he’d open his mouth in that case and she’d lose her invented world. He laughs at her. She asks him if he loves Sam enough to destroy the life of her child. [Not sure if she means the child everyone thinks Sam and Willy can’t find or the one Lorena may be carrying. That is, incest would be devastating to the child who came into the world that way.]

Cecilia tells Miggy she wants to show him what he means to her. She goes to her jewelry box. Miggy gets nervous it will be about rings! She comes up with the disc copied from Miguel Sr.’s videotape. He watches his father say that he loved two women and had a daughter with each, two miracles: Ángela and Samantha. Miggy blinks back tears. Cecilia tells him how Willy gave her the video to convert to DVD and DDD asked her to only give Ángela and Sam half. Miggy puts it all together. DDD wanted to destroy the evidence. Either DDD is lying [about being Sam’s father] or DDD and Perla lied to Miguel because Sam and Ángela had a DNA test that proved negative.

The school is searched for Nicolás. It’s revealed that an armed man took him.

Jefe wonders why DDD is interested in who are Nicolás’ biological parents. DDD says he knows who they are. Jefe says he also knows. DDD says he’s not going to say anything for his own bad reasons.

Sam asks Jessica’s father what he knows about who took Nicolás. He says they’re dangerous and he should never have gotten involved with them. Meanwhile, Nicolás is tied and gagged in the back seat of a car, while the baddie tells him he’s going to get some money from his father and then kill him. Sam feels that famous telenovela pain in the chest meaning that a loved one is in mortal danger.

JM tells Fernanda he took Juan Cruz to see his mother. He also tells her that Ángela told him that she was threatened with Violeta’s being killed, and that’s why she confessed. The Reptile pipes up that he shouldn’t let Ángela manipulate him. He just says that Miggy, Camilo, and Sam are all convinced that … Reptile interrupts and says no one would declare themselves guilty. [Well she wouldn’t, not even for her child, if she had one!]
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE – LUNES – Part 2

Ángela strikes a deal with Nora. She’ll fight to get out of prison if Nora does the same.

Miggy has come to Casa del Castillo and grabs Evil Estúpida Estela by the nape of the neck. He puts the DVD in a handy laptop in the kitchen and shows it to her. EE tries to pin it all on Perla saying that, even though she knew the father of her child was Bernardo, she told Miguel it was his. Miggy isn’t buying it. He asks her why she’s so sure that the father of Samantha is Bernardo and not Miguel. She tells him about the DNA test Sam and Ángela did. Miggy says that, speaking of Ángela, he’s going to help out that daughter that seems to mean so little to her. Bullseye!

Nicolás gets his hands free and grabs the baddie around the neck. The car crashes. Meanwhile, El Jefe, all choked up, remembers the day he met Nicolás in the orphanage and the kid asked him if he was going to be his father. Later we see Nicolás in the hospital, his arm in a sling, but otherwise OK.

JM is now doubting things and asks Camilo to pretend to be Luis to find out if what Ángela said is true. He wants him to go to Vikingo’s gym. Camilo shows up and tries on a smirk to let Vikingo know he’s Luis. JM is lurking in the background. Vikingo says he has to be in a cage fight to prove he’s Luis!

The Reptile is worried about JM now doubting Ángela’s confession. She asks Ofelia to come to live with her. Ofe now grins like the mask of comedy.

Evil Estela runs right to DDD to tell him about the DVD. She also tells him they have to kill Miggy. He looks her right in the eye and says that, if he hasn’t killed her, then that should prove he isn’t a killer.

Miggy goes to the prison and asks Ángela to tell him the whole truth. She says that they showed her a phone video of Violeta with a gun to her head. The one who brought the phone was one of the guards.

Willy tells Lorena he feels excluded from Sam’s life. She behaves as if it’s already been proven that they’re brother and sister. He goes on to say that he and Samantha are like one person. While he waxes eloquently about how it is for he and Sam, Lorena fantasizes that she’s embracing Willy!

Miggy points a gun at the nasty prison guard in the parking garage and tells her she’s going to tell him the whole truth. He wants to know who hired her, and who gave her that cell phone. The guard says she accepted the proposition of Luis Martinez because of the money. She knew they weren’t going to really do anything to the child. The purpose was to get Ángela Valdez to confess the truth. She says that inmates lie all the time about being innocent. Another guard comes up, and Miggy pretends to be her boyfriend. He says he’ll come back when she gets off work at nine.

Willy tries to take the bull by the horns and shows up at Jefe’s apartment telling Sam she needs to come home with him. El Jefe isn’t prepared to let her go.

Camilo has gotten the crap beaten out of him in the cage fight. JM is telling him this has gone far enough, when Vikingo approaches and asks what they are looking for here.

Oh boy. Another near death experience for Ángela. She’s doing laundry in a laundry room when a fire breaks out. She appears to be locked in there, and the flames start to grow.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE:

Thanks for the recap!

Actually Fernanda said that DDD was destroying his son’s life.
(Well... he'd be destroying Sam’s too. So… I don’t get why Fernanda assumes it’s about "love". Of course, Fernanda has her own strange definitions.)

I liked Fernanda welcoming El Jefe "to hell". ;)

Why is it that Sam keeps on feeling the magical connection to Nicolás, but Willy feels nothing?

Interesting that Bernie insists that he’s not a murderer, although he killed Darío and people died during the kidnapping. (It seems like it’s some sort of personal thing, since it’s not like he’d care about the lives of others)

Of course the kidnapper dies but Nicolás is basically okay.

I can’t believe Miggy is being so stupid! What did he accomplish by showing Estela the DVD? Of course Estela would tell Bernie, who would know where Miggy got it from and now knows to be on his guard. Was it so hard to get a few samples and take a DNA test? (Nobody would have known to suspect. They do, now.)

I liked that JM at least admitted in the end that his plan sucked.
 

CORAZON VALIENTE

Sam feels that famous telenovela pain in the chest meaning that a loved one is in mortal danger. Perfect, absolutely perfect line, thank you Novelera.

Nice to see Miggy in action, nice to see JM possibly getting out of his stupor. Is this finally the Angela that was supposed to be before they headed in the wrong direction.

Please let's end this ridiculous storyline of Sam and Willy, I seem to ff through most of their scenes, so much better if Sam would have stuck with Willy, what a challenge that would have been to Jefe and DD, I think it would have been far more interesting. DD could take out Jefe and then work on Sam.
 

CORAZON VALIENTE-

Excellent recap, Novelera, como siempre.

The action is picking up again. I was so happy when Miggy saw the video and learned the truth about Sam. Kihaku is right, though, he is putting Cecilia in danger by showing Estela the video.

I hope Miggy isn't put off by the results of the DNA test Sam took and does his own just the way El Jefe did when he confirmed that Sam is Nicolas' mother. Wouldn't it be a hoot if the DNA test came back negative because Willy isn't DDD's son? I don't think Dario was Willy's father but there's a lot we don't know about Nora.

BTW, I think that you are right, Kihaku, that Miggy's true love will be the real Fabiola. False Fabiola told Miggy that he was in love with real Fabiola and lines like that don't get dropped for nothing.

It seemed like there could have been easier ways for JM to find out if Camilo was the Rat than make him fight in the cage. For one thing, Luis/Camilo could have thrown the fight to appear to be Camilo. I go back to fingerprints. We know that the Rat was in prison, his fingerprints would be on file and they would be different than Luis'.
Too logical, I guess but it's a start that JM is beginning to have doubts about whether Angela is guilty.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE

Excellent recap. Thanks.

For the first time I liked Camilo, he was funny when pretending to be Luis. Maybe comic situations like this can save his dull character.

I too am really bored of this ridiculous storyline of Sam and Willy.

It seems that pobre Cecilia is going to be in big trouble, I love to see Miggy and DDD confronting each other though.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR:

Hi, all. Since the actors in this show have a heavy Medellin accent, and I don't use captions or take notes, I might leave stuff out, or get it wrong, and I apologize in advance. Feel free to add or correct.

We begin with an adult Escobar in jail. He does happen to have his own private phone, though, and calls people to "fix" things, lamenting that judges aren't as easy to "persuade" as they used to be. He flashes back to various "problemícas" he's had, a newspaperman, and politician, etc. (I think these are the relatives of the producers of the show), and how he solved them (usually by blowing things up and killing dozens more than just the one he wanted to silence!)

Back to 1959, Pablo's a kid, about 8, and his brothers tease him on a bridge over a running stream, shaking it, making him almost fall off. His religious and strongwilled, but pragmatic Mom tells him not to be a baby. From now on, he's tough.

In a local parade, he drops a little homemade firecracker in the street, causing commotion. He sneaks into the teacher's desk to get tomorrow's quiz, to share with his brothers. When the profe finds out and changes the test, Pablito stands up, tells the whole class it's not fair, and leads them in clanging their desks up and down in protest.

He and his brothers trick his meek Dad into searching for buried treasure in the night, having just set up some candles in the forest.

He starts stealing cars. He starts selling smuggled cigarettes. One of the local merchants, whose name is something like Almaro, refuses to do illegal stuff. We know this'll come back to haunt this nice guy.

Pablo's Mom gives him a lecture and good and evil. I'm not totally sure what she says, but it's something like, if you're going to be bad, you'd better be GOOD at being bad, or you'll be dead.

He meets a pretty local girl named Pati, and it's love at first sight for both of them.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR-

Thanks, Hombre. I just saw the very beginning of this. Those accents were tough. I didn't think Escobar was in prison at the beginning but was holed up somewhere trying to save his skin from some imminent retribution.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR, Part 2

But Pablo needs money. He and his cousin meet a local tough guy smuggler, and offer to be his bodyguards. This guy is short and squat, I'll call him Don Bajo. When Don B's normal henchmen screw up, he fires them, and Pablo and his cousin want to be "partners". Well, Don B won't go that far, but he's going to give them a test. He has all his stuff (he smuggles appliances, cigarettes, whiskey, etc.) in 38 trucks. They have to move it all. Pablo and his primo will go in the lead car to run interference.

They talk their way through the first checkpoint, but then about 8 army guys stop them. The army guy wants proof of purchase for everything in the trucks. This doesn't look good. But Pablo doesn't bat an eye, and tells the army guy he has two options. 1) Not let the caravan pass. The result will be the army guy will die, because he's got 8 guys, and they have about 50, and they're all packin heat (we also saw a montage where Pablo learned how to shoot with his cousin). 2) Let the caravan pass, and get some money for himself and the guys. The army guy picks number 2.

Don B is impressed, and before long, Pablo is making mucho dinero. He comes home to a birthday party, and is necking with Paty when her brother, drunk, gets jealous, and starts picking a fight. But once again, Pablo is cool, defuses the situation, and they end up hugging.

At the end of the episode, Don B takes Pablo and his cousin past lots of prostitutes to another big guy, who shows him the smuggling thing of the future - cocaine! Those gringos are just crazy for it. At this point the customs guys don't even know what it is, and business is booming!
 

CORAZON VALIENTE-

Sam and Willy's story and relationship is my favorite part of this novela. I just don't like this part of it where they think they might be siblings and I want to move on from that, which I'm sure we will quite soon.
 

CORAZON VALIENTE:

Great recap, Novelera. I think the prison guard's name is Ramos (don't know her first name).

Do any of JM's plans EVER work out? Remember that great plan with Gloria, where they pretended to have sex? OK, that wasn't his idea, but it indicates a bit of his "skill" in fooling the bad guys. No, JM, let the bad guys do plans, and wait until you finally stumble on the truth. Five or six times.

Bad guys love to say "but I'm not a killer." I think Luis said it before he started killing, and Vicente probably did. Now we have DD, who of course has killed people. Hmmm.

Not only is the Reptile's hair milder, but she's also dressing way more conservatively, and was even NICE to Ofelia, telling her she could eat with the family, and didn't have to bring in the drinks!
 

PABLO ESCOBAR -

thanks Hombre !!!

I too was having trouble following this, plus the jumping around didn't help much. (were those actual news footage in the beginning)

Loved seeing Cesar Mora, one of my favorites, but it took me a while to see that it was really him, playing Don B, (the new names were all tough to get)

btw, I was somewhat fascinated by the cock fight (without a cock fight) scenes, but I was not quite sure what was said by/with Graciela Rojas. Can someone help me on this?
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE:
Jean:
I’m rooting for the test to be negative, because it would be such a great way for DDD’s plan to backfire and I just don’t want him to be Willy’s father. (I also think there must be a reason why there was a blood sample switch instead of the more usual paying people to manipulate the results) Of course if it’s positive, DDD would have to be Willy’s father and all my hopes will be dashed.

Yup, what Natalia mentioned about the real Fabiola would have had no point otherwise.

JM wanted Camilo to pretend to be Luis to get info. He wasn’t trying to see if he was actually Luis. But yes, they could have checked the fingerprints a year ago.

Sam and Willy’s relationship is also my favourite part of this telenovela. I’m not a fan of the possible incest drama, but if it ends soon it actually hasn’t been that bad. (The "cheating" was my least favourite) My main problem with it is the fear that it will continue. (But I’m more hopeful now.)

Hombre:

I think Luis was ready to kill right from the beginning. (That's why he was hired and Vikingo decided to pass.) But yeah, Vicente said he wasn't a killer even after he had killed two people. It’s just that DDD doesn’t seem the type to even care about that and knows himself that he’s a scumbag, so it’s a little strange.

I don’t remember any other plan JM thought of himself? He’s just gone along with the rest.(My favourite was the one when Angie was used to trap Luis and JM, who wasn’t a part of the plan, was the one who ended up being trapped.) And I agree, JM has to fall over the truth a few times, since even when he is told and it would make sense, it’s hard for him to get it.
 

CORAZON VALIENTE-

Thanks, Kihaku. I totally missed that JM wanted Camilo to get info by pretending to be Luis. Thanks makes more sense.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE -

thanks so much novelera !!!

yes, as we sit on the edge of our seats awaiting the blood test,
this could go in a lot of different directions,
but what confuses me,
is that what I thought I saw was Fernanda putting her label with her name on someone else's sample,
where it should have been the other way around,
and then there is the question as to who Fernanda's parents really are,

but maybe it was just being sloppy,

DDD drives me up a wall,
he has a way of reaching inside people and twisting,
and throwing their lives into disarray,
but love how his little schemes seem to not quite work out as he expected,
 

PABLO ESCOBAR

Thanks so much, Hombre, for the recap. Wow, you're doing it without Spanish closed captioning? No way can I understand "Colombian street" without them. And, even then, I usually back up the DVR a couple of times for some conversations.

I'm not sure, but I think the scene at the beginning is meant to be right before he dies. He was a free man at that time. I don't think it's a spoiler since it's a very well known, true story. He was traced with help from the US in electronic surveillance. The Colombian National police closed in on him in a middle class neighborhood. He was chased across the rooftops and killed by these officers. In last night's episode, he said to someone on the phone: "Something's up" or words to that effect. And then it goes back to his childhood.

It looks like they are making a case that his mother was somewhat responsible for who he became. She seemed to tell him the worst thing was getting caught!
 

PABLO ESCOBAR:

Thanks for the corrections about the opening sequence.

As for what Graciela said, I couldn't really understand it. We do know that she lost the cockfight. Maybe she said something like enjoy winning now, because you're not always going to win, and the true test comes in how you react when you lose (just a guess, but it would fit :)

I just love the accent and the slang. They're always saying things like hágale pues, or no seas bobo (with none of the consonants pronounced). Also they use voseo so instead of saying no olvides, they say no olvidés. And of course money is plata, not dinero.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR

I agree, Hombre. I also like the slang and the accent. I just struggle to understand. What I found out from watching El Cartel is that it got easier as I learned the slang.

I probably won't watch tonight because of the All Star game. Watching my DVR of that and then Corazón Valiente will likely be all I can handle.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR

One more thing. I think both the actors portraying him so far have been great. The young boy was quite good showing how devious young Pablo could be. And the man portraying him on his rise was very good as well.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR

Thanks so much, Hombre, for getting things started and thank you, Novelera, Jean and Deb for your interesting comments.

I tried to watch without captions but ended up switching them on because it was flying right by.

The titles on the scene DID help orient the viewer, given the jumps forward and backward in time. The first one read:

Medellín
--Diciembre 2 de 1993
--Ultimos momentos

So we start with Escobar's end and then go back to how he got there.

Deb, Here's my best shot at reconstructing the Graciela Rojas scene:

Graciela has lost the bet. She approaches el alguacil (el bajo) and they air-kiss.

El A to Pablo: She's the one in charge in this barrio. (ella manda)

GR: Welcome to the barrio de la Santisima Trinidad. The only thing we don't have here are saints.

EL A: You, Doña G, are on the verge of being a saint.(You're almost a saint.)

GR: We're known here for our tolerance.
Gardel (??) died right here. This is the last thing he saw from his plane. What do you think?

PE: [I think]That this is an important barrio with important people.

DG: And such a variety (of people). We are children of drunken, drug-addicted and thieving mothers. Take a good look at me. I'm a "hija de perra".

El A: (Indicates PE) Take a look at the future. I've known some guy with "sangre fría" but this guy ...
-----------
Novelera, I think you're right about Escobar's mother. If anyone was instrumental in forming his character, it was she -- according to the writers, anyway. Some of her words of wisdom:

"El día que haga algo malo, hágalo bien hecho." (When you do something bad, do it well.)

and:

"Pablo Emilio, este mundo es pa' los vivos, no pa' los bobos, es pa' los avispados." (This world is for the lively, not for fools, it's for the sharp-witted.)

and most importantly:

"Uno no puede dejarse pillar." (Don't get caught!)

BTW, the avances show a glimpse of the actor who played "The Chump" in El Clon and Willy, the DEA agent in La Reina.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR -

thanks so much NovelaMaven !!!

what drew me into the that conversation after the cock fight was how the actress (Luces Velásquez) was carrying herself and doing the Graciela Rojas part,
how she seemed to be on equal standings with El Alguacil,
(she reminded me of an old picture I have seen of Maria Felix who once played Doña Barbara)
(pic) http://site.decobelle.com/uploaded_images/decobelle-maria-felix-croc-necklace-bracelet-794502.jpg

btw, El Alguacil
this translates on google as the sheriff,
would this be like a title/nickname he uses ??
 

PABLO ESCOBAR -

NovelaMaven...

"Gardel (??) died right here. This is the last thing he saw from his plane."

would this be Carlos Gardel ??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Gardel

an article with a pic of the crash (neat airplane)
http://www.todotango.com/english/gardel/cronicas/medellin.html
 

PABLO ESCOBAR

Deb, It MUST be the same Gardel! Thanks for the link.

About "el Alguacil", I wondered too if it was a nickname. The sheriff, huh? It's consistent with the "Law unto ourselves" mindset. Recall the scene where Pablo puts a sticker on his car: "República Independiente Antioquia Federal" -- essentially -- and not really jokingly -- declaring their enclave within Medellín as an independent entity.

I agree that Luces Velásquez carries herself amazingly. I had only seen her in "La hija del mariachi" where her character is a bit of a buffoon. This is a much meatier part.
 

General
All: What is the name of the magazine in Spanish about novelas, TN actors and gossip, etc? I've never seen it in stores.
J in Oregon
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE - martes Part 1

Chaos reigns as fire rages in the prison and Ángela is locked in the laundry. She cries for someone to help her.

Vikingo recognizes JM. JM tells Vikingo that he is just looking for information about the Rat.

Willy goes to El Jefe’s apartment and demands that Sam go home with him. When Nicolás asks why, Willy says that it is because Sam is his wife. “And she might be your sister,” taunts Nicolás. Sam agrees to go with Willy and when she is gone, Nicolás tells his Dad that he and Sam would be a great couple.

Ángela manages to escape from the laundry. She goes looking for Nora.

The corrupt guard, Ramos, asks herself what has she done.

Vikingo seems to be smart enough not to perjure himself. He repeats what he said in Court - that Ángela and the Rat were accomplices. Then he accuses JM of being responsible for the death of his best friend, the Rat and a fight breaks out between Vikingo’s guys and JM and Camilo.

DDD asks Miggy where he got the DVD. Miggy tells DDD that he knows a lot about him but what interests him the most is DDD’s dealings with a Colombian narcotraficante named El Verdugo.

Amazingly, JM and Camilo defeat Vikingo and his buddies.

The Reptile tells Ofélia that JM is starting to doubt Ángela’s guilt and she can’t permit that.

Ángela finds Nora in her cell and helps lead her out of the prison.

DDD goes to see Cecilia and tells her to erase all the traces of his visits and dealings in Colombia. He is concerned that Miggy is sticking his nose in DDD’s Colombian business and those people have very little respect for life.

Miggy brings the DVD to Sam and Willy. After seeing it, Sam believes that there is hope for them. She wants to tell Ángela about it.

The Reptile is trying to teach JC to say, “mama” when JC comes back after his fight with Vikingo’s guys. The Reptile tells him to forget the past.

Ángela and Nora get out of the prison but for some reason, Ángela thinks that JC is in there and she goes back in.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE - martes Part 2

Everyone in the cast finds out about the prison fire. It’s known that many prisoners died.

Peralta tells Miggie that DDD went to see Cecilia but he couldn’t hear what was said.

Miggy tells JM that Ángela is not among the injured and that authorities are still looking for the dead.

The Reptile tells Ofélia that she hopes Ángela is dead and that she was responsible for the fire.

JM is told that the fire started in Ángela’s cell block. There are some victims of the fire whose bodies were burned beyond recognition and there seems little hope that Ángela survived.

JM tells Génesis that Ángela is dead. Génesis replies that although Ángela did bad things and lied to her, Ángela cared about her and she is sad. The Reptile looks on with annoyance.

Miggy accosts Ramos the guard and says that he will find out if she was involved.

Sam tells Willy that she is furious with the world because it takes away the things she loves: Miguel, her baby and now Ángela. Willy reminds her that she has him and she wonders for how long.

We find out that Nora is missing from the prison as well.

Estela is making the most of her grief. Camilo tells Violeta that her mother has gone to heaven.

Lorena comes over to support Sam.

Miggy comes over to Willy and Sam’s and tells them that there were 6 or 7 bodies that were burned beyond recognition and the authorities believe that one of them is Ángela’s.

Miggy then tells Willy that the woman he met at JM’s place after the prison break was his mother. At first, Willy thinks Miggy is crazy but he flashes back to the woman’s strange reaction to him. Miggy also tells him that DDD was responsible for putting Nora in prison. Willy storms off to confront DDD.

Camilo tells Estela that he wants to take Violeta to live with him at JM’s. Estela protests but Violeta says that she wants to be anywhere but at DDD’s house.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE - martes Part 3

The Reptile meets Ramos and pays her. Ramos tells the Reptile that Miggy is suspicious of her.

Lorena has abdominal pain.

Willy storms into DDD’s bedroom and demands to know if it s true that his mother is alive and in prison. Was it DDD who deprived him of having his mother all these years? Was it DDD’s fault that his mother is in prison? DDD says yes, it was his fault because he left Nora after her romance with Dario. DDD then says that Nora ended up in the arms of a narcotrafficer and that was why she ended up in prison. DDD says that Nora begged him on her knees not to tell her children. DDD says that he complied. He raised his children as best he could and never trashed their mother. He claims that that is the truth.

Ramos calls Miggy and tells him that she wants to meet and confess her involvement in what happened.

Vincente calls the Reptile and tells her that he knows she was responsible for the fire. He is having her followed.

Willy comes to see the Reptile and tells her that their mother was alive all these years and died in the prison fire.
 

i love this novela so much but i am confuses if sam and will's unborn child really died
 

CORAZON VALIENTE:

Hello Janae101: The baby that Sam was carrying did die because the embryo did not attach to the uterus and the pregnancy had to be terminated.

An embryo created by Sam's egg and Willy's sperm has been implanted in Lorena but we don't know yet if it will live or die. All we know is that Lorena had some abdominal pain.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE:

Thanks for the recap!!!

Nicolás is an insufferable, selfish (and creepy) brat. I haven’t liked him for a while now, but he’s reached a new low.

Why was Willy in such a hurry? What about the rest of Sam’s clothes and belongings? Did she leave El Jefe’s place barefooted?

So… JM the lawyer and Camilo the gardener managed to beat up a bunch of cage fighters right after Camilo had been knocked out by one guy (and thus should actually be too hurt to fight)? JM has exhibited strange athletic prowess before (he was probably training while his fellow law students studied), but that scene was just a little too much. He’s never been quite THAT good. Has he managed to unlock his hidden potential?

Will Miggy STOP sharing his findings with his enemies and telling them how he’s onto them!? That’s a little counterproductive! But of course it’s traditional for the good guys to reveal their plans to the villains, so that they can adjust their own accordingly.

Great that Miggy showed Sam (and Willy) the DVD. It was sad how he recognised that his mother wasn’t that important to Miguel and how he himself never had a place in his father’s life. :(

I think JM should have looked a little sadder after hearing about Angie’s "death".

I hope there’s nothing wrong with the baby.

I hope Nora is okay as well.

Btw. Angie went back for another prisoner’s son not her own.

I wonder how many people died in the fire. (The body count has been quite high this week.)
 

GENERAL:

J in Oregon, I think you're thinking of TV y Novelas.
 

Thanx its really hard for me to accept the fact that the baby might have died when i enjoy sam and willy scenes, poor Nicolas just lost a sibling:(
 

PABLO ESCOBAR, Part 1

It's years later. We have the adult Pablo, and the adult Gonzalo, his cousin, played by the guy who was Willy in La Reina del Sur, but with darker hair. Pablo's brothers are Peluche, who was formerly an altar boy, but now has a workshop for bikes and motorcycles, and Antonio (I think), played by a skinny guy who was in Flor Salvaje.

We have a scene where the brothers visit a brothel, and Gonzalo likes one of the girls (didn't get her name). Pablo of course still likes Paty, but hides the fact that he's doing illegal stuff from her.

The brothers decide to rob a bank. They borrow Peluche's red moto for their getaway. They put stocking masks over their faces, shoot up the place, rob the money, and zip back home, asking Peluche to paint the moto black. Unfortunately, they were recognized in the bank by Don Alodemar, that honest shopkeeper, who was going to withdraw money and take his wife, Isabela, to Cartegena. Gonzalo tells Pablo they were spotted, and Pablo sends Gonzo to shut up Don A. Gonzo goes and threatens him.

But Don A. had already called the cops, and Pablo is arrested and jailed. Gonzo tells Peluche he'd better be quiet, he's an accomplice.

In jail, Pablo sees the Alguacil, who is meeting with Saltarini, a congressman. I think Alguacil buys his way out of jail, and tells Pablo it'll cost half of all the money he's earned to do the same. But Pablo has a better idea. He tells Gonzo to shut up Don Aldemar. Gonzo goes to the prostitute, who has a tough brother. He pays the brother. The brother stabs Don A to death in the street. Since that was the only witness, Pablo is released!

Another cop goes to Isabela who is afraid to talk, but she takes his card.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR, Part 2

The boys go to visit the Alguacil, who now has tons of guards. They want to get in on the coke trade. I think Graciela is doing this, and she's in the US. But Pablo isn't happy with the Alguacil's terms. He calmly tells him he'll form his OWN company, and the Alguacil can go jump in the lake. This takes cojones.

Outside, Gonzo says are you crazy? Nah, Pablo has big plans. They drive to Ecuador and hang around looking rich. Sure enough, they're approached, and buy 15 kilos of coke at $300 each. This is about all their money. On the way back, they're stopped by army guys again, and they can't bribe them with the $100 they have left. But they give the guy some of the coke, and once again, smooth talking saves the day.

Back home, Peluche has bought an old ranch. The workers there were already moving some "product", don't know if it was coke, but Pablo keeps them on, and this will be his distribution center.

Can they stay one step ahead of the law?
 

CORAZON VALIENTE

Thank you Jean for another excellent recap.

I created suspense for myself as I did not see the beginning so had no idea that Nora survived the fire, I thought for sure she was one of the bodies. But since she disappeared again, who knows. I am hoping Ramos, came to her senses and is now hiding both Angela and Nora. I so badly want Nora to come out ahead.

I was a bit disappointed in Miggy yesterday. I thought for sure he was going to grab the phone from Ramos to find out who she was talking to. If not mistaken he was right there when Ramos was talking to Reptile while they were getting the bodies together.

I don't quite understand why Ramos would call Miggy, I hope it's not a set up.

As for EE, geez did anyone believe her crying scene?

Does anyone recall what DD said to Violeta when she said she did not want to stay in the house? I just remember saying how true.

It was a good episode, but seriously there is no need to give us drama in regard to Miggy. The writers should understand that we already know any character on this TN will or can be a murder victim.
 

CORAZON VALIENTE-

Estela made sure she was the center of attention with her wild grief.

I think the Reptile is using Ramos to set Miggy up. I agree with you, Nellie, that Miggy interrogation tactic - just sticking a gun in someoene's face and demanding information doesn't work too well especially when the person being threatened knows that a good guy like Miggy isn't going to shoot them.

DDD said something to Violeta like: "That's a wise decision" when she said that she wanted to get out of DDD's house.

Of course, we have the usual stupities- bodies burned beyond recognition can be identified by dental records and usually DNA. Since we know Angela and Nora aren't dead (Angela is the star of the show and it would be beyond stupid to get rid of Nora now), it should be clear that at least 2 prisoners are missing - the number of bodies and prisoners who survived won't add up to the total # of inmates in the prison.
 

Rosa Diamante – episode 1, Tuesday – until my recording runs out ...

The sin of Eduardo Sotomayor
Fue una niña.
A rainy night. A woman gives birth to a daughter in a big city hospital. The attending doctor accepts a bribe from the elderly man – there will be no record of this child’s birth.

Soon after, Mexico City
The sin of Rosaura Sotomayor and Raquel
Fue por amor
Two women, one older (Lupita Ferrer), one younger, stand over a baby swathed in filmy white gauze. The baby is a problem for the older woman, the result of her son’s unfortunate indiscretion. The younger woman, the child’s mother, sells her soul – and her child’s future -- for a price. We see a velvet jeweler’s pouch filled with priceless diamonds – all white but one, which is pink and worth more than all the others.

San Miguel de Allende
Miss Margaret Bridges -- another woman who will do anything for a price.
The young woman turns over the infant, un niño, no -- un negocio
still in her bassinet, to the greedy boarding school director. The latter is given the pouch of diamonds and told to take charge of the girl. The worth of the diamonds far exceeds what it will cost to establish an identity for her and maintain her until she is of age. At that time, the girl is to be given the pink diamond and set loose in the world.

The girl – who is called Rosa -- grows up and makes friends with Eva, a lonely, rich orphan.

Eva’s story:
Her parents died in a car accident. Her maternal grandmother, Rosaura, (yes, the same harpy who “disappeared” Rosa 18 years before the present time) banished Eva to the boarding school after her son (and Eva’s father) died in the accident 8 years ago. Raquel wishes Eva had died instead of her son.

Eduardo, the same man we saw bribing the doctor in the first scene, has never forgiven his wife or himself for what they did. [Was their late son also Rosa’s father? Are Rosa and Eva half sisters?] He despises Rosaura.

Años después – well, 18 to be exact ...
Rosa comes of age and is given her pink diamond and her walking papers. (Miss Margaret still has a bag of diamonds left – a tidy profit from the deal.) Our heroine and her BFF Eva vow that nothing will come between them, not even a man. If a good guy comes along, they’ll share him. And Eva has an idea for Rosa’s future – she can live with her swell family and work in grandfather’s lingerie business (lencería).

Raquel has bounced back.
Rosa’s mother, Raquel, has married Gerardo. Gerardo’s son (from a previous marriage, I assume, since he looks much older than Rosa) returns from Europe still raw from a failed marriage only to learn that daddy has given a plum position to little brother, José Ignacio. He is to be the boss in the lencería business.

Are they competitors to the Sotomayors? Maybe so. because jerky
José Ignacio (Mauricio Ochmann) admits he is wooing flighty Barbara because she is Eduardo’s niece and sole heir of his lencería.

Eduardo is unhappy about the courtship and wants Barbara’s father to expose José Ig’s family’s dirty laundry (which must be plenty dirty because, hey, look who’s talking Tide)

After the fall ...
Rosaura affects dark glasses and a cane and pretends to be blind after an accidental fall. Her “impediment” doesn’t keep her from abusing the servant girl or spying through keyholes.

Operation Seduction
Meanwhile, scuzzy José Ig decides to spend a few days in San Miguel celebrating his new position. First order of business – find a pretty and disposable girl.

José Ig sees Rosa pass by in her schoolgirl uniform and decides she’ll be his first target.

And here ends my recording ...
 

Pablo Escobar

Thanks, Hombre. Great job! I'm kind of on the fence about this one. It's interesting, though, how they are handling the passage of time. Mama gets replaced by a new (much older and stouter) actress but papa and Pati are played by the same folks. And of course we have different actors for Pablo, his brothers and his cousin, Gonzalo.

One thing is sure -- no one is romanticizing this sordid story. Everything we know about this man so far is vile. Good.
 

Terrific recap, Jean, as always.

Is it possible that Fernanda and Angela could have been intentionally switched at birth
and have the same birth day as do Violetta and Genesis, making Nora Angela's mother? I know there was some discussion of this earlier, but I can't remember the result. But then Nora too would have had to hook up with Miguel Sr. And who is Fernanda's real dad? Could he be a narcotrafficante who hooked up with Ofelia? I guess I'm thoroughly confused at this point.

I love seeing the little actresses; they look so much older now. There would be a natural growth progression during the course of the novela, but I suppose they also dressed them in much younger fashions at the beginning.

Love reading all the comments from everyone; anxious to have Sam & Willy back on track; still don't trust Lorena. She might turn out great but I'll wait and see.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE

Thanks Jean for the excellent recap.

kihaku, I totally agree with you about all the points.
I never liked Nicolas and besides his storyline is too banal and boring to me.
I guess the actor playing JM couldn't have had a worse performance as a man whose beloved wife was dead. "hijo, tu mama esta muerto". WHAT?!!!

Good point about Fabiola probably being Miggy's true love. Now we know DDD has dealings with Colombian drug dealers. So maybe DDD knows what has happened to Fabiola.
 

CORAZON VALIENTE- Interesting idea, Floridia. But all the hints in the novela suggest that Fernanda is the incestuous child of Bernardo and his sister Ofelia. That might not end up being true but we know that Miguel and Angela are half siblings so Nora would have had to have had a relationship with Miguel.

Here is a parentage chart with what we know and suspect:

Fernanda - As noted above, the hints are that the Reptile is the daughter of Bernardo and Ofelia who are brother and sister. I believe that DDD once said the Fernanda didn't know that she wasn't legitimate.

JM - nothing has indicated that he is not the child of Juan Ignacio and his wife whose name I can't remember.

Miggy - it seems pretty clear that he is the child of Miguel and a humble woman whose name I forget.

Willy - based on her reaction, Nora is clearly Willy's mother. We have no reason yet to suspect (but we hope) that his father isn't Bernardo.

Sam - daughter of Perla and Miguel. That much seems clear right now.

Angela - daughter of Estela and Miguel. We pretty much know that Angela is Miguel's daughter. We don't have reason to suspect that Estela is not her mother.

Emma - switched at birthed with Fabiola. We don't know her parents at all.

Fabiola - presumably the daughter of Juan Ignacio and his wife.

Then there's the mysterious son of Ofelia and Dario.

As for the younger generation, the only character who we know has parentage issues is Nicolas, whom we know is the child of Sam and Willy.

I've probably forgotten some.
 

CORAZON VALIENTE:

Thanks for the recap, Jean. I don't see why everyone is telling these kids Angela is dead when they don't really know it yet. Previously they told the kids Luis was dead when he was alive. And various other people have been believed dead (just about every cast member). Since they were very reluctant to tell the kids Angela was in jail, why jump in with this thing now? In the future I can just see the kids saying, yeah right. Tell me another one!

The Reptile told Ramos to leave town. So why would she then call Miggy? I agree it might be a setup.

I guess it isn't so good to cross DD. Nora apparently had an affair with Dario, and then with Verdugo. Dario is dead, and Nora's been in jail. But I can't wait to meet Verdugo (and the real Fabiola).
 

Rosa Diamante –

thanks so much NovelaMaven !!!

I was hoping someone would piece together the basics,
but I have to admit I'm still not getting it all,

let me see if this is right,

Eduardo Sotomayor + Rosaura Sotomayor
their son + Raquel = Rosa
their son + ?? = Eva (son + ??, then die)
?? + ?? = Bárbara Montenegro (who José is dating)

Raquel then goes on to marry Gerardo Altamirano who already has a son called Jr.
they have a son, José Ignacio Altamirano ???

so...
Rosa and Eva have the same father,
Rosa and José have the same mother,

que?
this can't be,
so what am I missing?

besides this would make Rosa (who just turned 18) older than José.
Ahh, so would both son's be previous to Raquel?
 

ROSA DIAMANTE

Hi Deb,

I get the sense that they are deliberately unfolding the story bit by bit. However, I'm assuming that José Ignacio is Raquel's stepson and no biological relation to either Eva or Rosa. And I think he is supposed to be older than 18, at least in his 20's, maybe more.

Barbara calls Eduardo "tío" but I'm not sure who her parents are.

Eva and Rosa seem to have the same father. But Rosa was the product of a shameful affair with Raquel while Barbara was born on the right side of the blanket. Her mother died in the same accident that took their father's life.

But stay tuned... :)
 

ROSA DIAMANTE -

ah yes NovelaMaven,
this makes the most sense,

btw the closing scene was kind of cute,
but I didn't really get all of the words,

Jose catches up to Rosa,
begins to tell her what a special person she is,
and produces a ring that he places on her finger,
slowly moving closer,
he softly, romantically kisses her,
they slowly part,
he asks, did you like that,
her with a 'under the spell' look, she says no,
he slowly kisses her again, this time longer and more sensual,
as they part he says something like, how about now,
with a soft look on her face,
she slaps him,
Ha!
 

ROSA DIAMANTE

Hey Deb,

Thanks for filling in the final scene! It DOES sound cute.

Correction to what I wrote above:

Barbara calls Eduardo "abuelo".

Barbara's father calls him "tío".
 

Corazon Valiente
Hombre: Thanks for the magazine info!
Jean: Thanks for the great recap! You always pick up points that I missed or have forgotten. And thanks too for the Parentage Chart.
Wasn't Miggy in love with someone named Alejandra whom he was supposed to be guarding? But we assume she is dead now.
I am just now starting to relax and believe that Camilo really is Camilo.
J in Oregon
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE:

I did buy Estela’s tears. She’s a horrible person, but she does love her daughter.

The gun in the face tactic has worked well for Miggy and Sam so far. :)

Nellie: I'm not sure what you mean. When Fernanda called Ramos, she told her that she couldn’t talk and Miggy was in the same room, but not close enough to notice. (And there wouldn't have been anything suspicious about it anyway.)

NovelaObserver:
I liked Nicolás at first. He was rude, but he had integrity and valued his parents’ relationship. Now apparently other people’s marriages are not as sacred and I guess he’s rooting for Sam and Willy to be siblings despite knowing what psychological effects it would have on them and what it would mean for their kid. I suppose as long as he gets what he wants, it doesn’t matter even if Sam suffers. His relationship with his parents seemed more natural to me at the beginning as well. Now I find his scenes (especially with Sam) off-putting and/or annoying.
Btw. janae, Nicolás was the one who unfeelingly pointed out that if Sam hadn’t lost the baby, El Jefe wouldn’t have a chance with Sam, so no, I won’t feel sorry for him. (Sam and Willy were the ones who actually suffered, while Nicolás was probably secretly pleased.)

Hah, yes. Well.. Angie wasn’t his wife, but she was his "greatest love". It was as if he was talking about some random person.

Floridia: Fernanda is older than Angie, so that would rule out a baby switch (and as Jean mentioned it has been hinted that Fernanda is the daughter of Ofelia and Bernie). Fernanda’s father would have to be Bernie, because he’s relying on her blood to prove that Sam and Willy are siblings, and her mother someone else but Nora, since (as Jean also mentioned) Fernanda is illegitimate.

Thanks Jean for putting all the parentages together! :) I don’t think you missed anyone (relevant).
JI’s wife was Leonor, Ofelia and Darío’s son is Rodrigo, but I can’t remember Miggy’s mother’s name… (was it mentioned?)

I thought Fabiola was JM’s half-sister, but I don’t know anymore. The whole Fabiola thing happened so suddenly that I might be mixing things up.

Hombre: I assume Nora’s "affair" with some drug trafficker was another one of DDD’s lies.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE

Thanks, Jean, excellent recap!

Kihaku, I agree. I think the only affair Nora had was with Darío, and she gets a pass on that from me for having been married to a monster. I also think DDD used his connection with El Verdugo to frame Nora for drug trafficking and, I suppose, murder. They still haven't said who she's supposed to have killed.

I still give Nicolás some slack. Children ARE selfish. He loves his father very much, and he has come to love Sam [the famous blood calling]. He resisted Sam when his adoptive mother was alive, but now he's ready to have Sam as at least a mother figure. Since he knows how his father feels about Sam, it's only natural he wants these two people he loves to be together.

Yes, Estela was sure demanding all the attention for HER grief. A decent person would have dialed that back a bit in order to inform her granddaughter of her loss with less hysteria. But decent and Estela don't really go together.

Jean, I don't think DDD and Ofelia are full siblings. I believe Ofe is illegitimate and the child of a mistress. But they said a while back [and seem to have lost the thread of that] that their father had actually left the money to Ofe. Not surprising, if he found out his son's true nature.

And I also think that the Reptile is the daughter of her snake father and Ofelia.

You guys are probably right. I guess I thought that maybe Ramos felt badly enough about what she'd done that she plans to tell Miggy who was behind it. But, of course, the Reptile can't be shown for what she is yet.
 

Anyone here watching Ojo por Ojo by any chance? Loving it!

AnotherAmy
 

Another Amy: I am watching Ojo por Ojo, but something's gotta give soon! I don't think I can hang with 3: Corazón Valiente, Pablo Escobar, AND Ojo por Ojo.

The thing about Ojo por Ojo is that there appear to be more than the usual amount of commercials, so I can zip through recorded episodes quickly. It's also easy to understand and everyone speaks clearly.
 

Corazón Valiente:

I'm loving the discussion here. Thanks, Jean, for the recap of the episode and refresher summary of who's your daddy. I have a question in regards to the other possible incest story between Ofelia and DD: Are they full siblings or half-sibs or even stepsibs? Could Ofelia be a non blood-related sister to DD who was never adopted legally but was raised as if she had been? Or maybe DD was the one who was wasn't legally adopted. Forgive me if this was discussed before I joined the blog.

By the time I sign on every day, *everybody* here has pretty much covered my thoughts.

@kihaku - Aside from adding a question or comment here and there, from now on I should just wait for your commentaries and co-sign on them. We seem to be of like minds about much of the stuff that's going on. I especially enjoyed your comments about JM honing his fighting skills while his law school buddies were studying and also about Willy dragging Sam home in her PJs. Funny! Poor Willy. It's a wonder he's as sane as he is given his family dynamics.

More thoughts:

I'd like to give props to the actress who plays Fernanda. She's made the character hated and quite cold and contemptible while also showing a side that is both tormented and sick. Her eyes seem to tear up appropriately at times, but her evil serial killer side overshadows it before I can sympathized with her.

@J in Oregon: I'm almost convinced that Camilo is who he says he is, but I'm not convinced that Luis is dead.

Re: Nicolás. He needs to sit his punk butt down and stay out of grown folks' business. He's taking on the slimy tendencies of El Jefe. I'm waiting for the day when he finds out his own personal truth. At least we were spared from another flat line hospital scene after he was injured.

For someone who (in my opinion) has such expressive eyes and facial features, JM was lacking overt emotion about the supposed death of his only true love. I was disappointed. Génesis's reaction was more poignant and better acted. Violeta, who has been largely ignored lately, could have done better, too. I'll blame her reaction on the director. Poor child. For all she knows, both of her parents were lost to tragedy. I agree that EE's response was probably in keeping with what was expected. She must love Ángela on some level, but she likes to be the center of attention. I was more puzzled by her lack of emotion at seeing the Miguel Sr DVD - shock, fear, nervousness, contempt - something.

Miggy is an interesting and rather mysterious character. He certainly isn't above using sex and intimidation to get information. I don't necessiarily agree with some of his methods, but I enjoyed the scene where he grabbed Estela by the nape of her slimy neck and when pulled the gun on Ramos. Awesome. I'd like some information about the flashbacks that he has. I also want to know about the flashbacks of Camilo talking Emma down from a suicide and about Lorena's, as well.

I wonder when Ángela and Nora will resurface and where they'll go first?

When will we see Verdugo? Will he come to LA?

Who's feeding and walking Arturo?

NovelaNewbie
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE – MIÉRCOLES – Part 1

Fernanda accuses Willy of being crazy, insisting that their mother died years ago in Mexico. Then, realizing what she’s done, she goes around screaming.

Miggy tells Sam the call he got from the guard Ramos may be a trap by the ones responsible. But he’s going to find out what happened for the memory of his sister.

Camilo offers to take Lorena home on his way to take Violeta to his house. Violeta is asleep in the back while she tells him about the surrogacy.

Emma tells Peralta that what he saw with Camilo was merely to make him jealous. She wants him back, but he tells her he doesn’t want that.

The Reptile turns on Ofelia for not telling her her mother was alive. Ofe babbles that DDD thought it best they think she was dead. Fernanda: “And do you always do what he says?” She tells her she killed her mother. Then Willy comes in and says “You knew, Ofe?”. He glares at her.

Miggy catches Ramos in the garage. She’s all full of self pity. He finds the money and says it’s a lot to just make a phone call [the one luring him there].

Ofelia begs not to be separated from Fernanda. We get to see the ghastly mask of tragedy. She says Nora wasn’t bad, just mistaken. The Reptile tells her she’s out on the street right now in the clothes she stands up in.

Evil/Estúpida Estela blubbers to DDD that she knows he hated his wife for betrayal, just like she hated Miguel. But losing a child … Maybe it’s a punishment?

Vicente shows up at DDD’s and tells him it was the Reptile who arranged for the fire at the prison. He says she’s crazy. DDD says pensively that surely Willy told her about Nora.

The Reptile, like Willy, castigates herself for not recognizing her mother. After JM leaves, she tells Lucy that she doesn’t know if she can live with having killed her mother.

Nicolás and Esteban have AGAIN dropped by Sam’s apartment. When Esteban leaves the room Nicolás asks Sam, if it weren’t for Willly’s existence, would she love his father. She tells him he does exist and she does love him.

JM tells Willy he still loves Ángela even after that of his parents and his wife and that she’s dead.

Miggy brings Ramos to JM and she tells him she was a witness to the telephone threat to Violeta that caused Ángela to declare herself guilty. She herself brought the phone to Ángela. Miggy tells him that Ángela was in prison for injustice and died innocent. Miggy asks who gave her the money. The Reptile has come into the room and is looking on. Miggy says he’s taking her to the police.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE – MIÉRCOLES – Part 2

Ofelia goes to Casa del Castillo, telling DDD about the Reptile throwing her out. She asks if maybe Nora was the one who drove him crazy. Maybe he loved her more than Sam. EE staggers in saying she wants to die. Maybe she should confess her sins and DDD’s as well?

Naturally the cop Miggy takes Ramos to is Duval. When he tells him about the phone threat, the jackass says it doesn’t matter because justice gave its verdict.

Lorena calls to say she’s going to get the DNA tests expedited.

The Reptile has decided to kidnap Juan Cruz!

Miggy tells JM there’s no doubt Ángela was innocent. JM says he’s confused [so what else is new?]. Miggy says it’s not too late to clear her memory. Later Miggy breaks into Ramos’ house and finds her laptop with an email on it begging someone for help because she started the fire. The next thing we see is the nightly news announcing the finding of the email.

In Sam’s apartment, Miggy tells her he only loved one woman in his life. He has a flashback of finding a bloody dress, shouting for Alejandra. He tells Sam she died.

El Jefe comes to tell Lorena that, if Sam and Willy are brother and sister, she shouldn’t go ahead with the pregnancy.

DDD asks Miggy what lies Nora told him. Miggy replies that they both knew she didn’t lie. And, by the way, did you have contact with El Verdugo this past year in Colombia?

Lorena says she’ll read the DNA results. She gets an odd look on her face, then turns and tells them they are NOT brother and sister. She puts the test result in her pocket.

JM is frantically trying to find Fernanda and his son.

Willy tells Sam God made her just for him.

Ramos tells Miggy she’ll tell the truth about who hired her.

The Reptile calls JM. She says she lost everything and doesn’t want to be without Juan Cruz. She says that JM now doubts Ángela’s guilt, and she couldn’t compete against the memory of a good mother. He tells her they’re going to get married.

In a very satisfying scene, Willy and Sam come to tell DDD that the tests were negative. Sam says “I’m not your daughter!” DDD looks stunned. He can’t believe his ears. Willy says they proved once again that he’s a liar. Willy tells him he never wants to see him again and considers him dead. After they leave, DDD shouts: ¡Maldita Fernanda!

JM finds the Reptile on some beach with Juan Cruz. She babbles on about how distraught she was, etc., etc. [Silly me thinking he just said that to get his child back!] The dummy ends up saying he will marry the woman who had kidnapped his child.

JM then gets a call saying they’ve found Ángela alive in the street near the prison.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE:

Thanks for the recap!!!

NOOOO! THE TEST WAS POSITIVE. (Judging by Lorena’s reaction. It had to be.) And there went my hopes that DDD might not be Willy’s father. And the incest issue will continue, since Lorena’s lie is more likely to be discovered than Bernie’s. Now… if Sam and Miggy would take a test in secret. Besides, the DVD must have some meaning. I’d also hate for the baby to not be born because of this.

Assuming that Lorena is lying, what she did is interesting… Obviously it wasn’t right, but her intentions were understandable. I also like that there’s a character, who roots so much for a couple that she’d be willing to burden herself with a horrid truth to ensure their happiness.

Ofelia deserved worse than some yelling and being thrown out. Of course she still isn’t telling the whole truth.

I liked the scene with Willy and Sam confronting Bernie. I’d have loved it, if I had been sure that the test was actually negative.
The group hug after finding out the results was great. :)

I suppose Ramos won’t live for very long now.
 

CORAZON VALIENTE-

Thanks for the great recap, Novelera. I was so happy when Lorena announced that the test was negative and then when she stuffed the report in her pocket, I knew she was lying. Bummer that this incest story keeps going. Come on, Miggy, figure it out, do something! I agree, Kihaku, that it is also a bummer that DDD must be Willy's father.

At least JM can't marry the Reptile not that he knows Angela is alive (unless he divorces her but as far as I know he hasn't done that.)

The whole thing with Ramos' email was so bizarre. First of all, the email was obtained illegally so it couldn't be used as evidence against Ramos but why couldn't the police find out to whom the email was sent? The Reptile depended on Vicente for her technical stuff. I doubt that she would be able to use an untraceable email account.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE
Previous comments:

Novelera:

I wouldn’t rule out other possible affairs, but Nora doesn’t seem the type. (I wouldn’t blame her either.) Yes, I think that through Verdugo we’ll find out more about whose murder Nora was framed for.

I’d cut Nicolás some slack if he were a lot younger, but he’s supposed to be a teenager and should have some understanding of reality and other people’s feelings. Also, it’s really strange for a teenager to care so much about his father’s love life and cling to a woman/mother figure like he does. (The natural response would be to NOT want anyone else replacing his recently dead mother, especially someone, who loves someone else) I understood Violeta, who just wanted her parents together and had no idea what was going on (mostly because no one explained it to her and her father manipulated her), but Nicolás, who is a lot older and knows enough to assess the situation, gets no pass from me.

Novela Newbie:

Yeah, we do seem to think mostly alike. :) Btw. I like how your comments (both through style and content) reflect how you view this novela. :) (I'm more serious and apt to ctriticise, but I do enjoy the ridiculousness as well.)

On the other incest story: Ofelia and Bernie are half-siblings. They have the same father and Ofelia is illegitimate. (There's the other story with the will. Their father supposedly left everything to Ofelia, but Bernie falsified the will to make him the only heir. Ofelia believes it or maybe she just doesn't care.)

Yeah, not only is Willy astoundingly sane, but he also seems to be one of the most emotionally stable and strong characters in this telenovela. (Also with such a father, it’s amazing how he’s turned out as a person.)

I also like how the actress has portrayed Fernanda. She is messed up and crazy, but there are flashes of humanity in her and we know that her father has played a big part in her becoming the way she is. I can’t say I sympathise with her (her crimes are just too heinous.), but I understand her character.

Yup, Miggy is interesting and mysterious. I like that he is not above certain methods, but still has a sound moral compass.

I like that this telenovela has such a morally diverse group of characters. There are differences among the good and the bad and the rest fall somewhere in between them. Of course "good" and "bad" aren’t that clear-cut and everyone has done something questionable, even the "good" characters.

I thought that Verdugo would be confronted in Colombia, but now that you mentioned it, I’d like to see him eventually stirring the pot in LA.

Where IS Arturo? Maybe he walks himself. ;) Also… in case of emergency he can help himself to the uneaten food that people always leave on the table when they’re in such a hurry to leave.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE:

Jean: I felt the same. Hopeful for a moment, then... NO!

Angie was still legally married to Luis when she "married" JM. Their marriage wouldn't be valid anyway.

I don't think it was clear whom the email was sent to. I don't think Ramos would ask Fernanda for help and judging by the wording it sounded more like a confession than mentioning something the recipient would have already known.
 

ROSA DIAMANTE, EPISODE 2 – WEDNESDAY

San Miguel de Allende
José Ignacia tries his very slickest pick-up lines with Rosa and strikes out completely.

A little later, unfortunately, her naive friend falls for his polished twaddle. When she tells José her name is Eva, he says “What a coincidence! I’m Adán! (Adam)”.

Back at school, the friends compare notes: Rosa laughs about the “baboso” (slimeball) she met while Eva swoons over her “papacito”.

El D.F., Casa Sotomayor
Eduardo is getting ready for a visit to Eva. He and witchy, fake-blind Rosaura argue. Rosaura blames Eva and her mother for their son’s death (this is her theme song, I guess) though Eduardo points out that it was their son who was driving at the time of the fatal accident. Ed says Rosaura never approved of ANY woman in their son’s life.

Now meanie Rosaura attacks Rosa’s mother, calling Raquel a “vagabunda” which makes Ed retort: Do you want to talk about the biggest “vagabunda”? Apparently she does not. (So does Rosaura have a dirty little secret of her own? I mean besides child abuse and human trafficking and servant abuse and faking blindness ...)

[Word nerd note: “vagabunda” can mean wanderer or vagabond but here, it seems to mean “tramp”, as in woman of low morals.]

San Miguel
Grandpa is visiting Eva and would like to have dinner with her but she has a date with “Adán”. Rosa agrees to help Eva keep her 6pm rendezvous with her galán.

While Eva is spending quality time with the abuelo, José happens upon Rosa and steals another kiss. They banter, they flirt, they stroll and he gives her his real name, José Ignacio. He is playing her, yes, but he is intrigued.

Suddenly Rosa notices the time and abruptly rushes off to keep her promise to Eva.

El D.F
José’s novia, Barbara, is frustrated that all her phone calls are going directly to voicemail. (We know José is deliberately avoiding her.) Barbara’s brother, Martín, is unsympathetic to her whining.

San Miguel
Rosa gets Eva out of dinner with the abuelo with a story that they are late for church choir practice. Poor abue.

As they rush away from abuelo’s hotel, they literally bump into José. Eva proudly introduces him as “Adán, mi novio”. She refuses to listen when Rosa outs him by saying flatly that he is a dirty liar, that he tried his phony pick-up routine on her earlier and he is toying with both of them.

While the girls are arguing, José, snake that he is, slithers away silently.

Eva reacts angrily -- she's not ready to give up her fantasy Prince Charming -- and she accuses Rosa of being selfish and trying to interfere with her happiness. She also recalls Miss Margaret saying that Rosa is jealous of her.

Later, José catches up with Eva when she is alone (and vulnerable). He admits he met Rosa earlier but turns the story around: Rosa came on to HIM; she kissed HIM; he rejected HER because he’s kind of a timid guy who isn’t used to that type of girl.

Does Eva fall for his line a second time? Probably. But since my recording ran out here, I’ll wait until tomorrow to find out.

So are Deb and I the only ones giving this show a try? And wouldn’t it be great if they kept it in a half-hour time slot? I’ll give it a few more days before deciding if I’m going to keep watching.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE –

great recap novelera !!!

if I could add a little part that caught my attention,

after Fernanda threw out Ofelia,
and she rushed over to crash Bernardo's book reading,
and you said, "She asks if maybe Nora was the one who drove him crazy."

didn't Bernardo say, that what really excites him are forbidden loves?

that is before inebriated, emotional, estúpido, evil Estela,
threw herself into the scene.

and my, my, what about Lorena,
she doesn't know what we know, but so unethical for her to lie,
which swings her pendulum back to the evil side,
but I Loved the results,
Bernardo foiled again, and it was all Fernanda's fault!
 

PABLO ESCOBAR, Part 1

This show is very exciting. As for not glorifying Escobar, this is difficult. As bad as he is, I'm rooting for him at this point (otherwise there would be no show). Weird.

Pablo tells his brothers and friends they're going to make the ranch a state of the art (for the 80's) coke distribution center. They'll make each kilo exactly the same weight, so people know what they're getting, using some rectangular presses.

He and Gonzo buy some more stuff in Ecuador (stuffing it inside the tire rims), and once again they get stopped and have to bribe the cops. Pablo realizes that when they bought the stuff, a guy was watching them, and probably reported them. They turn the car around, go back, and shove the guy into the trunk. They take him out to the highway, and Pablo shoots him dead. Then they dump him on the side of the road, with a sign which says, "This is what happens to snitches" (sapos). Some cops find this, and guess what? The next time they buy stuff in Ecuador, the cops say, pass right through, Mr. Pablo. It worked!

When Pablo goes to see Paty, she's feeling ignored, where's he been? He says I don't ask you where YOU've been. But I totally love you, and I'll make it up to you. We can go on a trip. When he's kissing Paty, her big brother Fabio once again gets jealous. Pablo takes him out to the ranch, says you can be a partner. To shut me up about Paty? No, because I want all my family members to be in on this, and you're my girlfriend's brother. Fabio will think about it.

Meanwhile, that cop who gave Isabel his card is tracking the operation. The guys need young helpers, and lots of young guys need work. Pedro is already starting to "help the community". The cop sends a young guy to sort of spy. He's on a big truck, being driven by Chili, the thug who killed Don Altomar, who also has a prostitute sister who likes Gonzalo.

The cops stop the truck, they know about the drugs in the tires, things look bad. Chili calls his sister, who calls Gonzalo, but where is Pablo?
 

PABLO ESCOBAR:

Well, Pablo took Paty on a plane trip to Cali, to visit her grandmother. The grandmother takes one look at Pablo, says you're scum unless you marry this girl! So he does! They have a little quick wedding in a church, and a nice honeymoon night.

Gonzo finally tracks him down, and he rushes back. He gathers $5,000.00, meets with the cops, says he'll have another $10,000 next week, but they arrest him for attempted bribery! How rude :)

So he, Chili and Gonzo are in jail. His Mom tells Peluche he could be next. And Antonio, don't you THINK of getting involved.

The Alguacil is in the same jail, and although Pablo is nice to him, Pablo knows the Alguacil is p'oed that Pablo went on his own, and wants to teach Pablo a lesson. Paty comes to visit, and Pablo senses something's wrong, Alguacil's men may have a hit out on him. All hell breaks loose in the prison. Pablo hustles Paty off through various corridors, throw her in a cell and locks her in, for her own protection.

On of his buddies gave him a gun. When one of Alguacil's men comes at him with a homemade knife, Pablo shoots the guy dead (he's getting good at this). He then goes to the laundry, puts on some rich guy's shirt, and manages to blend with the crowd of visitors who are being hustled out of the jail for their own protection, and he escapes!

More excitement tonight.
 

ROSA DIAMANTE -

thanks for the recap NovelaMaven !!!

and for the help yesterday sorting out everyone's biological connections,
I'm sure this theme will carry through the story,
as the good guys try to figure it out while the bad guys keep lying,

not sure if I will stay with this one,
but I like the ½ hour, it's a good warm up for Corazon Valiente,

it was cute watching Jose prey on the naive school girls,
but I think he has met his match with Rosa,

I don't recall the ending last night, but Eva did move in for another kiss.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR -

thanks so much Hombre,
I don't think I could follow this without recaps,
it seems to jump from scene to scene, like it skips every other one,
and while I'm trying to read the captions, I keep getting lost,

but this is growing on me,
I like the intro/exit music,
and I'm curious how he managed to do all of this,
plus I love the accents and location shots as well,
so nice to get out of that Telemundo studio in Miami.

I'm not sure on how he is trafficking,
in his bio he is buying the paste, bringing it to Colombia and refining it,
maybe tonight we will see more of his u.s. connections.

I'm really enjoying Cristian Tappan's (willy in LRdS) acting,
he really puts the Pablo Escobar thing in everyone's face,
but for some reason, him and Pablo smuggling cocaine in that tiny car, look like a couple of idiots, ha!
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE

As far as what Lorena did, I think she did it with the best of intentions. Of course, there is the possibility of the child she may or may not be carrying having genetic issues. But she didn't know about the crap DDD was going to pull before the embryo was inserted. I suppose, in her mind, that ship already sailed.

And, she may have reasoned that, since Samantha appears to be infertile, there's no reason for the two of them not to continue to jump each others bones until their 90s! Doctors are supposed to be more analytical than emotional, so incest may not seem so bad to her.

And, Deb, in my view if Lorena swung to the bad side, she would have been pleased to discover the positive test results, thus giving herself a chance at Willy. Lying puts her squarely in the "good guy" column for me.

Deb, thanks for reminding me about DDD's comment about forbidden loves. That fits the pattern, all right. First Ofelia, his half sister and then Samantha, younger than his daughter, and the great love of his son's life.

As to whether Angela and JM are legally married, there will at least have to be an annulment because they were married by a priest. The church doesn't move THAT fast, so I don't think we'll see a Reptile Wedding that quickly.
 

ROSA DIAMANTE

Thanks NovelaMaven for the recaps.

I'm here, lurking.

As in most novelas, I start off very interested in the plot development, then lose interest when tonterias set in (i.e. Corazon Valiente). Then I stop commenting cuz I don't have nice things to say.

I myself prefer 1hr shows, although the first epi felt like an hour.

I'm confused. Did it seem like Juan Ignacio's, and his brother's mother is also Rosa biological mom?

As for Mauricio Ochmann, I hate his stupid hair. hope that changes as time goes by.
 

im on vacation for 2 dame months and i cant even watch the videos but avanes and keep up with the blog i just hope it doesn't finish before i come back on sep 5 to america:(
 

CORAZON VALIENTE

Thank you for the recap. I was reading when the confrontation came about with DDD, I should have done a rewind to see his face, but I think I'm going to stick with what I see in my mind.

I liked Lorena and what she did, but I found it silly, why would Willy and Sam not ask to have the written proof so that they can throw it at DDD? Did they think he was just going to accept it?

I will never understand DNA results, if Willy and Reptile are half siblings, wouldn't something be off on the DNA. I mean it can't say 99.9% can it?

The other question I have is who is Reptile's mom? I mean Nora is convinced she had 2 children, so if Reptile is Ofelia's then aren't we missing a girl somewhere? Is it Emma?

I do think Miggy sent the email anonymously to the police, I think that's what the tv report said, but not sure.
 

ROSA DIAMANTE -- miércoles

Hola Shallowgal!

"I'm confused. Did it seem like Juan Ignacio's, and his brother's mother is also Rosa biological mom?"

Well, I'm thinking that Rosa's biological mother, Raquel, is the STEPMOTHER of Gerardo jr and José Ignacio. They don't come out and say it but the situation implies it because:

>The guys are obviously older than Rosa.

>Raquel's husband, Gerardo, an older man, is clearly their father.

>And less conclusively, but suggestively, the guys call her "Raquel" and not "Mom".

Maybe Mauricio is trying to hide a receding hairline? :)
 

PABLO ESCOBAR - miércoles

¡Maldita sea! This is a terrific production -- top-notch writing and acting that lets us look at The World According to Pablo. I really don't want to like this novela but I can feel myself getting caught up in it.

Thanks for the snappy recap, Hombre!
 

PABLO ESCOBAR

Hombre, again because of the All Star game Tuesday, I'm a day behind on this show. I plan to catch up by the weekend and be a more active commenter.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE:

Deb, after saying that he has fallen for forbidden women, Bernie said that forbidden loves have too a high a price. (I’d also add Isabel to the list. She was forbidden as well, wasn’t she? Interestingly he didn’t scheme to get her…)
Also…Bernie’s plan failed because of Lorena’s lie.. not Fernanda.

Novelera, I agree with what you said about Lorena. Good point about analytical reasoning! I think Lorena made an emotional choice, but the analytical reasoning would help justify it. :)
I’ve been hoping that she’s "good" and her choice to lie settled that for me as well. :)

I don’t know about the church, but otherwise to me it doesn’t make sense why JM can’t marry whomever he wants when he’s not legally married, since his marriage to Angie wasn’t legal to begin with. (As for an annulment… it has been a year. Is the church really that slow??)

Nellie:
I think a DNA test shows how closely and likely the individuals are related to each other. The DNA test was taken to determine whether Sam and Willy were (half-)siblings or not so Fernanda’s blood would work fine.

Nora raised Fernanda as her daughter until she was sent to prison. When talking about her two kids she has meant Willy and Fernanda (even though the latter might not be biologically related to her.)
 

ROSA DIAMANTE -

the local listings here show Rosa Diamante going to an hour on Tuesday the 24th',
but I haven't seen the gran final promo for Una Maid en Manhattan yet.

(it looks like the olympic coverage also starts that week with maybe 6 hours during the day).

the city where the Jose/Rosa part is being filmed,
San Miguel de Allende,
sure has some beautiful sites and interesting buildings,

"at the beginning of the 20th century it was in danger of becoming a ghost town. Its Baroque/Neoclassical colonial structures were "discovered" by foreign artists who moved in and began art and cultural institutes"

"The main attraction of the town is its well-preserved historic center, filled with buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Miguel_de_Allende
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE -

ah yes _kihaku_,
it was Lorena's lie (if she did so) that caused Berardo's plan to fail,
but Bernardo thinks it was because Fernanda screwed up the blood test,
I'm all for some friction between those two!

novelera,
great reasons you came up for Lorena lying on the blood test!
I didn't mean to say she was moving to the dark side,
it's more like how I'm trying to see her, is she good or maybe not?
like, if you had a dna test done, or any medical tests,
would it be ok if the doctor gave you the wrong results,
because he thought that it might be better for you.
wow, that's really stepping out there.
but if she knew what we know, well of course, that was absolutely the best thing to do!
 

Rosa Diamante
I am sure the hairstyle on Mauricio Ochmann is being used to make him appear younger. He is 35 and the character he is playing is much younger. He has used different hairstyles for different roles, think "Victorinos" and "El Clon". I suspect there will be a few "anos depues" when the story gets fleshed out.
sfchicabonita
 

ROSA DIAMANTE -

gracias por la clarificacion, NovelaMaven! I didn't quite trust my vision when I saw 'Raquel.'

sfchicabonita - ojala!
 

ROSA DIAMANTE – jueves

San Miguel de Allende

Eva proves to be (like Winnie the Pooh) a bear of very little brain. Rosa has given her plenty of evidence that “Adán” is a fake. But by the end of the episode, Eva renounces Rosa’s friendship and falls for José Ignacio’s practiced seduction routine. Her innocence is lost.

Mexico City

Familia Altamirano: Two generations:
Gerardo and Raquel, his sons (her stepsons), Gerardo Junior (“Junior”) and José Ignacio; and a daughter (their daughter?) Lucía.

Raquel is unhappy in her marriage with the much older Gerardo Senior. Junior would be happy to meet her romantic needs.

Junior thinks his father has always favored José. At the moment, he is quite resentful that José has been named chief executive of the family business (a Victoria’s Secret kind of company, we gather).

José Ignacio is an arrogant, predatory playboy.

Lucía feels neglected and alone.

Familia Sotomayor: Three generations:
Eduardo and Rosaura; Eduardo’s sister (I think)
Eduardo and Rosaura’s nephew and his wife, Leticia (whom we haven’t seen – or if we have, I don’t remember her).
The nephew’s children, Barbara and Martín
Granddaughter, Eva, child of the late Ernesto and his wife.

Eduardo and his sister seem like nice people.

Rosaura is a standard order telenovela manipulative monster.

Naturally, Eduardo and Rosaura can’t stand each other.

The nephew looks like a jerk. We have a glimpse of him in a restaurant with a young woman named Andrea*. She winces when he touches her hand.

He ruined his father’s firm (though he blames his failure on a crooked partner) and now his mother is keeping him away from the family business, preferring to entrust her shares of the enterprise to his children, Barbara and Martín. Hmm. The gene pool of this family is getting pretty shallow.

*While Andrea is getting ready to go out, she has a flashback of a sexual assault. This will be important later, kids.

How the families intersect:

The families are rivals in the ladies’ lingerie business.

Rosaura detests Raquel for her past involvement with her son and the ensuing crazy ditch-your-kid-for-diamonds scheme (which it seems to me is more of a reason for Raquel to detest Rosaura.)

Barbara Sotomayor is Eduardo’s heir and therefore prey to unscrupulous José Ignacio's attentions. He wants to marry her and be the king of ladies’ undies, I guess. Rosaura strongly disapproves of their relationship because he is an Altamirano (though the viewer can think of better reasons to despise him.)

And of course, José Ignacio is playing his seduction game with the Sotomayor granddaughters – but this is something the viewers know and the characters do not.

Why anyone should care:

I think we are meant to be charmed by Rosa and to be drawn into her love-hate relationship with José. We are expected to be breathless with dread at the sight of the very large anvil that hovers over the hapless Eva. And we are expected to anticipate how everything will get shaken up when Rosa learns her true story. (Not to mention the Victoria’s Secret type runway shows yet to come.)

Anyone charmed? Drawn in? Breathless with anticipation?

No? Well, the scenery sure is pretty.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR, Part 1

When last we left off, Pablo had escaped from jail. I forgot to mention there's a lady judge, a single woman with several kids, assigned to the case. Pablo's Mom Enelia tells him to turn himself in. He goes, okay, Ma, but I gotta few things to do first.

The judge looks outside her window to see her car being stolen. Various envelopes of cash are delivered to guards, prosecutors, lots of people connected to the case. The judge gives a press conference where she says she's off the case (it's being transferred), she's been getting threats from one Pablo Emilio Escobar (she even receives a note at the conference saying "having your car stolen is not the worst that could happen."

Pablo does turn himself in, meets with the Alguacil, tells him 30 guys escaped but only 3 had the balls to come back. Alguacil doesn't admit he had a hit out on Pablo, but we all know he's lying. To show no hard feelings, Pablo offers to work with Alguacil again, but Alguacil declines.

All those bribes worked, and Pablo and Gonzalo are out. They immediately set out to settle some scores against the two cops who had them arrested for attempted bribery. Gonzalo chokes one with a plastic bag outside his girlfriend's house. Then Pablo shoots the other in the back. Then in the front. Then as the guy pleads, again. Point taken.

Gonzalo says lets call Graciela in Miami and go bigtime. Pablo calls, but she won't say anything on the phone, so they visit her. Get yourself a satellite phone, dummy! she tells him. Don't ever call on a regular phone. The boys say they don't know anything about distribution. Graciela agrees to help. They give her a stack of bills as thanks.

They discover that airplane tires are thrown out, and decide to pack them with coke, and move the coke that way. Then Gonzo says let's get our own plane. They need investors. They meet a rich guy at his club, and he agrees to invest. In fact, everyone in town invests, and they're rolling in dough. Gonzo says why didn't you invest, Pablo. Pablo says he's investing his brains, in running things.

Meanwhile, some more cops want to infiltrate the organization, and enlist a young taxi driver who befriends the family, and gets hired as an all around helper. Pablo sort of felt sorry for the guy, who was poor. He reports back to the cops that something is happening, but doesn't know the details.
 

CORAZON VALIENTE Re Thursday's episode:

More surprises; more foolishness.

Enjoyed once again the bantering between Sam & Willy, but I could not understand what Willy said after Sam was upset with him for saying he would marry after she had been deceased for 3 yrs.
The gist of it was, "Give me a break," or "Give me some slack."
I think it's an idiom that I would like to learn. It sounded like "Dime cordoba." which is was NOT. Many thanks.

Anxious to read recap and comments.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR, Part 2

Yes, it's a really big shipment, tons of coke packed in the airplane, to be dropped in the sea and picked up by little boats. Pablo is nervous, and Graciela tells him to chill, the first time is the hardest.

Meanwhile, we have a new actress playing Paty, not nearly as cute, and she's pregnant, and now the baby is born. It's a boy! His name is Emilio. The family is at the church for the baptism, and this is while the big coke deal with the plane is going through. The taxi driver keeps seeing Pablo talking nervously on the phone between baptismal party stuff, but can't figure out what's going on. Obviously Pablo has worked it so he has a perfect cover story.

The taxi driver goes back to his cops, says I got nothing. You're fired, they say, you messed up. But Pablo has hit it big, and is rich. He buys his wife a beautiful house in the country.

At Christmas (which is warm in Colombia) he goes back to the barrio where the prostitutes live and pays for a big street party for all of them (including Chili's sister). He even throws money in the air for everyone. He then comes back to his Mom's neighborhood, for an even bigger party. Mom isn't too happy with the cheap perfume on his shirt. Pablo holds court with Paty, as people approach for help. He gives thousands for one guy's operation, hundreds for other suffering people. His wife tells him, Pablo, you're a saint, always thinking of others first. But Pablo knows that with a combination of gifts and threats (the judge has her car stolen again), he'll get what he wants.

Peluche gives little brother Antonio a really nice racing bike from Italy. But Pablo outdoes him, giving Antonio a shiny jeep! Antonio goes off with his girlfriend to a lover's overlook, happy as young lovers can be. But the taxi driver, drunk, rushes out of nowhere, screaming that the Escobar family has ruined him. He pushes them in the jeep, jumps in the driver's seat, presses on the accelerator, and the car goes OVER THE CLIFF, bursting into flames!!!!!!
 

PABLO ESCOBAR:

One other significant thing was that the rich guy who invested with Pablo said that Pablo and Gonzalo could NOT become members of his country club, because even though they were rich now, they were from the lower class. I don't think Pablo is going to forget this snub.
 

ROSA DIAMANTE

I wanted to express a heartfelt thank you to the recappers as well for the comments. I thought I was taping this to watch over the weekend, and discovered I was not. But thanks to you guys, I know what is going on when I see tonight's episode.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE - jueves Part 1

Lots of “falsos” in this capitulo - a false report of a false DNA test, a false Ángela and False Fabiola returns.

At the end of yesterday’s episode, JM got a call that Ángela had been found. This was right after he asked the Reptile to marry him. Now he wants to go to the hospital and find out what’s happening. The Reptile is bummed, “What about our future, our plans?” JM replies that he can’t think of the future until he deals with the present.

Sam and Willy go to the police station where Miggy fills them in. He tells him that Ramos the guard admitted setting the fire in the prison but now they need to find out who she was working for. Sam and Willy tell Miggy about the results of the DNA test.

Just before she can tell the police about who paid her to set the fire, Ramos has a heart attack.

Apparently, none of the police can perform CPR and Miggy has to do it. How convenient for the Reptile! Since she was at the beach with JC, there doesn’t seem to be any way that she could have precipitated the heart attack.

DDD is PO’d that Sam & Willy’s DNA test was negative. Ofélia says that there is no doubt that the Reptile is DDD´s daughter. DDD says that only possible conclusion is that the Reptile did not switch the labels on the blood test vials. [They don’t even consider the other possible explanation, which is that Willy is not DDD’s son.] Ofélia doesn´t believe that the Reptile would betray DDD but DDD is not so sure. He says that he has lost Sam forever.

Lorena and Camilo seem to hit it off. Could they end up together? Lorena tells Camilo that she lied to Sam & Willy about the results of the DNA test. She says that she did it because she was afraid that if they knew the truth, they would terminate the pregnancy. She wants this baby so much and confesses to Camilo that it is because she still loves Willy and wants to have his baby. Camilo asks if she is going to able to give the baby up when the time comes and Lorena doesn’t really answer. Camilo also tells Lorena that she has to tell Sam and Willy that she lied.

El Jefe makes a weak effort to appear pleased about the news of Sam and Willy’s DNA test. Nicolás makes no similar effort. He says that he wishes the test had been positive because he doesn´t like Willy and Sam together.

Cecilia wants Miggy to stay with her but he says that he can´t. She tells him that DDD has asked her to delete things from his computer. Miggy asks her to save copies of what she deleted for him. Then Cecilia give Miggy something – a thumb drive? Miggy is about to leave when in comes DDD and the jig is up. Miggy tries to claim that he and Cecilia were just satisfying a mutual attraction but DDD says that it is clear that Miggy was using Cecilia to get information. He fires Miggy and Cecilia.

When DDD has gone, Cecilia asks Miggy if it is true that he made love to her and made her the happiest woman in the world only to get information. Miggy admits that is the truth.

JM goes to the hospital and we have a little teaser but the woman in the bed is not Ángela. [Because she is an extremely minor character, this False-Ángela is shown as intubated, that is she appears to have a breathing tube inserted in her throat. When major characters are at death’s door, they are never intubated because it is ugly and you can’t talk with one in your throat. But we always hear the whoosh whoosh of a respirator in the hospital room.]
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE - jueves Part 2

Willy and Sam are celebrating the DNA test results in a bar. Willy says that Nicolás is rude and el Jefe didn´t do a very good job of raising him. Sam won´t criticize Nicolás and changes the subject. She makes a toast to the fact that they are still together after all they have gone through and will be happy forever. They also drink to Ángela and Nora whom they believe are watching over them from heaven.

Miggy tells Cecilia that he wants to do justice more than anything but he enjoyed being with her. He says that DDD has to pay for what he did. Cecilia asks if he has ever loved anyone and he replies that he is not made for love.

Génesis is back to being a good kid. She is nice to Violeta.

Once Pablo has brought DDD home, he gets fired as well.

We have a Bud Light product placement as Miggy takes a six-pack out of his frig. He flashes back to a conversation with the mysterious Alejandra. Camilo brings Violeta over and Violeta tells Miggy that she wants to live with him.

Sam and Willy invite JM and the Reptile to the bar. Vicente is watching them. The Reptile announces that she and JM are getting married and JM admits this without much enthusiasm. Sam is surprised. The waiter has been paid by Vicente to listen to their conversation and reports this marriage announcement to Vicente.

El Jefe tells Lorena that the DNA test was his last chance to get Sam. He notices that Lorena seems nervous.

Willy tells Sam that he doesn’t find it surprising that JM is marrying the Reptile since it has been a year since Ángela was convicted. They proceed to have a fight about how quickly Willy would remarry if Sam were gone and Willy ends up sleeping on the couch.

After getting a PSA from Violeta about obesity in the US, Miggy is in the supermarket shopping for some healthy food when he runs into False Fabiola (FF) and they immediately go somewhere (her place, I guess) and have sex. [Who’s taking care of Violeta?]

Since the Reptile knows that she exchanged the blood samples, she concludes that DDD isn’t her father and tells him so. He denies it and concludes that something is wrong with the DNA test results and he will find out what it is.

We find out that Ramos, the prison guard, died without giving any more information.

FF tells Miggy that Damian was a bad cop or something but the upshot is that real Fabiola is alive.

Emma is working at a Starbucks-like coffee place that Peralta frequents.

DDD comes to see Sam and Willy who are with Lorena. Now he’s got Estela pushing his wheelchair but he makes her leave the room. DDD used his influence to get a copy of the DNA test results. He gives it to Sam and Willy. Willy accuses DDD of falsifying results but then Lorena admits that the results were correct and that she lied.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE -

wonderful recap novelera !!

you asked, "Who's taking care of Violeta?"

I got the impression that she went to school during the day and that Camilo was taking care of that,

I think Miggy and False Fabiola went back to his place, with the groceries, to fool around, and after, he got a call, I think saying Violeta was on the way, but when Miggy, tucking in his shirt, (and FF tucking in various things), ran to the door to open it for Violeta, it turned out to be Cecilia, oh no!

funny to watch the girls squaring off,
should be good to see how this turns out,

and Gabriel Porras is a treat to watch as well.

on the DNA test I was hoping this time Lorena would stay quiet, and Sammy and Willy would go and get the test done again.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE -

OOPS !!!

wonderful recap Jean !!!

you guys are both so good!
 

CORAZON VALIENTE:

Great recap, Jean! That Miggy sure is getting a lot of sex with beautiful women. Every time he's on the screen, fun things are happening. Every time JM is shown, not so much (except for his kung fu demonstration the other day). And can JM's hair even hold any more grease?! I wonder what his pillow looks like, or does he have to wash it out each night. Or maybe he wears a little cap to bed.

How many times has Violeta moved to a new home in the course of this show, 10? It's a wonder she doesn't feel like a ping pong ball.

False Fabiola's name is Natalia, but I guess it's more fun calling her by her nickname. I also think Miggy is going to Colombia soon to find the real Fabiola.

Emma is cute, getting a job in the coffee bar, but spilling the tray on her first customers ("pardon, pardon!")
 

CORAZON VALIENTE

Thanks so much Jean. Excellent point about the telenovela respirators :D

deb, I agree with you about the girls and Porras. I also like his interaction with little Violeta. I guess that's why they sent her to live with "busy" Miguel :)

Why was Vicente spying on Sam & Willy?! Oh, the DNA thing seems to be una historia larga :((
 

CORAZON VALIENTE-

Hombre wrote: "And can JM's hair even hold any more grease?! I wonder what his pillow looks like, or does he have to wash it out each night. Or maybe he wears a little cap to bed."

LOL! I've never had any personal contact with these Latin gentlemen who affect hairstyles with so much product, as it were. I've often wondered if whatever it is they put on their hair gets all over everything. Can you touch it without getting all greasy? I love the image of JM going to bed with one of those mob caps that colonial women used to wear to bed!
 

CORAZON VALIENTE

Thank you Jean for great recap.

I thought from the ride in the car that Camillo was going to end up with Lorena.

[They don’t even consider the other possible explanation, which is that Willy is not DDD’s son.] Ofélia doesn´t believe that the Reptile would betray DDD but DDD is not so sure. He says that he has lost Sam forever. - I will never understand why DDD thinks he's going to get Sam, this just makes no sense to me, he is now claiming she is his daughter, how is that going to translate to Sam becoming his lover? I don't get it.

Seriously JM, don't you notice how Reptile gets, aren't you a bit nervous about that, how come no voiceover clue, just your usual blank stare, as if you've zoned out.

In typical TN fashion, JM gets into his car and drives away leaving Reptile out and center. I am happy to say that the men I know are gentlemen enough to open the door, make sure the woman is in the car and drives away before they tend to their business. Instead of Vincent telling Reptile what he is going to do to her, why didn't he just do it.

I love Violeta in the scenes with Miggy, it felt like they both enjoyed doing it.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE -

btw Jean,

a couple of interesting comments I read at TW,
do we really know that was not Angela?
I was trying to see if it was when we jumped to the scene where JM tells the Reptile it's not her,
and I believed him,
but something seems to have clicked for JM (I hope so anyway) since Fernanda ran off with JC,
it's interesting to watch him as he carefully chooses his words when he is with her,
could he be protecting Angela,
is he getting a clue?

probably not, but it's interesting watching this unspoken turmoil he is going through,
he has been at the center of this storm since the beginning,
poor guy,
I like José Luis Reséndez!
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE

Thanks, Jean. I loved your recap, loaded with snark!

JM is so dumb it makes MY head hurt. Occasionally the Reptile's true nature is revealed to him, but he gives her a blank look and never lets these things accumulate into a clue about who she is. Last night it was when JM said he had to go to the hospital, and her reaction to the mother of the kid she supposedly loves maybe being alive was "What about me?".

Nellie, you and I are on the same page. When DDD said "Now I've lost Sam forever!", my jaw dropped. And being her biological father doesn't disqualify him? Not to mention having her kidnapped when she was a child and indirectly causing the death of the man she loved most in the world? Huh?

Yeah, it was odd that Vicente was watching Sam and Willy. How could he know Willy would invite the Reptile and JM to join them?

Yes, we could have had a much better episode if Lorena could have kept her trap shut. Both Sam and Willy were convinced DDD was lying and would have raced off for another DNA test, but no. Things don't go that way in telenovelas.

I also love Miggy and Violeta. And she was at school when Miggy was getting it on with False Fabiola. He remembered that he needed to pick her up at school and that's why he was rushing to get his pants on toward the end. Violeta had already given him a cute list of his responsibilities: taking her to school, picking her up from school, helping her with her homework.

Regarding the hair, José Luis Reséndez shares the slicked down look with Gregorio Pernía. I think it's because they both have quite curly hair. You can see this around the nape of the neck. I guess curly haired galanes are not the fashion.
 

CORAZON VALIENTE-

I have no idea what DDD's plan is for Sam once he convinces her that he is her father. She hates him regardless and I don't see that changing but I'm sure he has something devious in mind. He's that kind of guy.

I don't think JM is quick enough to pretend that the woman in the bed is not Angela if it was. He would be first concerned about her condition, etc. And of course, the police have the FINGERPRINTS of everyone who is in prison so how hard could it be to id this person?

I guess Miggy wasn't as irresponsible with Violeta as I thought. They were cute together. Maybe Violeta has been taking acting lessons on the days when she isn't on the show. She seems to be improving as an actress (but is still not up to Genesis' level.)

Floridia, I went back and watched the scene with Willy and Sam talking about when he would marry again and I didn't see anything like what you heard.

You must be pleased, NovelaNewbie that Willy was going to go for a run with Arturo.

Hombre, I don't Vincente was spying on Sam & Willy. I don't remember seeing him at the bar before the Reptile and JM were there. I think he followed the Reptile or maybe he has some way (he is a technology guy) to know where she is).
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE:

Thanks for the recap!!

I loathe Nicolás. During his short time on screen he just spewed venom. As if he cares whether Sam suffers or not. On the contrary, he’d rather have Sam suffer thanks to incest, which apparently isn’t as bad as not getting his way. It’s also ridiculous that the brat can get away with what he’s saying without an adult at least asking for an apology. (And he wasn’t only being rude. His behaviour was inappropriate.)

On the other two that have no problems with incest as long as it benefits them: I thought that DDD just wanted revenge and now he apparently just wants some sort of connection to Sam? (I definitely didn't think he was still planning to get her. That makes no sense.) However, he has lost Sam anyway. It wouldn’t matter whether she thinks she’s his daughter or not. She wants nothing to do with him. El Jefe at least has his creepy son he can use to manipulate Sam (and turn her against Willy).
Why would he go to whine to Lorena about losing his only chance to get Sam? Lorena wouldn’t care about his woes, especially since she roots for Sam and Willy (and the baby).

Camilo does seem to be into Lorena. I like how he handled her confession and appealed to her sense of right and wrong.
I also felt that they had a connection during the car ride, but in the latest episode Camilo was more obvious.

About the baby… if Lorena ends up pregnant, I don’t think she can be forced to have an abortion? Or at least it would be another interesting dilemma.

I don’t follow Fernanda’s reasoning. She thinks Nora is her mother as well as Willy’s, so a negative result would mean that either one would have a different set of parents… not that just one of them was different. (And why would she think that Bernie would ask her to switch the samples if he knew?)
Yeah, I also thought it was interesting that the fact that DDD might not be Willy’s father didn’t even occur to anyone.


Floridia:
I think you mean the part when Sam says that she thinks Willy would marry Cecilia (what a weird choice. I expected her to say Lorena) and Willy answers:
Yo no me acordaba de ella, that he didn’t remember her. It sounds similar to what you wrote.
Don’t know what Sam was so angry about anyway. I thought Willy was obviously joking. It was similar to the time when Willy asked if Sam would die for him and Sam answered that she didn’t think so. ;) If she was so serious about it, she should have told him that she’d never marry anyone else.

It was convenient that all three happened to be at the agency when DDD popped by with results, obviously without knocking just like everyone else who enters that room.
I don’t know why nobody suspects that there might be something fishy about results anyway if they think DDD could have had someone falsify the results later. What would have stopped him before especially when he knew that they were going to take the test?
I don't fault Lorena for coming clean. She couldn't take it anymore, especially when it seemed like there was no way out anyway.

So Ramos conveniently died from a heart attack? How disappointing.
 

2 Awesome Recaps, Jean

You filled in many details.

Kihaku,

Thanks for checking that for me.
After I posted, I went back and played it over and over until I picked it up.

I think he says, "Yo NI me acordaba
de ella," which would mean,
I don't EVEN remember her.

At first, I thought he had said, "Di me." What do you think
about this minor change?

I too cannot tolerate Nicolas.
His voice is completely flat and expressionless to me. I would find him difficult to like, let alone love. It's interesting to note the look on Willy's face when he looks at him - resentful,
puzzled, quizzical? What's up with this brat?? Love Willy;
Fabián is fabulous!

Thanks to all for fascinating comments.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE:

Jean:

Exactly. Maybe the police hadn't had the time/were too lazy to check for fingerprints and JM was informed just in case? (Oh well, at least there was some suspense for a short while.)

Vicente was at the bar before Fernanda and JM showed up. I thought that he just happened to be there and saw familiar people. (And then later decided to spy.)

Floridia:

Okay, I checked it and yeah, he does say "ni". :) Sorry, I guess my brain changed it to "no". (Or I just heard wrong.)

There is something "off" about Nicolás. I think you could be right; maybe it’s his voice. However, I do think that he manages to convey the anger/dislike he feels towards Willy. I actually preferred it when Nicolás acted more aggressively towards Sam as well, because at least I understood it (and he wasn’t that awful yet). I think he works best in "antagonistic" scenes. In the rest something is just… "wrong" and he makes me uneasy.
As for Willy, I think he finds Nicolás annoying and a bit of a brat, but I also feel like he actually cares that he’s been/being brought up badly. ;) (At least one adult does…)
 

Corazón Valiente:

Thanks, Jean, for your recap. Yes! I'm thrilled that Arturo finally got some attention! I hope that he was able to run after ingesting (as kihaku suggested) all of that rich, leftover food and wine that he's been living off of.

It doesn't matter what her reasons were for lying, Lorena needs to have her medical license revoked for her lie. Even though WE knew the DNA test was bogus, Lorena didn't. What a horrible thing to do to Sam and Willy! I'm glad her lie was outed early but I'm sorry that DDD was the one to do it. Hopefully Sam and Willy will get other independent tests done to be sure about a situation as serious and as sensitive as incest.

Lorena doesn't even fall into a good or bad category anymore. She's severely emotionally disturbed. Thinking back, she's been emitting that vibe all along with that perpetual worried expression on her face and her unsettling flashbacks. She confessed that she wants to have Willy's baby, so now I'm wondering if she had a corrupt collaborator do her IVF. I sure hope they won't go down that stupid road but you never know in Telenovela Land. Lorena is a strange one.

@kihaku - ITA with you about Nicolás. When is one of those adults going to put that little a**wipe in his place? They all just stood there without saying anything and let him cruelly insult Sam and Willy. He says he loves Sam but he's ok with causing her emotional pain because things didn't pan out in his favor? Sam is blind when it comes to him, but I'm surprised that Willy didn't say something. They'll be sorry someday if they don't learn how to lay a parental smackdown on a mouthy teenager! I wonder what he's going to do when he finds out that Willy and Sam have been frantically searching for him for years and that his big a**wipe father has not only kept info about his bio parentage from him, but disrespected his dying mother, spied on Sam for months (even in the bathroom!) and kidnapped and drugged her? Will he care?

DDD's sick obsession with Sam is troubling. Maybe some other fact will later emerge to help us make some perverted sense of it. DDD, El Jefe, and Nicolás are all obsessed with the same woman for different selfish reasons. Weird.

Yes, JM's IQ seems to continue to be on the decline, but I think there's something else going on here. Despite what he says, his body language has shown that he has never really been "into" Fernanda in the same goo-goo eyed, I'm-a-man-in-love way that he was with Angie. He seems to have trouble with simple affection. I've mentioned before that he appears to be filing info about the Reptile into his memory bank to use later. ITA with deb that it has become even more overtly apparent that something is up with him since the Reptile's temporary heist of JC. He won't even hold her when she's crying and acts as if touching her is painful. I think that he might have taken it upon himself to go undercover solo to "vet" Fernanda, and the marriage talk could be a smokescreen until he finds the truth. His other dumb ideas have been disastrous, but I can only hope that this is the case and he's not in a freefall into the abyss of galán stupidity. I hope he gets Miggy involved.

I'm also loving the Miggy-Violeta interactions. How adorable is that? She's really going to cramp his style.

Re: JM's hair. It's a shame that they slick back that handsome man's hair with a ton of goop and spray, and won't let his natural curls do their thing. I guess it's just part of the stiff patrician persona that they've given him. He's always so formal. If they shaved his head, I swear that he and Génesis could star in the Telemundo remake of Annie.

When will Ángela return? Puh-leeez get Sam and Willy back together! I want to see some romance!

NovelaNewbie
 

ROSA DIAMANTE – jueves

Gracias NovelaMaven!!! I will have to bookmark this page for reference on the family tree, until I get it straight.

Yes, the scenery sure is lovely.

It's incredible how similar GJ and JI look; like they're really brothers.
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE

NovelaNewbie, you made my day! Telemundo remake of Annie! I went as Little Orphan Annie to a Halloween Party once. Wore MaryJanes, white ankle socks, a little girl dress, red wig, and made my eyes big white ovals. I think I even attracted a pedophile element!
 

Corazon Valiente...

Still enjoying all comments.
And then there's the other reason for JM to say he will marry Fernanda:

Keep the enemy close and protect the safety of his son while he may be doing some sleuthing of his own to get the goods on her. He pretty much knows that she is a whacko regarding babies, and he overheard her coaching JC to call her "Mama."

If on the other hand, he is totally clueless re her dastardly deeds, she fits the bill for a companion. She is nice to the kids in front of him; they need a traditional family; he's known her his entire life, and she's willing to accept the fact that he may not ever love her. What more could a guy want?
 

@novelera - No you did NOT dress up as Little Orphan Annie for a party!! Hilarity! You'd better be glad that the ultimate pervert, DDD, wasn't there trying to be your Daddy Warbucks -- hahaha!

Cue the song!

"Tomorrow, tomorrow! I love ya, tomorrow,
It's only a daaaaaaay aaaaa--waaaaaaaay!"
 

^^That's my comment above!

NovelaNewbie
 

CORAZÓN VALIENTE:

NovelaNewbie:
I agree that Lorena has issues, but I still think of her as "good". She felt immensely guilty for her lie and to me, having a conscience is a sign of goodness. In addition she was prepared to live with the guilt so that Sam and Willy could be happy and that takes something. It wasn’t completely altruistic, but I still found it admirable. I disagree that it was horrible… she was (misguidedly) trying to help them. Her intentions of course mean nothing when it comes to ethical conduct. Her job could be on the line.

I was also surprised that Willy didn’t say anything. Maybe he didn’t want to ruin the happy moment by arguing with a brat. Sam does tend to be blind when it comes to certain individuals. She either ignores their faults or thinks that they can do no wrong. I hope that at least El Jefe’s actions will be revealed to her. (At the moment it looks like the writers have forgotten.) I don’t know if the current Nicolás would care. That kind of behaviour probably fits well with his own idea of "love", which falls into the same category as DDD’s and El Jefe’s. I suppose it makes sense if one is his adoptive father and the other his paternal grandfather. All the del Castillos besides Willy seem to be more or less evil and Nicolás seems like he has that tendency. Maybe there is hope for him with the right parents, although I fear Sam as a mother for Nicolás.

Yeah, Sam tends to attract bad guys, obsessive sickos… or just cause obsession in males. :)

Floridia:
I think that those possibilities regarding JM and Fernanda make sense. :)