Caray, Caray!

Kelly posted this over on the INDEX page:

"Are enough people watching Quien Eres Tu on telefutura to justify a weekly recap? Just a thought."

I don't see a problem with doing a brief weekly recap like Jody is doing with "El secretario". Strictly speaking, Telefutura/UniMás shows are off-topic. But that would apply to "Made in Cartagena" as well and nobody minds the comments about that show.

As for who is watching "¿Quién eres tu?" -- who knows? Maybe folks will tell us.
 

GENERAL:

I agree that Telefutura shows are not on Telemundo, but since there's no other place for them, I think short occasional recaps are okay.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR, Viernes, Part 1

A chef serves Pablo and the boys lobster in tamarind sauce, with champagne. Yeah, that darn prison life. Pablo's upset about the Cali's. He's not just going to sit there, he has to strike back. But what do they hear? It's the sound of a plane. Marino wonders if they're gonna get bombed. So much for that restricted air space. Turns out it's Mauricio, buzzing over in a plane, drinkin' a beer, just playing with Pablo's head. But Pablo is freaked, and orders Marino to call Topo, kill the Cali brothers.

Remember Evencio, the guy who killed Galán, who worked for the now dead Mariachi? He meets with Manuel and Mauricio. They want him to kill Escobar. They're not killers, but know he can do the job. He's in, hates Pablo for trying to kill him in prison. But it won't be easy, Pablo has an army. Then hire two armies, say M&M. And the Cali's will pay for it. Take your time, plan it well.

Kiko and another killer are in Cali, but things are two hot, they're followed everywhere, it won't be easy to kill those Cali guys. And here comes a truck after them!

Pablo's in bed with Mireya. SHE's wearing the cossack hat. She reminds him she was his first. And the best, right? Sure are, babe, that's why you're still here.

Cain is explaining to Topo the job is just about impossible, Cali has people on every corner. You spent a lot of money, but that money's gone. Topo isn't buying it. Just then, some money floats down from the sky! Cain says it's from Ramada's stash, he has people hang out old bills to dry, after washing them when they get moldy. Topo and Cain go up on the roof, find an old man and his granddaughter who explain yes, this is Ramada's stash, and there's about $20 million here. We put powder on it and clean it so it doesn't get ruined.

Cut to Ramada, and his right hand man, Libardo, telling him about how Topo came to see the money. No problem, says Ramada, we'll move it. Sorry boss, Topo robbed it all! We see Topo motoring down the highway, laughing, car full of money.

Evencio is in an open air restaurant, discussing strategy of how to kill Pablo with two other guys when the army guys, I think led by Aguirre, burst in and want to see their papers. Evencio starts shooting, and he and the other two are killed! So much for THAT plan.

 

PABLO ESCOBAR, Part 2

Okay, next plan. Maurico meets with Lucio, the brother of the right wing guy Miguel, at his paramilitary camp. Lucio agrees that Pablo is crazy, bad for the country. Lucio says you can't just barge in with force, Pablo would be ready. It has to be a surprise. Someone Pablo KNOWS has to do it. And I know just the guy.

We then see Libardo, Ramada's helper, who is chubby and not menacing, watching Ramada and Arellano get in their jeep, they're going to visit Pablo about the missing money. He cautions them to be careful. At the gate, they give the soldiers their ID's, okay they're admitted. Meanwhile, Lucio, in civilian clothes, and Mauricio, meet with Libardo in a restaurant, and tell him HE's the one to kill Pablo. Libardo isn't too keen on this, he's no killer, and how would he even do it? Luis says you could spend the night, and in the middle of the night....Libardo again says no way.

In the Catedral, Ramada bluntly accuses Topo of taking his money. Topo swears he didn't have any idea it was Topo's, just saw some money. Liar! The old man told you everything. Nah, he didn't tell me anything.

Back at the restaurant, Libardo says maybe I could get the chef to poison him. Excellent, says Lucio, you could do that? Well, I don't really know, it was just an idea. But let me make something perfectly clear. Ramada is my boss, and I'd never cross him. And if there's one thing I know, above all other people, he admires Pablo Escobar.

Oh, really? While Pablo plays pool, still wearing that cossack hat, Ramada and Arellano are getting hot under the collar. So, Pablo, what are you going to do? Well, Topo, you should admit you knew it was Ramada's money. No, boss, I swear (kisses his thumb), I had no idea. Well, since I'm an honorable man, says Pablo, I'm going to return your money. But since things are so tough here in prison, and we're poor, I'm going to tax it. You get 70%, I'll keep 30%. Arellano is okay, but Ramada says that's crap! We're already giving you 50% of the money we earn, but this money was mine from way before we started our deal. It's my money! Look, Ramada, it's only $6 million, let it go. Arellano agrees. Fine, says Ramada reluctantly, turns to go. Until Topo blurts out, I counted it, and there was only $18 million! You piece of sh*t, that money better turn up, or else! Or else what? Topo says calmly, raising his gun and pointing it at Ramada's head. I know I wouldn't want to be in the place Ramada(s) Inn!
 

GENERAL

I agree with Hombre. Maybe we could change the name of this part of Caray, Caray to Telemundo and Beyond, or Telemundo and Others.

There's some interesting novelas on other stations than the "big two" and there isn't any other place on the blog to write about them.
 

LA MARIPOSA

now to episode 18.....

http://www.mundofox.com/videos/la-mariposa-6112

 

Pablo Escobar -

ha! at Ramada's inn
thanks so much Hombre !!
I was so lost with the money flittering around the streets like butterflies, wouldn't someone notice?
a whole new twist on laundering money,
but did Topo tell Pablo the whole story?
..............................................

I googled "la catedral pablo escobar", wow, just like they are showing us, these producers really did their homework.

from wiki,

La Catedral,
"In addition to the facility being built to Escobar's specifications, he was also given the right to choose who would guard him, believing to have chosen guards only loyal to him. The prison was believed to be designed more to keep out Escobar's enemies from assassination attempts, than to keep Escobar in."

"The finished prison was often called "Hotel Escobar," or "Club Medellín," due to its amenities. La Catedral featured a soccer field, a giant doll house, a bar, jacuzzi, and a waterfall. Escobar also had a telescope installed that allowed him to look down onto the city of Medellín to his daughter's residence while talking on the phone with her."
................................................

over all I'm thinking this novela is talking to us with what they don't say, Pablo, with his "plata o plomo" willingly walks into this prison, huh?, the government could still change their ways and have him cornered, but is Pablo worried, what does this say about Pablo and the Colombian government?
.....................................................

some art,
possibly a fat spoiler,

(la muerte de Escobar por Botero)

http://www.sinembargo.mx/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/EscobarBotero.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_G10nBdu3ynI/TIPJ9UGFvgI/AAAAAAAAAEo/SdPR4bh5wHs/s1600/la+muerte+de+pablo+escobar+fernando+boterojpg.jpg

(I connected the artist with his works displayed on buildings in 'Victorinos", love it)
 

I'm watching Quien Eres Tu. I love it and Laura Carmine's acting.
 

Quien Eres Tu:

I'm also watching QET because I like Laura C. from her two previous tns, and have enjoyed Julian Gil's previous bad guys and wanted to see him play a good guy. They are both doing a good job in QET so far. The weakest thing about this tn is the music—it sucks. I also saw La Usurpadora-- when it ran during the daytime a few months ago I recorded it. QET is more complex than the original. They've updated it a lot, and it feels very modern. Other than the basic premise of the good twin switching lives with the bad twin who married into money, and the good twin having to deal with the troubles her sister left behind in her household (husband, step-kids, in-laws), the rest of the story is totally different. These are the key differences I noticed so far:

-The twins knew each other and grew up together (in La Us, they were separated at birth and didn’t know about each other), before being separated as teens after their mother shot and killed her husband/bf who was trying to sexually abuse one of the twins, then shot and killed herself in front of the twins.
- After that, the twins went their separate ways, lost touch, and then got back in touch recently via e-mail. Then bad twin (Veronica) asks good twin (Natalia) to come see her on the island where she lives (seems to be somewhere off the coast of Colombia) with her husband and teen step-kids (in La Us they were little kids).
-Good twin (Natalia) has a complicated past too. She was in jail for a number of years for something. She lives and works in a bar in Mexico. He ex-boyfriend seems to be a drug dealer, and he is desperately trying to get in touch with Natalia because he hid something among her things that belong to some really bad guys who are hounding him. By the end of the week, he was shot dead by the bad guys, but not before they overheard that Natalia has their stuff. They are going after her. Will they find Natalia or Veronica?
-The twins actually switch identities (in La Us, the bad twin did not take on the good twin’s identity). Veronica tells Natalia a sob story about dying of cancer, and the thing she wants to do before dying is go find the 8 year old son she has been separated from who lives in Panama. She tells her sister she only needs a week to do this, gives her a tutorial on the relevant people she will have to deal with during the week (all on her Ipad), takes her sister’s passport and identity and her suitcases (see point above about Natalia being in possession of something some bad guys want), and travels to Panama.
-In Panama, Veronica meets up with a bunch of shady dudes (perhaps drug dealers), is making plans to have fake passports and documents made up, and at the end of the week calls Natalia and asks her to travel to Panama to meet up with her. She seems to be setting Natalia up to take the fall for some shady deal. Veronica plans on taking her fake docs and heading to Australia when it’s all done. The 8 year old son doesn’t seem to exist, as far as we can tell.
 

Quien Eres Tu:

Week 1, Part 2:


-On the island, Natalia is dumped right into the middle of Veronica’s messy life. Her husband Felipe thinks she’s having an affair, since she’s been acting shady for a while, and disappeared suddenly for a bunch of days (for her secret meeting with her sister), missing his daughter’s 17th birthday party. He is super pissed at Vero/Nat and suspicious of her every move. His best friend encourages him to get a divorce and he begins proceedings. This would be his second divorce (in La Us, the first wife was dead).
-The family: The two teenage step-kids are spoiled and really mean to Veronica/Natalia. Their main issue seems to be a feeling that dad focuses too much on work and Vero, and doesn’t spend enough time with them. The step-daughter is suspicious of Vero/Nat’s behavior and is following her and snooping through her stuff. The suegros are rich and snooty. They own a fancy hotel resort, which is where Veronica worked as a chambermaid before she married up and into the family. Suegro thinks Vero is a social climber and doesn’t like her. Suegra seems to be more sympathetic towards Vero/Nat and senses there is something going on with her. There is a slimy brother-in-law who is a bit too observant of the changes in Vero’s demeanor and attitude.
-Natalia finds out that Veronica was/is a drug addict when she unwittingly ends up in her drug addicts anonymous meeting. Her sponsor/counselor is very persistent about getting her back on track. So persistent that jealous husband Felipe, thinking he is Vero’s lover, tracks him down and nearly beats the crap out of him. Once the counselor spills the beans about Ver’s addiction, Felipe changes his attitude and decides he needs to be a better husband to Vero. And so by end the week, we see Felipe being loving and supportive to Vero/Nat, and Natalia telling herself to NOT fall for her sister’s husband.
-Points of vulnerability for Natalia: 1) She believes her sister’s lies; 2) She is/was in possession unknowingly of something some Mexican gangsters want; 3) Everyone in Felipe’s family hates her; 4) Her Ipad has all those suspicious detailed bios of people in her life. Fortunately, it’s password protected, but so far both Felipe and his daughter have tried to crack her password; 5) She has two cell phones- Vero’s phone, and her own on which she speaks with her boss/good friend in Mexico (he is the only one who knows the whole story, aside from the twins). Step-daughter and her friend have already searched Vero/Nat’s room looking for her 2nd phone; 6) Vero didn’t mention a LOT of things (like her drug addiction), and left a LOT of people out of her bios (like her former co-workers at the hotel)-- Vero/Nat’s lack of recognition of them has them asking WTF?
 

Quien Eres Tu:

Oh, and the way to tell the twins apart is that they both have one beauty mark/mole on their cheek, but Veronica has it on her left cheek and Natalia has it on her right cheek (mirror image). No one, not even the twins, seem to have noticed this difference.
 

QUIEN ERES TU

Thanks Vivi for the awesome recap. I'm also watching and enjoying this telenovela.
 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA -- as of Friday, January 11
For fans who want to play catch-up, here's what I remember from the past week:

PART 1 of 2
Martín is on the run.
He is no murderer -- or so we think -- but he *is* guilty of lesser crimes committed in his attempt to prove his innocence.

Luciano has pressed charges for kidnapping and Alex has been jailed as Martín's accomplice.

Supposedly yielding to Braterina's pleas, Ezequiel agrees to meet Martín and help him leave the country. But it's a set-up. He intends to hand him over to the police. Martín, anticipating the dirty tricks, enlists his prison contacts to act as welcoming committee. (Yikes. His debt to these goons is getting out of control.) He holds Ezequiel captive very briefly, even shoots him in the leg when he tries to walk away.

Martín himself is still held captive by Braterina's fake pregnancy. He is now convinced, however, that Luciano and Ezequiel, bastards though they may be, aren't responsible for Mariana's death.

TV reporter Veronica has been won over to Camp Martín.
The evidence speaks for itself. The man photographed checking into the hotel with Mariana can't possibly be Martín. He's 3 inches too short and he's a lefty, not a righty. Even a desk clerk confirms Martín's not the man she saw. But the guy was wearing a suit identical to the one Martín wore to the soirée. Who knew what he would wear that night? Alex!

Is it possible Alex isn't what he seems?
Hard to say. Right now, Alex is in jail charged as an accomplice in Luciano's kidnapping. He's still standing up for Martín.

Vero thinks someone in the Samaniego household must have been involved in getting an unconscious Martín out of the house that night. (A big-headed blonde gorgon with a genius for emasculation, perhaps?)

Nurse Alicia is setting off lots of alarm bells.
Ezequiel doesn't trust her. Police captain Buenaventura questions her motives. Even Martín thinks she's hiding something. She tells him what she told Laura: she is the daughter of the late Ramón Farias and she is out to avenge what was done to her father. She used to think Martín was responsible for destroying her father's life but now she is sure it was Ezequiel, whom she also blames for Mariana's murder.

But Martín has a new theory. The murderer is a psychopath who isn't targeting him so much as toying with him. And it could be anyone, (here the camera lingers a beat too long on Alicia's face), a person who appears normal, who delights in deceit and leaves false clues, a person who enjoys cruelty and killing. And if Martín can't stop the monster, there will surely be another victim.
 

EL ROSTRO Part 2 of 2
The shadow over the Mercader family is explained, but only in part.
Sonia finally reveals her secret shame: she was never unfaithful to her husband -- She was raped! And Juan never told her he was sterile, never asked who the children's father was. He just assumed his wife had betrayed him, he seethed and drank and took out his unspoken fury on his family, especially Diego. Sonia and Juan sorrowfully realize that between them, they have blighted their children's lives. [Stay tuned. The rapist's identity is important since he is almost certainly Omar's father too.]

Tag Teams
Samaniego and Laura have teamed up. They attend Tania's funeral in Miami together. Laura talks to Tania's little boy as if to comfort him. Then she asks, almost as an afterthought, if the nurse on TV -- the one arrested for killing Ramón Farias in the hospital -- was really his mother's friend. Oh yes, he says, and he saw his mom pay her some money and tell her what a good job she'd done. [Oh ho -- will S&L connect the dots?]

Ezequiel and Valeria Samaniego have also teamed up. And from the looks of it, it's a partnership that goes way back.

One way or another, Valeria has been silencing everyone who could possibly help reveal "the truth" these two have successfully hidden for twenty years. Now Tania is dead. Patty Roundheels, the Colombian telenovela actress, is back in Colombia. Alejandra, the recovering lesbian alcoholic, is under her thumb (but squirming and therefore dangerous.) Carolina Pinto is clearly terrified but still seems to be toeing the line. But Martín is a noisy threat to her equilibrium and she wants him dead.

Compared to Valeria, Ezequiel is a marshmallow. He'd be happy to see Martín locked up in jail. [Valeria may not be *the* Psychopath -- that would be too obvious; but clearly she is *a* Psychopath. How else to explain the "V la P" embroidered on all her lingerie and nighties?]

Still, Ezequiel won't permit his daughter to bear the child of the man he thinks of as a traitor. He orders Braterina to abort her non-existent pregnancy.

The mean kids are still jerking Natalia around.
Natalia begs Luciano to withdraw charges against Alex. He implies that he'll do so if she sleeps with him. Then afterward, he mocks her for her naiveté and desperation.

Later Carolina offers to spend the night in Natalia's apartment. She sits knee to knee with her, holds her hands, and coos that her loyalty to Martín is misplaced -- Alex won't get out of jail until Martín turns himself in and takes responsibility for Luciano's abduction.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR -- viernes

Ramada's Inn? Hah! True, he's on the hot seat. But Pablo's unbelievable greed has just converted a loyal supporter into an enemy for life.

So Topo turns out to be every bit as mean and greedy and crazy as the late unlamented Chili.

And Aguirre, by killing the enemy of his enemy, is an unwitting friend to Pablo. Grrrrrrr.

I guess Mireya is out of mourning -- though the cossack hat *is* black.
 

QUIEN ERES TU

Hey, Vivi, thanks for pitching in with the terrific wrap-up of the first week of this show. it sounds like at least a few folks are following this one.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR

Thanks so much, Hombre. I liked this episode much more since no innocents were being slaughtered and/or kidnapped.

NovelaMaven, you're right. Topo has taken a sharp turn to 100% evil. First he was ready to challenge Escobar himself, thinking he'd be incarcerated as well. And then he took it upon himself to rob Pablo's most loyal lieutenant. Unbelievable!

Ramada has been uncomplainingly turning over 50% of the drug money he's working to "earn" and then gets robbed by a slimy little henchman. For a moment there I actually thought Pablo might do the right thing. He used to be more cunning. But no, he gives Ramada a wonderful "deal", giving him 70% of his own money. That it was his own is likely evidenced by the fact that it had to be laundered to prevent it disintegrating with mold - thus it's been stashed since before Ramada's deal with Escobar.

I like the actor playing Mireya so it was interesting seeing her back in Pablo's bed. I wonder if this is based on reality. It seems to conflict with his historical fetish for very young virgins.
 

GENERAL

Yes, thanks Vivi for the Quién Eres Tú recap. I also saw La Usurpadora with Gabriela Spanic. She was so gorgeous then, with her "normal" body. She now looks completely different.

I'm going to try to catch up with this show. Thanks for pointing out the differences between this and LaU.

This must be a Latin-American plot to keep me from timely finishing books for my TWO book groups and/or getting after the dust bunnies. Way too many new stations and interesting new novelas are starting at the same time.

I'm still hooked on La Mariposa, and will definitely catch up on this one over the weekend. The one I watched last night was amazing. I'm still reluctant to say too much because of internet fans.

And I also want to sample Made in Cartagena. If Hombre says it's good, I'm probably in.

And lastly, thanks NovelaMaven for the update on El Rostro de la Venganza. I've been mildly curious about what happened since I bailed after they killed off Mariana with a power drill. I can't believe Braterina is still maintaining she's pregnant. How much time is supposed to have elapsed?
 

QUIEN ERES TU

Vivi - bravo again for the well detailed summary of the first week of episodes. A couple of things to add -- Felipe's brother is named Lorenzo.

Did I hear/understand correctly? at the end of Friday's episode, did Vero really hire two thugs to assasinate Natalia, and then did she add her twin sis wasn't the only person she wanted killed?
 

PABLO ESCOBAR

I forgot to thank Deb for her excellent research. It was interesting reading about the luxuries inside La Catedral.

Also, do others watching this novela think as I do that, when they show La Catedral on the exterior, they're showing an actual picture of it? The exterior shown from afar appears as a sort of grainy video like those shown of the real events in the past.
 

QUIEN ERES TU

Jody- I forgot to record Friday's episode, so I watched a crappy quality video of it online. The sound was so bad that I didn't get everyting Vero was planning for Natalia. You're probably right that she's planning on offing her sister, which is just really evil. Hopefully, they'll replay that scene on Monday and we'll start to get more details on her plans.

Yes, Felipe's brother's name is Lorenzo, the step-son is Lucas, the step-daughter is Gabriela, the suegro is Antonio, the suegra is Emilia, and Felipe's best friend is Ivan.
 

Rosa Diamante -

a picture summary of Fridays show is posted here,

http://foro.telenovela-world.com/n4/read-t.php?f=1123&i=10007&t=10007
 

Friday's episode of La Patrona was probably a bit more straightforward than the first three, apart from an overwhelming air of

F!@% The Police

We'll get to that later.

This episode opens with Irene and Alejandro in his office at the mine, where Irene is reporting to him about her chat with Gabriela in the previous episode. More accurately, she's going on about how Gaby had told her that she didn't care about him or the rest of the Beltran clan, with some "I can't believe she would be such an ingrate" spin, when Gaby herself shows up (tank top, pink shirt, and at this point I'm having a bizarre Corazón salvaje flashback) to ruin it. Gaby admits that she said what she did because she had had a bad morning and tends to speak without thinking, and apologizes (accompanied by some hilariously random "Okay, move it along" hands from Ale)...can she please have her job back?

Ale is all too happy to tear up what I assume is Gaby's dismissal document in front of her. Irene reminds them she's still in the room when she tries some backhanded compliments on Gaby (even though she didn't graduate, she's still a great miner thanks to her father!); that lasts about three seconds before Ale half-jokingly offers to let Gaby use the bathroom in his office, in the event some miner decides to cut off the water while she's in the shower there. That gets him a laugh from Gaby, and a somewhat desperate Irene going "Ha ha! You're not the only girl here any more, you know!" while latching onto Ale's arm with the gold-digger version of Kung Fu Grip. Ale shoos her away, though, so he can ask Gaby in private about her relationship with Fernando; Gaby tells him what we already know, that she went on two dates with him when they were teenagers before her "bitch crazy" sense kicked in. She also notes his stalker tendencies, which his being married really doesn't help, and similarly to Ale determines that he needs professional help. Gaby then bails to change shirts and drive Ramon (apparently interim miner boss, I'm not sure) bonkers by reporting back to work.

Speaking of our resident abusive TV-movie husband, he and Julia and Zooey Deschanel--er, Patricia (it's the hair) are sitting in a hospital waiting area. Julia is there to see a fertility specialist, Patricia is there for support, and Fer is whining as usual. Why does he have to see this doctor when he's just fine--it's Julia who's a barren wasteland, and everybody knows it. Why hide it? As a matter of fact he just walks out on them after those bon mots, no doubt to get a drink or ten. Patty doesn't follow him to run him over with her car, but instead asks Julia why she's so weak and puts up with the jerk; Julia sadly admits that she loves him and that he's her husband. Patty has her own "I tried, guys!" moment when she outright tells Julia that she needs to get some dignity.

Tigre, meanwhile, is still on his way to El Chamuco when he somehow notices Bullethead's (it turns out his real name is Macario, but...yeah...) car tailing him. This doesn't even rate being called a chase, since Captain Lou shakes the tail by detouring onto a dirt road, but the realization that Antonia put Bullethead on his tail makes CL worried. Could she have somehow found out about the Chamuco vein? He frantically calls Francisca on his cellphone and tells her to hide the gold he had brought back before.
 

La Patrona: viernes (p. 2)

Fran panics and tries to find a place to hide the bag of plenty, up until she is interrupted by a plot device: Max, who accidentally stumbles across the gold. He's naturally all kid-curious about the stash, but Fran swears him to secrecy about CL and the gold--without telling him where it came from. When she mentions that she was told to hide it, however, Max uses the "Don't you trust me?" card to convince her to let him stash the gold somewhere. Yeah, this can't fail.

While most of this is going on Antonia is still at Casa del Suarez with David, fishing for information about Gaby and what Tigre could be up to. David's more concerned with his ancient laptop (hey, he needs his Soñadoras fix) but he does reveal his age--eight--and the truth about his father as he knows it, that he left before he was born. Antonia wonders why his mother or grandfather doesn't buy him a new one; "With what money?" is David's reply, since Mom's boss is keeping all the gold and money for herself and exploiting her workers. Antonia reveals herself as la patrona and, while trying to bond with David over his laptop, wonders if Captain Lou told him that, since perhaps he's got more money than David thinks--maybe he's been more generous lately? David understandably reinforces that everybody in his family is poor, and before departing Antonia drops another of her black pearls of wisdom on him: "Ambition is a vice that can become a virtue." Start the future manipulators off early, I guess.

Antonia heads back to La Dorada, where Bullethead reports in on losing CL. Antonia throws the requisite "Useless!" at him, but then does some plot-based algebra: CL's resignation(firing Gaby) + pulling his life's savings from the bank ^ losing Bullethead's tail = CL must have somehow stolen gold from the mine!

SPDO: new location alert! Now we get to see the exterior of the Office of the Municipal President (let's just call it City Hall) of San Pedro del Oro. Inside Mayor McCheese, er, Julio is giving the world's tiniest press conference (two cameras and four reporters, including the guy from San Pedro FM who was reporting on the mine shaft collapse) about the dedication of a new sports complex, which he attributes entirely to a smug-looking Anibal Villegas and how he was able to secure a donation of land to make it all possible. Anibal, like all good politicians, merely claims he did it for the children and for democracy. San Pedro FM Guy blows it all to hell when he produces a document which apparently claims that the land wasn't donated, but sold--by Prudencia Montemar, and at a substantial markup to boot. Julio initially claims the document is fake, then tries to throw it back on FM Guy ("Think of the damage you're causing to our community! To your profession!"), and finally just goes "Show's over!" and shoos the media out.

Antonia comes in on the heels of this and informs Anibal and Julio of her assumption that Captain Lou ripped off the mine. Anibal initially suggests that perhaps he and Gaby simply got jobs somewhere else, but like Bullethead before him he gets with the program. He then goes to Ricardo's office and gets him to issue a search warrant for Tomas Suarez's house, albeit after a brief altercation over Ricardo hanging up a picture of his mother (who left them for another man, according to Anibal, and he's still bitter). Anibal also states that CL was "acting against our interests" here, which would normally have just been the usual bluster if not for that unspecified thing with the investors and that falsified report of Alberto's--that could just be me overthinking this, though.
 

La Patrona: viernes (p. 3)

Meanwhile, Julia and Patty come out of her meeting with the fertility specialist. Julia is indeed infertile, and completely out of sorts; if she can't have a child, there goes her marriage and any chance of Fer treating her like an actual human being. (If Julia's delusions had mass, she would likely have a Yugo following her around wherever she goes.) Patty tries to reassure Julia that she's more than a mobile incubator and can do other, worthwhile things as Fer's wife, almost literally right until they get to the tennis/whatever club and find Fer, naturally sucking down a drink. And Julia lies to Fer's face, saying that Patty was with her when the specialist told her she was perfectly fertile--it's just "a matter of patience" before they can have a child. Even here, while being drunkenly happy and wanting to get started trying ASAP, Fer can't help being a jackass: "You're good for more than carrying my name after all!" Patty reluctantly backs up Julia's lie, though that's in no small degree because Julia swore earlier that if she revealed the truth about her fertility she would kill herself.

At the same time we go to Max running down a street elsewhere in SPDO with a backpack. This is apparently near one of the town's ice cream shops, since he collides at speed into a cone-toting David. David of course is all "Hey, why is your backpack so heavy?" Great plan, Max.

So night falls on SPDO, and this is where we finally get to F!@% The Police--two uniformed officers and a plainclothes detective, Lagarto, who might as well be wearing a sign saying "I'm so corrupt I should be in Chicago" show up at Fran's to execute the search warrant. They immediately start tearing the place up in classic bad cop fashion looking for the supposed stolen gold, complete with the detective taunting Fran about her prostitute past and how she would be reimbursed for all the crap they break in their search. Fran is a blubbery mess for most of this, and it gets worse when they find the bag of Tigre's savings (Max apparently did give it to Fran at some point--it ended up under her bed), which of course they confiscate as part of their "investigation."

Apart from the cash the cops don't turn up anything, so they leave with a parting "Tell Tigre I'll find him even in hell" from the detective. Once they're outside he calls someone (Julio?) and reports his findings, and he is ordered to go to Gaby's house. Max and David show up seconds after they leave Fran's, and upon finding out what happened they sneak out and bail for Gaby's as well.

Gaby herself at the moment is punching out after her shift at work, with only a little smartassery from the Pig Posse on the way out (for once not directed at her, though they're gossiping about what she might have done during the shaft collapse to get Ale to rehire her)--not that she'd notice, since she's coming off another pleasant flashback to Ale and the mineshaft interlude. Ale catches up to her and, coming off his own flashback high, offers to take her home; though this gets derailed by Irene showing up and engaging her Gold Digger Grip once again--Gaby did bring her jeep, after all, but she needs a ride...and she's just fine with Ale's I-so-made-it-up plans to go get a drink after work.
 

La Patrona: viernes (p. 4)

Gaby makes it home fairly shortly after the fuzz get there and start tearing it up. When Lagarto explains about the accusation of theft against her dad, she yells at him that this is an illegal search since the warrant was only for his house...like he cares, since he all but taunts her about being tossed in jail for interrupting the search before they finish and leave. Afterwards she makes a beeline for Fran's, where she interrupts Fran praying to the demands to know WTH is up with Antonia, Captain Lou, and this theft thing. Fran doesn't reveal anything except that CL is out at El Chamuco, though she claims he went hunting (and she hasn't been able to reach him since earlier). Gaby decides that she'll head out to El Chamuco in the morning to find him if he hasn't contacted them before then; she takes David home, where he mentions Antonia coming by earlier and asking about her.

After leaving the mine Ale and Irene end up at the restaurant at the Club of Whatever, where Ricardo is complaining to Anibal about the illegal search of Gaby's house. Anibal insists it was necessary since she's CL's daughter, with a side helping of "You owe me because I got you this job." Ricardo argues that he earned the job and that he takes it seriously, which things like illegal searches don't help; he ends up at the bar commiserating over parents with God complexes with Ale, at least until Ale has to go deal with his own crazy-ass family--namely Fer, who's falling-down drunk at this point. Julio happens to be there as well, reporting Lagarto's findings via cellphone to the Ice Queen (so, what, by the end of this show will the entire SPDO government be corrupt?) and asking for instructions; Ale realizes who he's talking to, but not what about, and briefly commandeers the phone to have Antonia send Bullethead to retrieve Fer and Julia. (Naturally, after a "He's a big boy, let him be" from her.)

Later, Ale and Irene are slow-dancing out by a pool. Irene is schmoozing the hell out of Ale, saying he looks like an honest man who's getting tired of meaningless "love without roots" and wants to settle down. (Ale: "So I'm a tree?") Ale doesn't stop seeing through her schmooze, though, and compares her to his mother--totally obvious--before issuing a challenge of sorts: if she wants to sleep with him that's fine, but she'll have to find someone else if she wants to settle down.

This results in Irene hightailing it back to Quinta las Princesas and whining to Prudencia and Zooey, uh, Patty about how she knows Ale's into her, but doesn't want to boink him if it's just going to be a one night stand. Prudencia advises her to not give up her "honor" so easily; Patty suggests that, being the 21st century, women have earned the right to use their sexuality however they see fit. Prudencia, probably predictably, goes "Hija, why do you have to be a crazy feminist? That's why you'll never get married!"

(Okay, I think I've figured it out...all these small Mexican towns in Novelalandia where tradition is everything are really clones of Anatevka, the village from Fiddler on the Roof. We just need Luis Miguel to record a version of Tradition and we're solid.)
 

La Patrona: viernes (p. 5)

In the Well, That Explains That category: Fer and Julia are asleep in bed at LD. Fer is twitching his way through a bad dream, which is really a flashback to when he was a kid (young Fer is played by the same kid who plays David, I think) and he wandered in on Antonia injecting something into an IV tube, which is connected to a sleeping man in a hospital bed. Fer asks what Antonia is doing, and she calmly tells him she's "giving Dad a shot to help him get better--but don't tell anybody." And young Fer stands there staring at her while the EKG connected to Marcos Beltran goes beep...beep...beep...beeeeeeeeeeeeeep--and Julia, awakened by his sleep-twitching, holds Fer while he cries. Yay manipulation!

The next day, Max and David are at school. David again comments on Max's heavy backpack, which he's apparently been carrying nonstop; Max tells him that it's a secret, but it's very important and needs to be hidden. David shows him a hiding place he'd used before--in a graveyard, inside the tombstone of Lucia Suarez--and after swearing each other to secrecy on "Tigre's word" that is where Max hides the backpack of gold.

That same morning Ale pops in at Fran's looking for CL. When he notices the mess, Fran bitterly informs him about the police visit that his mother was responsible for. Ale looks suitably impactado at this.

As for Captain Lou himself? He made it to El Chamuco after evading Bullethead, spent the afternoon fishing some more gold out of a brook, declared to the flora and fauna that he "would take the devil's gift"--and promptly fell down a slope, knocked himself out, and broke his leg. (Insert scene of Cesar Evora laughing evilly in Amor bravio here.) After coming to, he managed to tie a tourniquet around his leg to stop it from bleeding...but he couldn't move and his cellphone didn't work, so he still ended up staying overnight where he was. That following morning isn't an improvement, however, since he starts hearing what sounds like a jaguar growling nearby. His pleas for it to go find some younger and fresher prey to snack on fall on deaf ears.

And Gaby, having heard nothing from him, packs a small bag and a shotgun to go find him...okay, let's take a moment to process that. We have a scene in a novela where Aracely Arambula is packing a shotgun. I'm hard pressed to think of something more initially bizarre without putting Sherlyn on a SWAT team. Anyway, she gets intercepted on the way out by Antonia, looking like a badass in black leather, who says she's been looking forward to meeting her...
 

MADE IN CARTEGENA:

I may not be able to write more than a few summaries a week, but I really like this show. The pounding music, the split screens, the jump cuts, it's dynamic! I'm also fascinated by the accents and expressions, although I'm missing many of them. One interesting tidbit is how they address each other. I've seen many novelas set in Colombia, and each city seems to have it's own language thing going. In Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso, all the characters addressed each other as “usted”, even family members. In Rosario Tijeras, they all called each other “vos”, using the “voseo”. But in this show, in Cartegena, they all use “tu”.

And Carmen Villalobos is an amazing actress. She has a very difficult role here, playing a poor girl who has to act like a rich girl, but has to present a different face to her friends from the barrio, whom she loves, but whom she can't tell anything. And she brings it off beautifully.

In Episode 3, We meet a new character, Imanuel Oltero. This is Vicente's buddy from way back. In fact, he was the guy (I think) who got the code to save that woman who had a bomb attached to her, about which Vicente flashed back. Vicente is bringing him in to help with security. They discuss how Marcela, Vicente's wife who was murdered, knew too much about the Santa Helena (the antique golden treasure Vicente currently has in his home safe). They both agree that the same people who were involved in the killing may be trying to get it back now.

Vicente's assistant Silvia doesn't trust this new guy, but Vicente overrules her.

Flora doesn't do too well with her manners and dialog coach, Susana. Frankly, I find both Flora's low class accent and Susana's high class accent equally hard to understand!

Watusi keeps getting hit on by Celina, and even Sabroso thinks maybe he should give up on Flora. But Watusi feels his love for Flora is worth more than that. He buys some flowers (actually he has no money, so he trades some earrings he made for the flowers) and brings them to Flora's high class school. Before he can give them to her, Flora says you can't come in the school dressed like that, and goes into the school with the rich girls. Watusi throws down the flowers in frustration. . Inside the dance class, Flora does a little better, and she tries to make peace with Sofia. But Sofia doesn't want to be friends. As they walk out of class, Sofia isn't looking and walks into traffic. A car just about hits her, and Flora saves her at the last minute, pushing her down. Unfortunately, Sofia hits her head, and is bleeding and unconscious. Flora goes with her to the hospital, frantically calling “Don Vicente”, Sofia's Dad.


 

MADE IN CARTEGENA

But Vicente isn't answering. He and Imanuel have figured out they're being followed. Yes, Max and Blacho are on their tails, having been assigned to track Vicente's movements. But Imanuel sees them, and eventually, after a high speed chase, he eludes Max and Blacho, then gets behind THEM! A truck gets in the way, causing Imanuel to lose the bad guys. But the bad guys messed up in tracking Vicente's movements, angering Harvey. At this point, Flora DOES get through to Vicente, who rushes to the hospital, is very thankful to Flora, and we await news of Sofia's condition.

Meanwhile, Cando and El Profe seem to be planning a prison escape, with Cando swallowing some stuff intended to get him sent to the infirmary, which has less security. They discuss escaping “arriba”, maybe through the air ducts.

In Episode 4, Sofia recovers in the hospital, she's okay. She realizes that Flora's not too bad a person. Flora hurt her wrist a little, and Vicente insists on having her checked out, at his expense. When Vicente is worried for Sofia, Flora impulsively puts her hand on his, and that moment is later recalled by Vicente, something's being awakened in him (he's been very closed off since his wife died).

Vicente insists on taking Flora home in his SUV. But she knows she can't have him know anything about her real life. Harvey happens to call on her cell, and she doesn't answer, but secretly puts him on speaker. She tells Vicente, Imanuel and Sofia that her mother is dead, and her father is always working (both lies, actually her father is unknown, and she lives with her Mom). Later, Sofia remarks to her friend Liliana how much she and Flora have in common. HER Mom is dead and Dad always works. When Vicente asks where Flora's house is, she fumbles, says she just moved, isn't sure. She then sees a text from Harvey with an address, and directs Vicente there. It's in a swank neighborhood. But she can't go inside, doesn't have her keys. Much to her surprise, the door opens, and her Mom (whose name I think is Balén) opens the door dressed as the maid, and backs up Flora's story.


 

MADE IN CARTEGENA

Later, Harvey tells Agua Mala to invent a life for Flora as a rich girl, and back it up on the internet. Flora is not allowed to visit her brother Cando in prison. If Vicente realized she was Cando's brother, the jig would be up. Harvey and Blacho go house hunting, need to find a luxurious one where Flora will live. Before they left, Dixon happened to drop by the club, and saw Blatcho with a very suspcious looking suitcase (containing cash to buy the house). He's snooping around, but his Mom Balén tells him not to play junior detective, and don't pry into his godfather Harvey's business, since Harvey is always helping them financially.

Sabroso, who may actually be Watusi's uncle, not his father, is concerned that Flora has abandoned Watusi. But Flora says no, I still love him, I'm just involved in a lot of stuff I can't tell you about. She later goes down to the beach, sees Watusi with the kids dancing, and makes up with him. She tells him she loves him, but he has to be patient, and after she gets through some stuff, everything will be back to normal. Celina walks up just as they're kissing, and Flora gives her the look of a protective lioness, don't touch my man!

Imanuel has set up lots of cameras and security at Vicente's home. Sofía is a little nicer to her Dad when he's tender and caring to her in the hospital.

Cando has used his fake illness in jail to get the blueprints, which he is going to share with Profe in their escape plan.

Harvey and crew are going to visit Cando in jail tomorrow. But also Flora's family is going to visit him. Except that Flora has been ordered by Harvey not to go. Watusi says you've GOT to visit your brother. With everyone going to the jail, we may have some more action!

 

LA PATRONA:

Loved your recap, Bill! Agree with that Zooey reference. I also can't stop thinking of Prudencia and the three daughters as a copy of Los Herederos del Monte.

I'm still worried about Tigre and that Tiger? who's menacing him. Either he's going to be in deep doodoo from that and his broken leg, or he's going to the slammer for stealing the gold (which he didn't but apparently can't reveal yet, because of the Will, etc.).

So Max's idea worked! Of course no one pays ANY attention to the child standing there with the gold in his backpack.

Yes, Gaby's some woman, whether mining with the guys, or carrying a shotgun to rescue her Dad. And she has a lowcut outfit for every occasion!
 

LA PATRONA

Bill, I'm suffering from a bad case of recap envy! That was another masterful one. I liked "plot-based algebra".

I was sure it was going to be Fernando who was infertile. But their using the David actor to portray Fer as a child surely points to him as the masked rapist. Although there's another illogical thing. [Wait? What? I'm expecting logic in a TN?] Since everyone in town apparently stays up nights wondering who's the father of Gaby's child, wouldn't Fer have a clue? Guess his brain is too pickled or him as the rapist is a red herring.

I like that, unlike most galáns, Alejandro clearly sees Irene macking on him. I guess they don't have those "what constitutes sexual harassment" classes in Mexico. Her inappropriate arm clutching of her boss would get her some written warnings in the US.

I was worried when they showed him fall, but at this point I think El Tigre is going to survive. I hope so; he's a great character.

And thanks so much, Bill, for your great recaps.
 

FOOTBALL

I know you're thinking Novelera is now Nutty Novelera, but this comment is for Hombre.

I think you mentioned being a Ravens fan? If my memory is correct, then congratulations!

Both Harbaugh brothers have now advanced their teams in the NFL Playoffs.

I watched the second half of the 49ers game, having gone to the movies to see Life of Pi in 3D and didn't remember to set the DVR. They looked better than I expected, as their offense has been rather anemic lately.

I don't watch the 49ers much, although I used to. I've reverted to my childhood love of baseball and am now a rabid Giants fan. Football just doesn't do it for me any more.
 

QUIEN ERES TU

I'm watching QET to see Julian Gil with a little good luck for a change after LQNPA. I kinda felt sorry for him there, losing to such a putz of a galan.

Veronica doesn't have a kid. She was shopping in Panama where some kid was running around, and the shop worker said something about kids, asked her if she had any, and she said no and she doesn't like them. Shes also been on the phone with someone who is helping her out. I'm hopinng it's not Ivan, best friend of Felipe (the husband). He's cute and seems like a nice guy. Plus, he's shown interest in one of the maids who used to be friends with Veronica before Ver got all uppity.

On Friday, this maid, Frankie, has a daughter Monica who is trying to get into a good school, the same one where Felipe's bratty kids go, but she needs a letter of recommendation (to get in or for scholarship, I'm not sure). Frankie wanted to talk to Ver but figured it was pointless so she crashed a hotel party (with some help of bellboy Charlie) that she knew Ver wouldn't be at in order to get a letter of rec. from one of the school's supporters.

So guess who showed up? Nat-as-Ver! She's trying to be nice to Felipe after the whole "you're cheating on me", "am not" confusion. Frankie sees her there and panics, not that it matters since Nat-as-Ver has no idea who she is. NataVer runs in to the suegros at the party who ask her what she's doing there since she never goes to these work things of Felipe's. Suegro (Antonio?) gives her heck about causing a scene at dinner the night before, and tells her that it's her fault that Felipe missed an important meeting and work needs to be his numero uno priority. I don't remember what NataVer says but she calls him out on where his priorities lie. I think Sugra might have been impressed.

There are father-son issues here and they are making Felipe a weaker father than he should be. His son puts his feet on the table! Gross. Military school for this one.

At the end of Friday, Natalia had to go out to make a call to Veronica at a particular time. Ver has sent her tickets so that she can go to Panama saying that it'll be easier to make the switch there. But as NataVer says ok to going to Panama and hangs up, brother in Law Lorenzo is behind her. "Trip to Panama?" Whoops.

The good news is that even though Nat told Ver that no one knows what's going on, she has been telling her bartender friend back in DF what's been going on. Take that, evil twin.

Kelly
 

LA PATRONA

I meant to also comment on "Lagarto". Can that possibly be the guy's real name? He definitely looks like a lizard.

I guess that where there's smoke there must be fire. In novelas based in Mexico nearly every show has massively corrupt cops violating citizens' rights.
 

LA MARIPOSA

Wow! I got caught up last night. The events on this TN remind me of a roller coaster. The characters look like they're finished, only to keep on getting out of trouble.

I love La Mariposa's intelligence. She's one step ahead of the people after her at all times.

The plan of Omar to betray the other Colombian narcos and get a monopoly was quite interesting. They didn't seem to emphasize the fact that it was Alicia who saved them by texting from General Vásquez's sister's cell phone.

It's also interesting that Antonio Sandoval is working on the same plan as Pablo Escobar - bribe members of the Colombian Congress to get a non-extradition law passed. I thought they had one in the constitution from Escobar's time. But maybe they wrote something else later cancelling it out.

Bill Smith's falling in love with the prostitute Lina is also interesting. When he proudly said he makes $7k per month as a D4 (DEA) agent, she told him she makes triple that!

The actor playing Cynthia is doing a great job. It seems like the majority of her obsession with catching La Mariposa is jealousy. Her intuition tells her Martinez has fallen for Alicia, but she also manages to convey that it could also be a thirst for justice and desire to bring down a criminal.

I'm trying very hard to say mostly general things so as not to write spoilers for those watching online.
 

GENERAL:

Yes, Novelera, I'm a huge Ravens fan! I loved that game yesterday!
 

QUIEN ERES Y MADE IN CARTAGENA

My ADHD has kicked in, and since I can't get MundoFox yet, I'm following these two TNs on Unimas. I agree with Hombre that MIC is definitely worth the watch... the production quality is much "edgier" and more modern, and Carmen Villalobos is impressing me (I found her kind of annoying after a while in Sin Senos and Mi Corazon Insiste)--maybe it's that she has a little more to sink her teeth into with this character. Thanks for recapping this, even though it's technically off-topic!

QET has me right now too... it's taking me quite a shift to see Julian Gil as a goodie, but the show seems intriguing... but someone is right--the music is terrible :)

I, like Hombre, am puzzled by all the Colombian dialects and their uses of tu, vos, and usted... I noticed in Corazon Valiente that El Verdugo never used "tu" even with his "wife" and daughter, and in Sin Senos they always used "usted" as well, so I looked it up. It seems that regional dialects within the country vary greatly in this aspect, with some regions using tu, others not using it at all, and even others using mostly "vos". If you're interested, here's a good overview I found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombian_Spanish#Colombian_Spanish_dialects

LA MARIPOSA... I love, love, love the Laurens/Altagracia story. All the lead actors are good (with the exception of Price), but I think Altagracia is my favorite character. I love how he has that "lighter" side we get to see every now and then, when he's being just a little oafish around Cynthia or being silly with his nephew. It's a nice break from all the intensity!

AnotherAmy


 

Oh, and I meant to thank Vivi for the awesome QET recaps!

AnotherAmy
 

Is it a Colombian thing to have shows that are edgier and more modern? I've caught bits of these others and these women won't be changing their hair styles after every big event. Or marrying the bad guy to save their family. Seems like they are more likely to BE the bad guy or just kill anyone who threatens their families. Saves time.

This seems to be the direction that MundoFox is heading in and leaving tradition for Televisa and Univision. Nice to see something different even if I am sticking with QET (easier to understand the accents).

Kelly
 

QUIEN ERES TU

Hello All! I have been lurking on this site forever partially because I start novelas long after Univision has aired them.

Anyway QET is intriguing thus far. I am interested to see where they take the storyline. It seems much more modern and edgier than its predecessor. I am only familiar with Julian Gil who I'm not quite convinced can play the "good" guy. He appears stiff or unbelievable sometimes. Laura Carmine on the other hand is new to me but I like how she portrays her character thus far.

Thanks ViVi for the recaps!
 

Pablo Escobar -

novelera, on La Catedral, (my best guess), and the impression I got from the pictures that I looked at from Google was that the picture they are showing us in the novela is an original older picture of a time at or before Pablo moved in, as other pictures show more buildings and improvements, (a really nice log church for one), some I think were done to accommodate Pablo. Also I got the idea that this place was later preserved for people to visit, as a reminder of Pablo Escobar and what he did, and I wonder if they are using it as a set in the novela.
 

La Patrona:

novelera, I'm still wondering if Fer is too obvious to be Gaby's rapist/baby daddy, though between David-as-young-Fer and what certainly looked like Fer's eyebrows underneath the ski mask in Gaby's flashback there's enough circumstantial evidence...

That said, without bringing in a new character he's one of only two obvious possibilities currently on the show. The other, IMO, is Manuel--yeah, I know it doesn't make any obvious sense, but it's Telemundo.

And, come to think of it, Det. Lagarto (Julio called him that while talking to Antonia) does look kind of reptilian. Are there any really bitchy and smug lizards in nature?
 

QET / MIC
Is it just me, or is the actress playing Sofia in Cartagena also in Quien Eres playing a friend of Felipe's daughter?? That may prove a bit mind-bending for me...

AnotherAmy
 

PABLO ESCOBAR, Lunes, Part 1

Ramada and Arellano apologize to Pablo for losing their temper. They didn't mean anything by it. We're friends, we're partners. Look, if you want the $6 million, that's fine. Pablo tells them it's not just a matter of money anymore, you guys showed your true colors, if I let you go, you could turn against me. Ramada assures him that would never happen. But after assurances, begging and pleas, Palbo, cossack hat on head, leaning on a pool cue, calmly tells Topo and Marino to KILL them.

Ismael tells the President that Escobar is living a life of luxuy in his prison, and is still running his operation. Well, where did you get this info? From Peraza. Well, says Gaviria, he was canned, he may not be reliable. Ismael insists, we could at least check it out, no? Gaviria says okay, we'll look into it.

Ramada and Arellano are put in a holding cell. They see Peluche, tell him to talk to Pablo. Meanwhile, Libardo arrives at the gate to see his boss Ramada. Peluche screams at Pablo, what's gotten into you? What will people say when it gets out that you're killing your best associates, your friends?! Are you gonna kill ME next? This is nuts! Pablo goes, okay, tell Topo and Marino I've changed my orders. Peluche runs outside, arrives just AFTER Topo and Marino have killed Ramada and Arellano. Ooops!

As Pablo tells Peluche what's done is done, Marino rushes in, Libardo, the chief of security of Ramada is at the gate, asking to see his boss. Pablo asks about the bodies. Already chopped up, says Marino. Fine, tell the boys to get the barbecue going. And tell Topo to go to Medellín and kill every single relative of Ramada. Peluche protests, but it falls on deaf ears. Topo meets Libardo at the gate, and makes fun of him, telling him he doesn't know if Ramada is inside, it's a big place. Inside, Pablo plays pool with Libardo, and acts dumb when Libardo asks about Ramada. He was here, but maybe he left. I don't know. I gave Topo the order to go immediately and get Ramada's money. But you can stay for our barbecue.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR, Part 2

Cain is praying at his private shrine. He's praying because he's going to have to help Topo kill all those relatives of Ramada. Kiko tells him he's leaving, going to the US. Cain is surprised, the boss worked so hard so we wouldn't have to go. But Kiko says things are going bad, and there's more money in the US.

Barbecue time. Libardo is eating away. Pablo isn't, says he doesn't want to get fat. The music and the looks make it clear that Libardo is eating HUMAN FLESH, that of his OWN BOSS. This is beyond sick. Libardo, while chewing, says it's strange that Mr. Ramada isn't here. Where could he be? They let Libardo leave, and Marino asks why are we letting him go? I don't know, says Pablo, ask Peluche, he's giving the orders nowadays. Right, says Peluche, no one else is going to die.

Really? Cain accosts a young associate of Ramada's, where's his stash? I swear I don't know, says the guy. Ah, says Cain, swearing is a sin. You die. Boom! Kiko makes some other associates sign some papers, then plugs them with lead, taking the papers. They kill Ramada's younger brother. The news spreads, and Lucio tells Mauricio, this is beyond all limits. But we need Ramada to go against Escobar. Enter Libardo, face ashen. What's up, guy? They killed us. His little brother, his nephew, aunt, grandma, even his dog! What about Hernando (Arellano) and Enrique (Ramada)? Last I heard, they were in the Catedral.

At government headquarters, Ismael informs Gaviria that several narcos want to turn in Escobar and get clemency for themselves. Turn him in for what? He's running his empire from prison. And he killed two of his associates in there. But it's not just rumors, we've corroborated it this time. Gavirira says if Pablo thinks he can make fun of the government, he's wrong. He picks up the red phone, and calls out the army, who start approaching in full battle gear.

Mauricio gets in a plane, and drops thousands of fliers over Medellin. They say “Pablo Escobar. A traitor who murders his own friends.” Lucio meets with his brother Miguel. Ramada and Arellano have disappeared. We have to act. Well, I'll just call him and clear it up, says trusting Miguel. Look, bro, Freddie Perea, head of the defense forces. Killed. You did nothing. And now Ramada and Arellano. What are you waiting for? For the next one he kills to be YOU?
 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA -- lunes
"No confiar en nadie"

Juan tells the family he is now squarely on Martín's side.

Alicia tells cop Buenaventura she's on the side of the truth. (Neither he nor the viewer knows how to interpret that.) As she talks, Buenaventura quietly (and illegally?) palms a cell phone lying around in her apartment.

Martín arrives at Natalia's the morning after her pajama party with Carolina. While he is questioning Natalia about the suit Alex loaned him for the party, Carolina hears him and calls the police. Martín escapes through a window as sirens wail outside.

Buenaventura arrives at Natalia's. He is puzzled by Martín's reported interest in the suit. He asks Natalia to try calling the several cell numbers she has for Martín (he has had to keep changing phones to evade the cops). The first one she dials rings in the cell from Alicia's apartment. Bingo! Now he knows where Martín has been hiding.

Braterina, who has spent the night with her mother, Laura, gets all huffy when Laura asks her if she's really pregnant.

Martín phones Samaniego and gets him to agree to meet with him. Martín will call him back in two hours with the particulars. He has important information to share with him, he says.

Buenaventura stakes out Alicia's apartment building. He sees Diana enter. He figures that pretty soon other members of the Mercader family will show up ...
 

Thank you for the El Rostro recaps. Now I understand a lot more of what's going on.
 

LA MARIPOSA

now to episode 24....

http://www.mundofox.com/videos/la-mariposa-6112
 

LA PATRONA

eck! now I'm totally turned off w/ Alejandro for sleeping with the 'enemy.' I'll be watching this for the next couple of weeks anyway, but unless the two leads (Gabriela, and Guerra) change their awful awful wigs, I think I'll be tuning out; can't bear looking at them.
 

LA PATRONA

ITA, Shallowgal, about the wigs. What's up with that? Have the hairdressers at Telemundo gone on strike. The one Christian Back wears is the worst. Sometimes it looks like she'll turn her head and the wig won't turn with her and will cover her face.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR

Super recap, Hombre! What a disgusting episode. And what great acting by Andrés Parra when he first orders Arellano and Ramada killed and then realizes that what Peluche is saying is true. If you're depending on people outside La Catedral to move drugs and give you your piece of the pie, it doesn't make much sense to kill them! Not to mention the fact that other henchmen on the outside will get nervous and perhaps unite with the Cali cartel to protect themselves.

And Marino cheerfully barbequeing those guys and serving pieces to Libardo. Gah! Marino has descended very far from the halfway decent guy who fell in love with one of Escobar's castoffs.

I liked Mauricio's idea of leafletting Antiochia to let everyone know what kind of guy Escobar is.
 

MADE IN CARTAGENA

I managed to see two episodes. It's practically impossible to understand what they say, especially the cruel bald henchman of Harvey. And, since this is in reality a Univisión production, the Spanish sub-titles are just as screwed up as they are on their main channel. They just aren't synched correctly with the scene. Can't understand why Telemundo can do this perfectly and they never can.

I also like Carmen Villalobos. She's one of my favorite protagonists. But the constant need to back up and listen to scenes two or three times in order to understand is discouraging me from continuing.
 

LA PATRONA

novelera - I am trying so hard not to bust out laughing here at work on your description of C Bach's wig. Thanks for that.
 

La Patrona: lunes

So this episode opens on Gabriela and Antonia continuing the staredown they started in Friday's episode. Let's listen in on what they're saying to each other...

Antonia: "Sarah Connor...uh...Gabriela Suarez?"
Gabriela: "I know who you are, Antonia Guerra. You're the ice queen who was with my godfather."
IQ: "Yes, him. He was too kind to you."
Gaby: "He gave me a scholarship and a job in the mine--and I worked my ass off for both of them!"
IQ: "I bet you did...but that's over with now. The mine, the town--they're mine now."
Gaby: "I found that out for myself when the cops showed up and called my father a thief."
IQ: "Oh, look at you being just like your father--proud and unable to shut up. But, you know, you are kind of pretty...in a classless, skanky way."
Gaby: "STFU, you Real Housewives reject! You care about this why?"
IQ: "Because you're like heroin to both of my sons!"
La Heroina: "Speaking of which, keep your crazy stalker son away from my house!"
IQ: "And you keep your backwoods self away from both my sons!"
LH: "Bitch."
IQ: "Wretch."
LH: "Can I go now? One more closeup and the audience will be able to pick out the print on my bra!"
IQ: "No! I haven't threatened your father yet...okay. Tigre needs to come back and face me, because I know he's a thief!"
LH: "Is not!"
IQ: "Is too! And he lied and said the mine was drying up to pull it off!"
LH: "You take that back! Shotgun in your face!"
IQ: "Woman, I would make you eat that gun if it wouldn't mess up my ensemble."
LH: "I'm not going to use it on you--it's too early in the show! Now I'm going to go find my dad!"
Bill C.: "Leopard print. Thank God for high definition!"

While this is going on, Fernando randomly goes out at LD and tries to lasso a horse. I don't know if this is meant as space filler or just to reinforce his uselessness, since his failure isn't even good comedy--but at least he's sober and doesn't fall down. It is punctuated by his flashing back to the dream he had the night before about seeing Mom kill Dad, though, soooo...

Yup, a little later Poncia comes across him getting his drunk on. She's genuinely worried about his drowning his...well, everything in booze; Fer admits that if not for that he would have killed himself by now, and how "it's the price of being Antonia Guerra's son." Poncia notes that Ale is also her son and he hasn't thrown his life away, which warrants a shattered glass and a "Don't compare me to him!" from Fer.

Antonia gets back right after this, and is informed by Poncia of Fer's state as well as Valentina's--she's stuck at boarding school and running a fever. Antonia dismisses the Valentina issue with a "Get her a doctor" and goes to see Fer, who's freaking out over his dream; he tells her about it and begs her to swear that it never really happened. This she does without batting an eye (like we can see one of them more than half the time anyway because of her borderline anime-style wig), but he continues to cry about how he couldn't save him--which Ale walks in on, but once again he misses the context. Antonia manages to deflect his inquiries about that with the usual "He's a mess" just long enough for him to forget about it and start blasting her for the mess with CL. Ale insists that CL is a good man, a man with character, and would never steal; the Ice Queen busts out another black pearl of wisdom in response--"No one is decent when the temptation matches their price" (my God, she really is a Morgan Fairchild character). Ale finally gives her an ultimatum: either she leaves los Suarez alone, or she finds herself a new mine manager.
 

La Patrona: lunes (p. 2)

Later we see her discussing this with Anibal--she's agreed to Ale's terms, since she needs him to run the mine. But she's worried about Ale and Gaby, even though Anibal correctly notes that she's pretty and he's "a stud"--what else would be going on? But she comments that Gaby is "haunting" him (he's jonesing for a fix of La Heroina), and declares that no Suarez will come between her and her son.

QLP: Julia is sobbing to Prudencia and Patricia about her big lie and how Fer won't forgive her if he finds out she's infertile. Prudencia is completely on board with maintaining the lie to save Julia's marriage, albeit while looking for alternative treatments on the D.L., while Patty suggests she should just divorce the guy. Julia once again calls Fer the love of her life, which prompts a "What love?" from Patty; he treats her like dirt, and life's too short--she can be whatever she wants, not just a mother or housewife. (Unintentional and frustrating flashback to Corri Fetman's "Life's short. Get a divorce" billboard here.) Irene pops up on the tail end of this and parrots Mom, saying that Patty's saying that because she's the ugly duckling in the family and the only one without a man. And cue the dysfunctional family hug with Pru, Julia and Irene while Patty has this "This is just sad" look on her face.

Fran's: Fran shows Alejandro more of the mess the cops made, and tells him about their confiscating Tigre's savings. Ale at first is all "No, this must be a misunderstanding," but when Fran mentions that the cops searched Gaby's house as well he goes all "Heads will roll for this!" He makes a beeline for City Hall, where Ricardo explains that Antonia and Anibal "asked" for the search warrant. Ale blasts him for letting Anibal manipulate him, and claims there have been no thefts at the mine; Ricardo basically toes the evil party line, stating how Captain Lou had claimed he would be rich right before he resigned. Ale insists that if there is no evidence, there is no theft (technically wrong as hell, but it's Novelalandia); Ricardo wonders in turn if he's so insistent because he's after the father--or the daughter...

SPDO: another new location, apparently some place called "Cantarranas." Inside Julio and Anibal are having the standard evil villain chat about the planned sports complex and how they're basically going to siphon off its budget for themselves (and Antonia, of course) while leaving the actual project unfinished. Julio takes a break from sucking up to admit he's worried about how the press is all over him--specifically Gaston, who is actually San Pedro FM Guy (how I missed that, I don't know). Anibal smugly declares that Gaston is a little fish, and that San Pedro itself "has no memory...give them football and telenovelas and they'll be happy." They toast to the "complex," and I'm thinking that it only took Telemundo five episodes to narco this one up.

Back at the mine, Ramon informs Ale that Gaby basically called off work that day. Irene hears this and adds that Gaby's "always like that," blah blah FF>>>

Mutual of El Chamuco's Wild Kingdom: Captain Lou is still being stalked by what we finally see is the world's slowest jaguar. He manages to fish a revolver and three bullets out of his bag and wastes all three shots trying to kill it, though the noise leads Gaby (who apparently had a warp drive in her jeep, or the jaguar actually waited for CL to run out of ammo) to his location. She manages to scare the jaguar off with her shotgun, though, and helps get CL out of there. This includes tying him with a long rope to her jeep so she can hoist him up a cliff.
 

La Patrona: lunes (p. 3)

Along the way Gaby tells him about Antonia's accusation and demands to know what he said or did to make her think that; CL basically says he was talking big but ultimately nonsense, being a drunk and all, but stays mum about the Chamuco gold vein.

Another night falls on SPDO, and the collected Beltran, Villegas and Montemar clans are sitting down to a group dinner. Patty asides to Ricardo how they were seated next to each other, which he cheerfully acknowledges, and Ale is rocking a bitchface between Irene and his mother when a familiar scruffy-looking man is pushed in on a wheelchair. Yup, here's CL and Gaby--and CL's pissed that someone there called him a thief. So he, Ale and Antonia go off to talk about that while Gaby has this conversation with las Villegas:

Patty: "Girl, you can sit down."
LH: "No, I'm good. Dad wouldn't stay at the hospital--he had to come here."
Irene: "God, you look like a pigsty! What the hell?"
LH: "Well, someone had to go rescue their dad from a ravine."
Patty: "Gaby, you're kind of awesome. Your life's so exciting!"
Prudencia: "Hush, dear. You're living like a princess--excitement (there is no way to adequately describe the bitchy emphasis she puts on this) is for other people."
LH: "Bitch, I've still got a shotgun out in the--"
Julia: "Yooooouu! GTFO, now, before I kick you out!"

This is naturally punctuated by Fer trying to run up on Gaby at least once.

Meanwhile, Ale tells CL that his life savings will be returned to him and asks him to return to the mine. CL states that it's not about the money, but about his good name being tarnished; Ale states that the whole thing was a misunderstanding, which the Ice Queen frostily backs up and tacks an apology onto. CL appears to consider it, and he and Gaby leave afterwards.

Fran gets a call from CL after this, telling her that he won't be home tonight--Gaby will be taking care of him at her house. Fran is not happy about that--he's her man, and who can take better care of him than her? CL insists that Gaby will be fine/better, which prompts her to hang up on him and yell for Max: "Start packing! We're moving out tonight!"

SPDO: no idea where exactly this is, but considering it's a huge room full of men in suits (and Alberto) with pretty women hanging all over them...this must be "the Doll House," the brothel mentioned a couple of times thus far in the show. Julio, Anibal, Fer, and Ricardo are apparently being dropped off for some frolicking by Bullethead, who notices Alberto macking on one of the "dolls." Ricardo hooks up with another one who comments on his not having been there in a while, and while cuddling with some lovelies on a pair of couches Anibal advises Julio to have some men tail CL, since it's still possible that he did in fact steal gold from the mine. Apart from that, since this basically just reinforces the questionable virtues of all involved (well, mostly Julio) let's just FF>>>

CDS: Gaby has a quick chat with David about saving CL before packing him off to bed. While she's going around turning out the lights, she sees a familiar green Jeep parked outside her house; she grabs her shotgun and goes out to confront who she thinks is Fer, but...yup, it's Ale. Gaby wants to know what the hell he's doing there at that hour; Ale gets his galan on, telling her that this actually isn't the first time he's sat outside her house in the dark, peeking into her window like a teenager. He doesn't know what she's done to him, but it's apparently made him a "silly romantic"--all he can think about is her. All he can do is take her into his arms, lean in to kiss her...
 

La Patrona: lunes (p. 4)

And right on cue here come Fran and Max, loaded with baggage. (The word that describes what Fran just did...nah, I won't use it here. Standards, you know.)

So Ale beats a retreat while Gaby and Fran get into a shouting match in her living room. Fran is livid about being respected as CL's woman and a proper member of his family, and Gaby is livid about her not being respected as CL's daughter. CL is only able to get in edgewise that Gaby needs to respect Fran's place in his life, which prompts her to retort that she and David will be moving out first thing in the morning. (To his credit, David later tries to play peacemaker; he suggests that Fran can help Gaby around the house, since she's always so tired after work, and that Fran is a better cook than she is. Okay, that last bit doesn't help as much.)

Afterwards, CL complains to Fran that he really does want them all to be a family. He also explains about Antonia's claim of theft (reinforcing along the way just how stupid it was for him to brag about his newfound fortune) and how Gaby is still in the dark about the Chamuco vein; he insists that this has to continue, for her protection. This does not affect the deathwatch, IMO.

LD: Bullethead reports to Antonia on Fer's VIP treatment at the Doll House, along with the Alberto sighting. Antonia dismisses him, and after he leaves we actually get to see the Ice Queen with this weirdly distressed look on her face...like she'd just found out someone had been playing with her favorite toy.

Later, Ale comes back from CDS. Antonia and Irene are up talking when he comes in; he deflects their where-were-you questions and semi-grumpily heads off for a shower. Antonia signals Irene that it's time to go full skank, which she does--Ale gets out of his shower to find her buck naked in his bed, covered by only part of a sheet and the head of a doll. Hey, they had to get a frontal shot of her somehow. Irene claims that whatever they do in his bedroom is nobody's business (the offscreen lie detector goes bzzt), that she won't be confused by whatever does happen--no strings, no excuses (and the lie detector just exploded).

And Ale--after being 'blocked by Fran earlier, let's face it--his resistance is low. He goes and gets him some crazy Montemar girl...

Elsewhere in the house, Poncia confronts Antonia about how she's forcing Irene down Ale's pants...er, throat...uh, how she allowed her into Ale's room to seduce him. She already forced Fer to marry someone he didn't love, and she's trying it again with Ale? Antonia declares that she's controlling her children's lives because she knows what will make them happy, which Poncia correctly skewers with relation to Valentina and Fer.

Christian Bach makes me laugh for a solid minute when she tells Poncia to callate!, accompanied by some cracked-out version of Jacqueline Andere's crazy eye, and it only gets worse when Poncia tries to skewer her insane concept of "being a good mother" by making her kids miserable--the Ice Queen busts out a hilariously weak whack to the face, accompanied by some sort of distorted smug expression...oh, lord, I could watch those silly faces all day...
 

La Patrona: lunes (p. 5)

But back we go to Ale's bedroom, where Irene is all dressed again after making love "like two gods." She assures Ale that this doesn't change anything between them--though she promises that they can do it again, whenever he wants. She leaves him there (correctly realizing he's an idiot) and returns to QLP, where she wakes Patty up so she can rave Rex Reed-style about how unbelievably mindblowing and passionate sex with Ale was. (Even the CC3 captions on the DVR apparently imploded at how flowery she was about the whole thing.) Patty, unfortunately, doesn't just go back to sleep in the middle of this--even after Irene swears she's crazy (about him) and will never let anyone take Ale away from her...

CDS: Gaby is awakened by Ale walking into her bedroom and declaring his love for her. At first she resists the call of the galan, but in no time she's letting him undress her and totally doing it on her bed and begging him to "make me yours"...yup, it's Gaby having a dream. (I kind of hate you right now, Jorge Luis Pila.)

The following morning Fran has fixed a nice breakfast for everyone. Gaby doesn't partake of it, but she doesn't say anything about moving either; she just gives David a kiss and heads off to work, with David wondering aloud why she smells of perfume when she's going to work. (Yeah, he needs to watch those episodes of Soñadoras.)

After breakfast Fran wheels CL over to the offices of San Pedro FM, where they meet Gaston. Gaston comments that it's a good thing that CL didn't/can't drive his truck over there, since people could recognize it...not that that would stop Bullethead, who watches them from afar...

SPDO: Antonia drops by Alberto's office at the mine and locks the door. Alberto wonders if she's there for a morning makeout session, and she denies that in the language of crazy: "If you go back to that brothel, I'll kill you." (Mr. Punchable Face actually fails at pulling off a decent "Wait, what?" expression to go with this. He really is useless.)

And over in Ale's office, Irene pops in to fill Ale in on a call from "the London investors" that he missed while out on an inspection of the mine; apparently they wanted some sort of report on a new "vault." Ale is worried that the shaft collapse might scare the investors off, but Irene reassures him that he can use his powers of seduction to sway them--just like he used on her last night. And she goes in for a kiss, which Ale couldn't possibly be any less into--but Irene doesn't notice or care. The point was to mark her territory against Gaby, who was headed to Ale's office before Irene cut her off. So the episode ends on Gaby seeing this and busting out that one glycerin tear again...
 

MADE IN CARTEGENA:

Novelera, I also can't understand Blacho. But I can pretty much understand Flora and Harvey. Vicente? Even though he's speaking with a Spanish accent instead of a Cartegena accent, he speaks so fast it drives me nuts! But I'm just going to watch, try to understand what I can, and hope that gradually I get accustomed to the accent. I've definitely gotten better with the Medellin accent by watching Pablo Escobar.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR, Martes, Part 1

Miguel does call Pablo, who admits he killed Ramada and Arellano, but the reason was that they were plotting to kill him. How did you know that, Pablo? Well, I just knew. And don't believe anyone who said it had to do with some money or Topo, that's totally false. Miguel is disgusted, tells Pablo it's your mess now, don't call me any more. He hangs up on Pablo.

Peluche informs Pablo that the army is approaching the gates for some kind of inspection. The phone rings and Pablo doesn't feel like answering. Peluche does, and a young soldier (who's loyal to them) at the gate says the Vice Minister of Justice (Federico Colgum), and Director of Prisons are both here. What should I do? Peluche says let them in. The young tall but meek Minister asks the Director, shouldn't we wait for the elite troops? The short balding director says no, I don't expect any problems. Right.

Miguel asks Irma to ask her brothers, the Motoas, for help. He brings her up to speed that Pablo killed two of his partners, and chopped up their bodies. She's appalled, but the Motoas won't get involved. Miguel reminds her that her brothers are also at risk. Now she's REALLY appalled.

Kiko says goodbye to his Mom, then to Cain. Cain tries to convince him to stay, not to go to the US, but Kiko has made his decision. He tries to convince Cain to come, telling him how things are going down for Escobar, it's all coming to an end, the other gangs are after him, the government is putting on pressure, it's over. Cain says he's stayin' with the boss. He thinks the holy child of Antoqua protects Pablo. Kiko doesn't think even the holy child can save the boss now. In the car, Kiko tears up, gives Cain a rosary, and they both get weepy.

No sooner do the Minister and the Director enter the jail then Buitre and the guys pull machine guns on them, and throw them in a cell, along with the 5 or 6 soldiers who were with him. Minister Federico is brought before Pablo, and tells him he has orders to transfer Pablo to another prison. One of Pablo's guys comes in and says the Director guy has orders to replace all the guards at this prison. Pablo is enraged, quietly but menacingly rants at the Minister on how the government is breaking its deal, is engaging in criminal behavior. The Minister tells Pablo that he's violated his agreements, with all this luxury here, not to mention that he's still doing illegal things inside here, and he killed those two guys. Pablo isn't fazed a bit, says he has the right to deal with his associates any way he wants, it's none of the government's business, and as for luxury, what luxury? This is just what any decent person should have. The Minister can't believe the gall of Escobar, bordering on insanity. But more than that, he's scared to death, standing in front of this powerful mob boss, who's still wearing that cossack hat!
 

PABLO ESCOBAR, Part 2

More soldiers arrive, and head towards the compound. Pablo then tells the Minister you guys just want to extradite us. No way, says the Minister. Then call the President, orders Pablo. Tell him Pablo Escobar Gaviria wants to explore an alternative to a transfer. And don't dare say I'm holding you hostage. And if the army comes in here, you'll be the first to die. Now dial! The Minister calls, but the President's office hangs up on him (they're not playing games). Peluche comes in, more elite forces are at the gate, our General is holding them up for now. Pablo says we have to stop this abuse of human rights. We'll let the world know. Call my family.

“Pablo's” General (Bonilla) stops the Colonel from entering, pulling rank. The news reports that the Vice Minister and Director of Prisons are being held in the Catedral, not able to transfer Escobar. The President tells Ismael quit waiting, send the army in now! The Colonel gets the orders, tells the General he's going in, like it or not. By now, Federico is tied to a chair being guarded by thugs. He pleads with them, to deaf ears. The lights go out.

We see Pablo and the guys walking across the lawn in the dark, heading for the fence. However, the news says they're in a tunnel under the jail! They interview Pablo's son Emilio, who says the criminal government will never find his father in those tunnels. Peluche says to Pablo, I didn't know there were any tunnels. Yeah, I know, says Pablo, my son is a real warrior, no? They cut through the gates and walk off, while the army guys burst into the Catedral, finding no one except the Minister, the Director and some soldiers. Whoops!

The next morning, Libardo, accompanied by Mauricio, brazenly shoots some guy (maybe working for Pablo?), and pins a sign on his chest, which says “Pepes”. The news reports on Escobar's incredible escape, and callers are afraid of a new round of car bombs and killings. We close with a view of the soldiers outside La Catedral, exploding holes in the ground, following orders, still looking for those “tunnels”. Good luck, guys!

 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA -- martes
Buenaventura gets his man

Alicia and Diana agree that the way to help Martín is by gathering information. Alicia will keep trying to get the letters hidden in Ezequiel's apartment and Diana will get close to Luciano again and try to find out what he knows.

Samaniego and Martín meet and Martín spells out his psychopath theory. He believes the same person is responsible for all the murders. "Not Antonia's", Samaniego corrects him. He explains about the killer nurse in Miami. Martín's heart breaks at the thought that Antonia could have been saved. Samaniego makes an offer: You tell me who killed my daughter and I'll tell you who was behind Antonia's murder.

Alicia accompanies Ezequiel to Mariana's funeral. Juan and Sonia Mercader are there with their son Omar. We see Veronica and Marcos, Natalia, Carolina, Laura and others. "I didn't know my girlfriend had so many friends," says Ezequiel scornfully. Alicia looks around and remembers Martín's words: the killer could be anybody in their circle.

As Martín climbs the fire stairs to Alicia's apartment, the cop on watch spots him and calls Buenaventura. By the time Martín hears the pounding on the door, it is too late. He is surrounded. And for the second time in his short life he is handcuffed and taken into custody. Only now he is not so innocent. As the policeman points out, even if he didn't kill the two women, he still faces charges for kidnapping Luciano and shooting Ezequiel. "Someone is laughing at me," reflects Martín bitterly, "and at this minute he must be finding it very funny."

And at Mariana's gravesite, Ezequiel thinks Veronica and Sonia are mocking him when they offer their condolences.

Diana seeks out Luciano and says she wants him to forgive her. They should just try to be happy, she says. "Let's forget I'm a Mercader." They kiss.

Meanwhile Martin's worst nightmare is made real. He is given his orange jumpsuit and welcomed back into hell.
 

QUIEN ERES TU?
I’m a day behind and only just watched my recording of Monday’s episode. Here’s a quick and dirty recap of what happened Monday before I head to bed.
- Veronica’s plan is to have Natalia come to Panama, have the thugs she hired kill Nat in the house she rented, have them murder someone else who will be coming shortly too, and make it look like a murder suicide. Her id will be on Natalia and her husband Felipe, and everyone else, will think Veronica is dead. Meanwhile Vero will skip happily off to Australia with her new identity.
- Vero shows the hired killers a photo of the other murder target. The audience does not see the picture. They demand double pay for killing two people.
- Vero calls Florencia—the girl who came up to Nat/Vero in the drug addicts anonymous meeting, wondering what the heck Vero was doing there. Vero says she was just acting the part when she didn’t acknowledge her at the meeting. Vero has planned for Florencia to transfer a bunch of money to her account by Friday, and then Flor is to travel to Panama. Could she be victim #2. I get the feeling that Vero and Flor are lovers, or at least Flor is in love with Vero, but I could be wrong about that.
- The boss of the Mexican gangsters who killed Natalia’s ex-boyfriend Saul, arrives and he wants the list of drug routes that is in Natalia’s (or Vero’s) possession, without her knowledge of it. His henchmen go to the bar where Nat works, and pay off Sonia the waitress to get them info on Nat’s whereabouts. Nat’s friend and boss does not give up any info to Sonia. He has her number. But she does end up giving the gangsters Nat’s home address.
- Felipe’s brother Lorenzo still seems creepy, but he lies to Felipe to cover for Nat/Vero when she isn’t quick enough to come up with an excuse for why she slipped out of the party. He reminds Nat/Vero that he’s a live and let live kind of guy. He doesn’t seem to buy Nat/Vero’s story that her call was with a girlfriend who wants her to visit her at her beach house that weekend, but he seems amused by her attempt to lie.
- Felipe and Nat/Vero dance the night away, smooch and canoodle at the party, much to the displeasure of his assistant who has the hots for him.
- The hotel maid, who was once friends with Vero, Francisca, talks the ear off the ambassador trying to get that school recommendation for her daughter. He is too busy checking out some hottie who is giving him eyes, and introduces Francisca to Felipe’s best friend Ivan with a wrong name and saying she’s an Ivy League educated lawyer, before walking off to slime on some young thing. Ivan is smitten. She nervously tries to avoid Vero, who she is sure will kick her out and have her fired. When Nat/Vero sees her and makes small talk, Francisca thinks she is making a sarcastic comment about her crashing the party and she runs off. Ivan eventually catches up to her, invites her out to drinks, and they nearly do the deed at his place before her daughter calls and Francisca runs off yet again. She did manage to tell Ivan some of the truth about herself, but he still has no real clue who she is or how to find her again.
- Felipe is also in the mood to get frisky with Nat/Vero. She would be totally into it, except her sister’s words about not sleeping with her husband run through her head. Either her causes her to have a panic attack where she nearly passes out, or she is faking it. Either way, Felipe rushes her to the hospital. The doc comes into the room and says she is fine. But then he mentions the abortion that Vero had five months ago. Caras de impactadas de Felipe y Natalia!

 

QUIEN ERES TU

Missed word at the end-- "Either her guilt causes her to have a panic attack..."
 

QUIEN ERES TU?

The doctor could very well mean that Vero had a miscarriage, and not a voluntary abortion (same word in Spanish), five months ago. Will just have to wait and see. Those who saw Tuesday's episode might already know the answer.
 

Was so excited to find another El Rostro recap. Have been watching without knowing Spanish but your recaps make it so much better. Thank you again. Cajun Gringa
 

La Patrona -

I wasn't going to watch this, but,
reading Bill C.'s summaries every day,
are so much fun!

thank you so much!
 

Pablo Escobar -

thanks so much Hombre!!!
I can't say that enough,

oh, oh,
Los Pepes was throwing me so I did a search, and there is a web page,

"Los Pepes, a name derived from the Spanish phrase "Perseguidos por Pablo Escobar" ("People persecuted by Pablo Escobar"), was a short-lived vigilante group composed of enemies of drug lord Pablo Escobar."
 

PABLO ESCOBAR

Thanks so much, Hombre! The brass ones of Pablo thinking that he can just order the government around! I hope the Vice Minister was wearing brown pants! ;-) He looked like he was really terrified. So Pablo has once again escaped from where he is living and is traipsing through the woods with his buddies. We'll see what happens now.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR -- martes

Thanks, Hombre!

I was looking at the young deputy minister and trying to remember where I had seen that terrified face before. And now I remember: the actor David Galindo played the closeted gay man, Alcides, in the Colombian novela, "El último matrimonio feliz". Ironically, the actress playing Escobar's wife Patti, Cecilia Navia, was Angela in that 2008 novela. Angela was determined to snag Alcides as her husband in spite of all the alarm bells that should have warned her off.

(Of course none of this should surprise us. As Deb has told us, nearly every actor in Colombia is in this thing.)

BTW, can someone remind me: Who is Miguel? Narco? Guerilla? If so, right or left?
 

Pablo Escobar -

Miguel? let's see, isn't he the right wing guerrilla, brother to the guy who had his own version of using Swiss guys to carry out their agenda,

I've been reading Roberto (Peluche) Accountant's Story, version of their stay at La Catedral, fascinating, I really get the idea Pablo was a genius in his own way so to speak, always working the angles.

He had bought La Catedral, though untraceable to him, because of it's strategic importance, he could look out over Medellin which he loved, but you could see anyone coming up the road. It also had good tree coverage and was usually covered in fog in the mornings and afternoon, good for air cover. But he also bought a building at the bottom of the road and wired in a direct phone to the Catedral. They also did have tunnels, some under their rooms, where they kept money, arms, etc. and they had carefully planned out an escape route.

and it was interesting how they worked in the nice life style, with the apparency of a prison. I guess the guards that worked the checkpoints and such weren't allowed to actually come into the prison, and with delivery trucks and such with false compartments they could bring in whatever and who ever they wanted. And some of the "prettiest" girls in Colombia were invited to their parties.

and from the Accountant's Story, how the whole tax thing came about was described as,

"In addition to the government, Pablo also made arrangements with the other drug traffickers. He believed he was serving his sentence for all the traffickers who would be helped by the new laws. It was agreed that during his time in prison he was to be compensated by them from the business. This was just as had always been done when one person gave up his freedom for others. "I am the price of peace," he told them. "I am making this sacrifice for you, so you should compensate me.""

and according to the book, these guys that were killed, weren't being straight with Pablo, which indicated they were about to take over a part of Pablo's business.

Interesting in our show how Pablo pointed out to the minister, that what happens between banditos, is between banditos and shouldn't be your concern.

and I guess the president had already made his decision to move Pablo to another prison ,was the reason they weren't answering the phone, the minister just kind of got caught in the middle of that whole thing.

btw, one website I looked at mentioned a tour you could take where you could have you picture taken with "the" Pablo cossack hat on. So I guess that thing still lives on.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR

Hey Deb,
Thanks for the info on Miguel. I kind of thought that's who he was but at this point I'm having trouble keeping the BAD guys apart from the BADDER guys apart from the BADDEST guys.

I also appreciate the extra info on La catedral though I continue to be skeptical of Peluche as a source. :)
 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA

NOVELAMAN -- Are you out there? Are you still watching this show? If you are, would you be able to recap Wednesday, starting today?

I'm going to be recapping Amores verdaderos over on Uni on Wednesdays so it would be great if you (or someone else) picked up the day.

Actually, I'd welcome anyone else interested in doing super short recaps of this show. I don't want to disappoint the people who are following the novela but it would be nice if a few other folks got involved.
 

Pablo Escobar -

hi NovelaMaven,
yep, Roberto (Peluche) paints a pretty rosy picture of his younger brother Pablo, never a bad word. But as far as their day to day life, he's has some interesting details.

like when the lights went out,

"We had the lighting system prepared for our needs, so that if planes flew overhead we could quickly turn out all the internal lights with a remote control that I built—or when we needed to slip outside we could do the same thing."

on an air attack,

"A DAS agent who was helping run the prison security discovered that Cali had bought four 250-pound bombs from people in El Salvador and was trying to buy a plane to drop them on us. They were not able to, but on occasion our guards suddenly would begin firing their weapons at airplanes hovering too long in the area or coming too close to the Cathedral."

btw, something he mentioned led me to believe that the governments interest in this prison deal was for Pablo to stop the war, the kidnappings, the car bombs, etc., because it was destabilizing the country/economy, preventing foreign investment, etc, and when he went to jail, the violence stopped, and the government achieved their goal, but the U.S. wasn't happy because the cocaine trafficking hadn't decreased.
 

EL SEÑOR DE LOS CIELOS -

an official Telemundo announcement,

"After Pablo Escobar, Comes the Story of a Drug Lord who was both Loved and Hated and who changed the Face of a Nation"

"MIAMI – January 16, 2013 – Telemundo announced today the kick-off of production for "El Señor de los Cielos" (The Lord of the Skies) in Mexico, with renowned actor Rafael Amaya (La Reina del Sur, Alguien te Mira) joined by a stellar cast that includes Ximena Herrera, Fernanda Castillo, and Luis Roberto Guzmán as Marco Mejía. For this original production inspired by a true story, Telemundo has recreated the look and feel of the 1990s, with props and fashions from the era. The drama is being taped on location on ranches in Estado de México, airports near Mexico City and haciendas in Morelos. Cutting-edge special effects are being used to recreate shootouts, explosions and airplane stunts, and the actors have undergone physical training for the production's action and adventure scenes."

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/SrDeLosCielosTV
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/SrDeLosCielosTV.

ref: http://www.nbcumv.com/mediavillage/networks/telemundo/pressreleases?pr=contents/press-releases/2013/01/16/telemundoinicia1358366238007.xml
 

QUIEN ERES TU

thanks for the concise, yet very detailed recaps, Vivi.

just checked this subtitled tn out on youtube today, and gotta say I'm liking it more than La Patrona.
 

GENERAL

I'm at a public library, having paid my utility bill and feeding my addiction - reading today's recaps.

The internet and half the phone lines are out at work. I gotta get back there, so don't have much time to comment on the excellent recaps of today.

Bill, you continue to amaze with your hysterical recaps of La Patrona. Hope to comment when and if I have a chance. Tonight is my Spanish class, so I won't be able to write anything this evening either.

Hombre, thanks a million again for recapping Escobar so faithfully.
 

QUIEN ERES TU

btw, I'm loving the aesthetics... beautiful protagonista (kinda reminds me of Emily Deschanel), homes, resorts, clothes. it's just a bit of a downer cuz of all their serious caras.
 

QUIEN ERES TU:

Shallowgal- The plot is quite interesting and the setting is beautiful. I can't believe Vero would plan something so evil for her sister. Just, wow!

LA PATRONA:

I'm not watching this, but I am reading Bill's hilarious full recaps. These recaps are so snarkilicious, and so complete, they really could have their own thread. Not sure if you can keep it up every day Bill, but I for one will be reading (if not watching).
 

Thank you kindly, Vivi. I'm not sure how long I'll be consistently doing these (the perils of being unemployed), but for now I'll take the escapist venting. :D

La Patrona: martes

Okay, so we're still in cliche hell with Gabriela staring at Irene kissing Alejandro. Gaby beats a hasty retreat right after Ale pushes Irene away; he obviously made a mistake sleeping with her, since she's now confused about their status and he didn't want that. Irene pooh-poohs him for being "uptight"--what's a kiss between friends?--which prompts him to declare that there will be no more kissing from her to him, in his office or anywhere else.

Irene then exits with a huge "Mission accomplished!" smile on her face to track Gaby to the bathroom, where she's calling herself an idiot for getting all dolled up (let alone breaking out her red courtin' tank top) and thinking Ale could really be interested in a simple minera like her. When Irene interrupts her freakout she tries to cover by saying the other miners were getting to her; Irene suggests that they have lunch to talk about why Irene looks so "happy," which Gaby refuses and walks out on. Which is just fine for Irene--sure, Ale may be pushing her away now, but her competition's green with envy.

Gaby heads out of the mine offices and is intercepted by Ale, who's obviously confused when she coldly addresses him as patron. Any progress he could make is derailed when Antonia pops up and wonders why Gaby isn't actually doing her job; she stomps off, changes into her standard work tops, and goes into the mine to the usual "Oh, here's the queen now!" taunts from the Pig Posse. The most interesting part of this is probably where Gaby threatens the ringleader with a shovel.

Meanwhile, Alberto and Antonia are still talking in his office. More accurately Alberto grumbles about how she can't just threaten to kill him like she did in the last episode. Antonia all but goes "Bitch, please" as she lays down the law: he's her toy, she sets the boundaries of their relationship--including who he sleeps with--and if he doesn't like it he can end it right there. Alberto whines that after being humiliated by her and fired by Ale he just had to "take it out on a prostitute," and the Ice Queen completes the crazy bitch hat trick; she's not jealous of the prostitute, but she's pissed that he didn't get her permission first (well, she says "tell me about her," but we know what she meant).

Shortly after this, Ale calls a meeting of the mine's stockholders--Antonia, Anibal, Fernando (his first whine of the day is "Why is this meeting so early?") and Valentina Vidal, whom he had had brought back from boarding school. He gives them all copies of a report--look, it's the unedited version of the viability study Alberto had tried to get Tigre to sign off on in the first episode. Apparently Marcelo Vidal suspected the mine was running out of gold before his death, and had commissioned multiple studies to confirm it--the viability report is the final confirmation of it.
 

La Patrona: martes (p. 2)

Antonia and Fer go straight to "Are you seriously trying to tell us we're bankrupt?", though Ale notes there is a silver lining: the mine may be running out of gold, but it's apparently rich in other minerals--silver, copper, and zinc. If they start mining those items, they'll be just fine--and Ale has prepared a proposal to send to the British investors to reflect that.

(So, if I have this right: Antonia and Anibal's original plan was to offload the mine on the investors using the fake viability study...or at least scam them out of some coin. I'll allow it.)

Later, Alberto is talking to Ramon about his chat with Antonia. It goes like this:

Alberto: "I'm used to making women my toys, you know? I'm not supposed to be the toy! This doesn't compute!"
Ramon: "Bitches be jealous, man."
Alberto: "Jealous? I thought she actually could kill me earlier! She's a psychopath."
Ramon: "Man, that just means she really loves you."
Alberto: "You think so?"
Ramon: "Oh yeah, man, she's completely into you. Which is why you need to marry her--she's beautiful and loaded! You need to put a ring on that!"
Alberto: I don't know...she's a lot older than me..."
Ramon: "What part of hot rich broad do you not understand, man?"

Afterwards there was a PowerPoint presentation on the advantages of sugar mamas, but we don't get to see that.

LD: Antonia pops in for a minute to find Prudencia, Julia, and Patty waiting for her. They're there for a meeting of a planning committee for a party, apparently to be held at the Club of Whatever. Antonia blows them off, calling them the most unrefined members of the club, and exits.

CDS: Fran is touching up Captain Lou's bandages while they talk about their meeting with Gaston (more on that later). Ale pulls up in the middle of this, which prompts CL to wonder if he's there to ask him again to come back to the mine; Fran tut-tuts him. He's not there for CL, but for his daughter.

As it turns out Ale got there before Gaby, so he spends some time playing soccer with David and Max. When Gaby gets there Ale once again asks her if he did something, and in proper protagonista fashion Gaby just goes on about he lied to her about his feelings and how she "only believes what she sees," which confuses the hell out of Ale before CL hobbles out to interrupt them. Ale tells him that he came by to ask Gaby out to dinner, which she claims is work-related ("We're going to talk about mine safety!"); he in turn takes this completely into teen comedy territory when he accuses her of being afraid of going out with him. "Nothing scares a Suarez!" is her reply, and suddenly she's going to be picked up at eight. Point, Alejandro.
 

La Patrona: martes (p. 3)

LD: Ale and Poncia are reassuring a bedridden Valentina that she'll be fine--it turns out she has a bad cold, so she'll be stuck there for a while. Valentina wonders if she's going to die like her parents, which Ale firmly denies...but she follows that up with a really valid concern: what happens to her when he returns to Mexico City? Antonia hates her! Ale scores galan points by telling her that he now has a great reason to be there--her--and gives her a kiss before heading out. Poncia does note the same thing to him, though: Antonia really does hate that girl.

Antonia comes back on the heels of this and runs into Irene, who apparently tells her about sleeping with Ale. Antonia is initially happy her plan worked, but when Irene notes that Ale informed her that it was just "passion" she blames Irene: "Were you that bad in bed?" Irene tries (somewhat) to make her case that Ale's indeed into her, though obviously that pesky Gaby has him under a spell somehow. Probably with Fran's help, since she's a witch and all. Antonia laughs that right the hell off--if Irene failed at her mission, that's all on her. Thus, "Smart women always know how to leave men wanting more" is today's black pearl of wisdom from the Ice Queen. I can't really argue that one.

Back at CDS Gaby is once again calling herself an idiot, this time for agreeing to go out to dinner with Ale. While trying to psyche herself up into calling him back to cancel, she's picking a pair of dresses out of her closet and checking them out in a mirror. Fran pops in and advises her to wear a burgundy dress, which prompts Gaby to grumble that she was eavesdropping; Fran noted that she had left her bedroom door open and she had overheard her, but then insists that the "spoiled brat" (in a playful way--she said something else, but CC3 completely failed there and it was really fast) should still wear the burgundy dress.

Here comes night again, and Ale's pulling up at CDS. Fran meets him and goes to fetch Gaby--yup, she went with the burgundy dress and a tasteful blue-stone necklace--who walks out and tells him that she's not going to dinner with him. Even Jose Feliciano wouldn't believe that, but we can't FF>> past this--after some back-and-forth over how she still can't believe his admissions of affection, she finally says that she saw him kissing Irene earlier. Ale insists that she kissed him and that it was "circumstantial," and...you know what? FF>>>

Inside, CL is grumbling about why Ale and Gaby would have to go out to dinner to talk about work. That earns him a laugh from Fran--he's being completely jealous of Gaby because of her suitor, which is exactly how she is about him! CL...yeah, I can accept that he's that blind...tries to process "suitor" and wonders what Ale's intentions towards her are; Fran notes that it's none of their business, since Gaby's a grown woman and they both like each other. Observant little witch.
 

La Patrona: martes (p. 4)

SPDO: welcome to the Hotel San Pedro, which is...pink...and whose sign advertises la mejor experiencia. Inside we go to a lovely suite, where a naked Alberto has apparently just finished la mejor experiencia del dia with Antonia, who's rocking his shirt and a pink spangly bra. (Here we pause for a moment to try to parse the Ice Queen wearing anything pink, let alone spangly.) Alberto whines that he still feels like a toy, which Antonia tries to deflect--"Didn't I just show you how much I love you?"--and not like a man who loves her. Antonia has him say that again (hey, even evil queens want to be told that), but he still doesn't believe she really loves him. She needs to prove it, and the best way to do that is to put the engagement ring he busts out on her finger.

Antonia almost literally laughs in his face when she rips on the ring, and follows it up by calmly telling him "I don't marry poor men." She further states that they really don't love each other, that they're just enjoying each other's company for the time being; who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Quinta las Princesas: Prudencia and Julio are talking about Julia's infertility--rather, what it means for the family if Fer divorces her over it, since Antonia is gonzo for that grandson. Julio's also concerned about Anibal, since he's untrustworthy (gee, you think?) and likely to cut him out of "the business"--I'm guessing he means the sports complex scam--once he gets what he wants. They agree that they need to get Irene and Patricia married to Ale and Ricardo ASAP as a contingency plan, which inexplicably includes getting Irene named as queen of the upcoming San Pedro Day festival--Prudencia comments that this will impress Ale, which is an almost Julia-class level of delusion.

The Club of Whatever: Prudencia is telling Irene and Patty that Irene will indeed be queen of the San Pedro Day festival for the sixth year in a row. Patty has a rare duh moment when she asks Irene if she ever gets tired of her father using his influence to do that; Irene fluffs up and declares that even without his help, she's still the prettiest woman in town. (Prudencia: "Patricia, support your sister's victories." I really want someone to smack her.) Patty admits that perhaps she doesn't spend as much time on her appearance as her sister, but "at least she doesn't have cellulite for brains" and stomps off with a parting head-poke to Irene for good measure.

Patty ends up in a different part of the club's restaurant/bar, where she orders a drink--which a lurking Alberto picks up the tab for. He gets his own drink and they toast to, as Patty puts it, "the bomb that should drop on San Pedro del Oro and kill all the hypocrites" (oh, lord, she is Zooey Deschanel!). They then engage in some small talk about how he doesn't prefer "flowers" like her sister to "thorns" like her, and how he should find out how shy she is, and there's sexytime music going in the background, and I'm sitting here going "No, girl, no..."

Meanwhile, Ale and Gaby arrive at the club. Gaby's not crazy about going in and being surrounded by all those uptight folks; Ale tells her that he wants them to see him with her, prompting a "Para que?" from her. He insists there's nothing up with Irene--if there was, would he really be taking her out now? Gaby in turn insists that she still doesn't want to go in, that she doesn't want any trouble--but of course when Ale asks her who from, she stays mum. Being the heroine, it'd take too long to rattle off the list anyway.
 

La Patrona: martes (p. 5)

Back inside Julio and Julia have joined Prudencia and Irene for dinner. Julio is all "Congratulations to the festival queen! I knew you'd win," which even Julia knows is bullshit (there's a flicker of hope, folks); she tells Dad to stop being so "corny."

Somewhere nearby, Alberto and Patty are walking through the club's stables. Patty tells him that she loves horses, since they bring out her wild side; they come across an empty stable, and here comes the sexytime music again as Patty literally shoves Alberto onto some hay and jumps on him...I guess she gets the requisite one bad choice, being the closest thing to the show's ingenue, but damn--him?

Thankfully we go back to the restaurant, where Antonia and Anibal are now present and talking about what they think CL has inherited (more on that shortly) and how important it must be. And there's Fer too, sucking down a drink, when in walks Ale with Gaby on his arm and a hearty "Buenos noches!" Julia and the Ice Queen look moderately WTH impactada, and Fer...well...

Fer: "Yoooooouuuu!"
Fer's Drink: "Why are we always being thrown at the wall--"
Fer: "What are you doing here with her?"
Ale: "Gabriela's my guest! What's your problem?"
Fer: "I told you she's mi--dammit, my wife's looking at me and I'm not drunk enough to ignore it...uhhh...you can't date her, man!"
IQ: "He's right, Alejandro. What is this, a pity thing?"
Ale: "Don't insult her, Guerra!"
IQ: "I mean, really, dear. Charity date?"
Gaby: "Let me out of here! I'm nothing like these people--thank God!"
Ale: "No, it's fine. You're my guest!"
IQ: "The hell--oh, never mind. I need some air. Come on, Fernando."
Fer: "But she's mi--"
IQ: "Now, Fernando."
Julia: "My turn!"
Gaby: "Oh, God--"
Julia: "Yooooouuu! You're just here to destroy my tenuous grasp on reality and my fragile marriage to Fernando!"
Ale: "...what?"
Prudencia: "This is totally improper. This is an exclusive club!"
Gaby: "Yeah, for exclusive stuck-up bitches!"
Julia: "How dare you, you floozy! You tart! You hussy! You--you protagonista!"
Irene: "Oh, hell, she's gonna mess up my chances--whoa, girl! C'mon, let's go."
Gaby: "Screw this!"

And Gaby storms out, with Ale in tow.

The episode decides to follow this up by taking us back to the stable where Patty and Alberto are making out, and where Alberto has somehow been doing this with one eye on the stable door. When Patty asks him what he's been looking at, he admits that "his boss" is a member of the club and could fire him if she found him there; Patty says that if he could be fired for "immoral behavior," then they might as well enjoy it...and they start really getting into it...

For the love of God let's go back to outside the club where Gaby is convinced she should never have come there. The last thing she needs in her life is more complications, more trouble...and Ale wonders if that's what he is to her now, trouble?
 

La Patrona: martes (p. 6)

Elsewhere on the club grounds Fer is asking Antonia to step aside before he goes all Ray Lewis on her to get back to Gaby--well, he tries to deny that she means anything to him, but that lie lasts about ten seconds. Antonia admits that she now knows that Gabriela Suarez is the girl Fer was hung up on back in the day, and he then asks for her help with Gaby--his beloved brother Alejandro took everything else from him, but he can't lose her! Antonia tells him that Ale never took anything from him, but that neither he nor Fer will ever get close to that woman again.

And then Fer, on the verge of tears, drops the bomb: "Gabriela Suarez is already my woman. I already made her mine." Oh. Snap. Antonia initially wonders if/when he slept with her, and he blubbers out that she never knew it was him...that it happened at night, and he was wearing a mask...

Even the Ice Queen looks shocked as she has to ask: "Did you rape that woman?"

Guerra, la patrona del mal: so at San Pedro FM that morning Fran and CL showed Gaston Lucia Suarez's will and explained about the property she inherited (referred to here as the Chamuco Ravine), which was apparently thought worthless at the time it was willed to her. Gaston noted that the will was never notarized, which needed to be done immediately; CL confirmed that and added that it has to be done in secret, since he already pinged Antonia's radar by shooting his mouth off. If she found out about this, she could kill him. (Deathwatch foreshadowing alert!) That's okay, according to Gaston--he knows a guy who's discreet--and the trio heads off to meet him.

Bullethead sees them go and checks in with Antonia, who orders him to follow them. This leads him to a bar we haven't seen before, where Gaston introduces CL to one Pascual Duarte, executor, who agrees to get the will notarized for him. Bullethead gets Pascual's name out of the bartender, and after CL and company leave he approaches Pascual and buys him a drink...okay, a few drinks to loosen his tongue. Pascual apparently passes out before giving up real specifics, but he does tell Bullethead offscreen that CL needed help with a will and inherited land...which of course he relays to the Ice Queen before her trip to the club. She's crazy, but not stupid--this property must be important if CL is trying to keep mum about it, and she must know what's going on.

This leads Bullethead to abduct Pascual in the middle of the night with the assistance of Detective Lagarto and take him to some dimly lit room, where he and some other goons play punching bag with him until he admits that he did apparently notarize Lucia's will and that CL and Gaby are the inheritors of El Chamuco, but that CL still has a copy of the will...

And back to the club we go, where Gaby is telling Ale that they should just leave things as they are. Ale again tries to make her understand that he was all cynical and controlled before he met her, that she's made him believe in love and how it makes him want to do nothing more than take her in his arms--and this time there's nothing to stop him from laying a kiss on Gaby, though it's a bit more restrained than the ones they shared in her dream. Boo chastity!
 

QUIEN ERES TU?
Tuesday Episode—OK, got home and watched my recording as soon as I got in. Lots of plot points came to the forefront.
Part 1:
- I was partially wrong. The doc didn’t mention the aborto (miscarriage/abortion) in front of Felipe. (That was in the previews.) He lies/tells Felipe instead that Vero was there 5 months ago because of a blood pressure drop. Felipe mentions the drug addiction and the doc says what happened with Vero/Nat (her attack of the vapors when Felipe tried to get jiggy with it) wouldn’t be unusual for withdrawal symptoms. Felipe gets even more loving, concerned and protective after hearing this. Nat might have just found her excuse for abstaining—not now dear, I’m going through withdrawal.
- The next morning, Nat is being the sweet loving wife, and remembers all of Vero’s instructions about how Felipe likes his breakfast. She’s scoring lots of points with him, but stepbrats Lucas and Gabriela are not buying this overnight personality transplant (which they also need). After they all go off, Nat uses her secret phone to call her boss/friend up in Mexico to swap updates. (I will learn his name at some point.) He tells her that her ex has been looking for her and warns her not to fall for his crap again. She tells him how she’s pleased that she’s managed to save Vero’s marriage. He warns that the woman Felipe is falling in love with is Nat, not Vero, and he knows her well enough to tell that she’s falling for Felipe too.
- At Esquivel Hotels HQ (the family biz), I learn that the redhead with the hots for Felipe is not a lowly assistant. She’s in charge of taking care of the big shot investors—planning fancy events for them and basically making sure they are happy. Her name is Julieta, she and Felipe have known each other for many years, and she considers them friends. She is pissed at him for ignoring her, and being so loving with his wife at the party, right in front of her face. How dare he?! Well, the reason why she is so ticked off is because “something” happened between her and Felipe recently. (Sex) He makes the excuse that he was going through a rough moment in his marriage (consolation boink). He can barely look her in the eye. She tries to pretend that she’s cool with them going back to “just friends” status, she just wants him to treat her with respect. Yeah, right.
- Nat/Vero shows up at the office on the tail end of this uncomfortable conversation. To make the situation more uncomfortable, Florencia (girl from Anon meeting and Vero’s accomplice) turns out to be the IT specialist for the company, and she is working on Felipe’s computer. Her dad also happens to be head of security, Manuel. Nat/Vero and Felipe greet each other lovingly. Julieta stares daggers at Felipe; Felipe sweats bullets; Felipe points out Flor so that Nat/Vero can greet her; Nat sweats bullets; Flor stares daggers at Nat/Vero. Nat/Vero’s car (with brakes that never malfunctioned) is ready, so Felipe walks her out. Outside he is confused why Nat/Vero is asking him about Flor, when she already knows who she is. They share some loving goodbye smooches, while Flor watches them from an office window, tears in her eyes, looking like an angry spurred lover.
- In Panama, Vero is on the phone with an unseen accomplice. She is ticked that Nat didn’t follow her orders and stuck close to home. Now that, 1) Nat thinks she’s a drug addict; and 2) Nat has met Flor, it complicates things. If they are to keep Flor under control, she and Nat absolutely CANNOT meet again. Oops! Too late for that Vero.

 

QUIEN ERES TU

Tuesday Recap Part 2:
- Nat goes back to the doctor to pick up her test results, and it is there that she learns the real reason Vero was there 5 months ago—she came in, in the midst of a miscarriage. The doctor finds it unusual that they found no drugs in her system, based on what she and Felipe told him the night before about her being a recovering druggie. In any case, she’s in perfect health. Nat, who took a peek at Vero’s medical file, asks the doc if they didn’t find anything wrong with her five months ago, like say…leukemia? Nope, she is and was perfectly healthy! Cara de impactada de Natalia.
-Alberto (Felipe’s dad and the head of the company), Felipe, Julieta, and Ivan speak about the big important investors who are coming soon and will be staying at the hotel resort. This is a REALLY big deal, and Antonio threatens to throw Felipe out of the company if it all doesn’t go off without a hitch. The money from the investors (multi millions of dollars) will be transferred into two accounts, which require all kinds of security measures, this week. Flor listens at the door, and we start to see Vero’s plan take form a bit more. For some reason, they make a point of saying that the Argentine investor, Alberto Ibarra, has been particularly finicky and has requested all kinds of personal security while he’s there.
- The hotel staff decides they will use the fact that the investors are there to strike and have their demands heard.
- Francisca still frets that Vero will have her fired. When she doesn’t get fired, but instead is assigned to clean the ambassador’s suite, she tells Charlie (fellow hotel employee who is sweet on her) that surely it means Vero is up to something, and she will go to Vero’s house after work, confront her, and demand to know what she’s planning. Ruh roh! Once in the ambassador’s room, she makes pains to hide her face (like he would actually remember her face—he likely can’t remember the face of the chippie who’s still in his bed), and then takes the opportunity to steal one of the blank letterhead sheets he has signed and left for his assistant. We now see how her daughter will get that recommendation to the fancy high school. Ivan is still wondering who was the mysterious lady who left him with blue b*lls the night before. No woman has ever done this to the self-admitted Don Juan before.
- The henchmen in Mexico report to their drug lord boss that they found no trace of Nat, and the neighbors and co-workers have no idea where she is. He tells them to break into her place and search for the list. Then he calls someone up and tells them to get him Sotomayor—he needs him to track someone down for him. Uh oh!

 

QUIEN ERES TU

omg! the actor who plays Lorenzo is also on La Mariposa as her husband.
 

MADE IN CARTEGENA:

When last we left off, various people were going to visit Cando in prison. Although Harvey has specifically prohibited Flora from going, she does anyway, with her Mom. They start talking to Cando, but after one minute, Flora sees Vicente across the prison yard, and she and Belen (Mom) have to play sick to make a hasty exit. Vicente and Imanuel meet with Cando, and he's defiant, but Vicente is very nice, and gives him his card if he changes his mind. The next day Dixon and Watusi visit, and Dixon and Cando both agree that Flora's acting strangely. Profe gives Dixon a little message to deliver to someone. Dixon gets picked up by these tough guys, and gives them Profe's message. He even offers to work for them. They get a little spooked, though, when they find out his godfather is Harvey (their rival, I think).

Meanwhile, Profe and Cando have a plan to escape from jail, involving digging a tunnel, which will take 2 months. It's in the ceiling of their cell, covered by a poster when the guards come by. They have to transfer the dirt to the prison yard in their shoes each day. Cando tells Profe his dad died 10 years ago, never found out the details, but his mother's a rock, and his godfather has been helping. Profe freaks when he hears Cando's godfather is Harvey.

Celina finds a way to screw up Flora's life. She overhears that Flora wants a day off on Friday to go Sofia's dance recital, and calls the promoters of the Champeta contest to change it to that same Friday!

Sofia has a fun day with Pablo, a really nice guy who works with trained dolphins, and she even gets to swim with them and play with them. Pablo really likes her. But I think she's MORE attracted to Ismael, despite the age difference. He teaches her kung fu, which is like her modern dance. She invites him to the recital, and he also convinces her to invite her Dad. BTW, I saw a promo for Quien Eres Tu, and yes, the actress playing Sofia is in both shows.

Ismael has greatly increased the security of the bank and the house. Vicente wants to buy two super SUV's, armored, with voice communication, the works. Flora hears about these from Sofia, and tells Harvey. Harvey and the crew are not happy about the new security measures, which will make it harder to steal the Santa Helena. So even though Mireya wants Flora dropped since she's basically too honest, making her a loose end, Harvey nixes this, Flora is still their best weapon.

Harvey harshly grabs Flora's wrist after she comes out of the jail, he's mad she disobeyed, she could have ruined the whole plan. Doesn't she want Cando out of prison? This is so frustrating for us audience members, as we know Harvey has no intention of getting Cando out, and is just using Flora. Flora apologizes, and says she'll try to be a good trooper from now on. She gets Harvey to allow her to write a letter to Cando, which he'll have to read first.

Of all the people Flora knows, either they're lying to her, or they don't know what's going on. Harvey and his crew are all lying to her. Her manners coach Susana has the same agenda, telling her to do whatever Harvey wants. Same with her mother, who doesn't know what's happening, but won't think of crossing Harvey. Watusi, Dixon, Cando and Sabroso have no idea what's going on, so they think Flora is just acting weird. The key may be Vicente, if he or Imanuel ever connect Flora with Cando or Harvey. I'm sure it's going to happen, just not for a while. For now, we can just watch Flora being bounced around like a pinball
 

PABLO ESCOBAR, Miércoles, Part 1

Pablo and the guys have been housed by a guy named Citrico. Pablo tells Peluche to work on a press release saying they had to do what they did to save their lives. He tells Costrica (a young guy with kinky hair) they shouldn't flee now, they should try to restart negotiations with the government. Pablo calls Pati, who's crying. Her cousin was killed! (That's the guy Libardo and crew killed yesterday). He's shocked, what? She adds that he had a sign pinned to his chest, saying Pepes. Pablo says he'll find out what happened. Pati can't understand, her cousin Alexander was not involved in anything bad, he was a rancher.

Cut to the Pepes, Lucio explains (as Deb said) that it means (people) PErsecuted Por (by) ESscobar. Libado, Lucio, Miguel, Mauricio and the Cali brothers are sitting around a table. Libardo explains that Pati's cousin was totally innocent (just like his boss Ramada), that's why they killed him. Mauricio gets upset about whether the Motoas are in, but the others calm him down. What we're going to do is get rid of Pablo Escobar's family, friends and properties. ¡Salud!

In Spain, Pabon gets the call, come on back to head our new elite force, the Bloque de Busqueda (search bloc). He's in. Meanwhile, Pablo tells the guys to split up and go to hideouts. He's going to Laureles, a hideout Topo has. And find out who those Pepes are!

In the Catedral, the soldiers can't believe what they find. 24 year old scotch, the bowling alley, even a video of the boys having a party with some “ladies”. The President gives a speech, saying Escobar broke his promise to Colombia. In order to stop the violence, we bent over backwards. But it's over, no more will he make fun of the Colombian people. He announces the Search Bloc, whose sole mission will be to capture Escobar and his cohorts. Let the world know, Escobar will fall.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR, Part 2

A band of armed guys shoots holes in one of Pablo's luxurious houses. No one's home, but they wreck it, and spray paint “Pepes” on the wall. Pati visits Pedro Motoa, what can I do? He can't tell her anything, except convince Pablo to turn himself in. She says why did the government move against Pablo, was it the luxuries? He pauses way too long, and says yeah, that. He says well, that was one of the reasons, and now that your cousin died, you know the other. She asks who the Pepes are. He can't tell, except it's not the Motoas. We don't want trouble. But tell Pablo to surrender, before the Search Bloc or the Pepes kill him.

Ismael visits the Catedral, is appalled at the luxury, it's a 5 star hotel. He had a jacuzzi, bowling alley, Pablo even had a personal chef. Pictures go on the news. Ismael is asked, how did you let this happen? We were fooled. The guards were complicit, as well as the soldiers. The battalion general in charge has been relieved of command (Yes!). The prison warden, too. And the guards are all being investigated. What about the Vice Minister Federico? He resigned. We think he's involved too (!)

In Texas, we see Kiko, having trouble with his English, asking some guys where is the bus for New York. They seem to say they'll give him a lift (!). He may get a rude awakening (for one thing he's a black guy, they're all white, and this is Texas 20 years ago). Uh oh.

Pablo has grown a beard, is plodding along, dragging his huge body, carrying a green bottle of antacid. He tells the guys the situation. We've lost control of the northeast neighborhood, we have to leave. And keep a low profile. But we need to start bombing again. And this time we'll bomb EVERYWHERE. Topo pipes up, we don't have any dynamite left. That's your problem, Topo, deal with it. Candongo asks, can we possible surrender again? Pablo says let's wait and see how our bombing works. Peluche points out the Pepes are a new threat, too. Right, says Pablo, and they're well financed. They have the Moreno brothers (Luis and Miguel), the Cali's, Mauricio, Libardo, and lots more powerful backers. And they know our families, our properties. A plane flies over, and a chill runs through the group. We have to be ready. Buitre is worried about the Search Bloc. Pablo tries to rally them, trust me. He drinks some more Pepto Bismol, painfully staggers to his car.
 

QUIEN ERES TU
Wednesday Episode: There was entirely too much time spent on the stepbrats Lucas and Gabriela tonight. Less time spent on Vero’s intrigues, but we did learn more about Natalia’s background. Let’s get to it.

- Lucas: A plot point I have been ignoring up till now—Lucas has made a bet with his friends that he will get Laura, his sister’s best friend, to have sex with him, AND he’ll record it. The two leave school early (this is the school that Francisca’s daughter so desperately wants to attend; I don’t think a school that has such provocative uniforms, allows their students enough idle time to plot sexcapades, and doesn’t notice when two students leave in the middle of the day, is that great of a school), they head to Casa Esquivel, Lucas is rude to the maid, plies Laura with liquor, he turns his cell phone camera on secretly, and they start to get naked and horizontal by the pool. Nat/Vero comes home and does an amazing job telling Lucas off and calling him on his teenage angst bullsh*t. She tells him she’ll give him the opportunity to tell his father the truth. He takes off. Later, when Felipe gets home and Lucas gets home later, Lucas thinks Nat/Vero ratted him out and he ends up outing himself in the process. Felipe is livid, but Nat/Vero talks him down, since he has to leave for an important biz trip. Lucas locks himself up in his room, blasting loud music.

- Gabriela: Her war against Nat/Vero is more silent than Lucas’ war. Nat/Vero discovers that her lifeline to all info about her new life, her Ipad, has been smashed. A sly look from Gabriela tells the audience she was the culprit. We’ve also seen her try to break into it a few times, unsuccessfully. Nat/Vero still has no clue Gaby was the one who did it. Gaby later leaves the house to visit her uncle Lorenzo that she’s sure Vero is having an affair, and tells him about the 2nd phone on which she speaks to her lover. Lorenzo seems unconvinced, until Gaby mentions the second phone.

- Equivel Hotels (EH): Antonio tells Felipe that the Argentine investor, Ibarra, has just backed out of the deal for no apparent reason. We find out the whole investment deal is worth $25 million, and the biz will be in big trouble without it. Felipe and Antonio head to Miami right away to meet with Ibarra to try to woo him back. Nat/Vero is left alone with the stepbrats.
- Ivan is the new VP of HR for EH and he and Felipe head over to the hotel so that Ivan can meet all the staff. On the way over, Felipe finally admits what Ivan suspected—he and Julieta had a brief romance recently, when his marriage was on the rocks. Ivan warns that for Felipe it was nothing important, but Julieta is in love with Felipe. Ivan admits he understands what that experience is like, since he had an affair with a married woman some time back.
- Francisca is impactada to find out the new VP is her (almost) one night stand. She hides during the staff meeting and tries to convince herself that the execs never come to the hotel or get to know the staff. Somehow, I think Ivan will be different from the other EH execs, and will want to get to know the staff.

 

QUIEN ERES TU

Wednesday Recap Part 2:
- Mexico/Natalia’s background: The Mexican drug boss has dug up info on Natalia. He has her mug shot and police record. He (and we) learns that Natalia was orphaned at 14, bounced from orphanage to orphanage until she aged out, got arrested 6 years ago at the age of 19 for possession of drugs with the intent to distribute, served 3 years and got her sentence reduced for good behavior, and hasn’t been in trouble with the law since she was released. The two henchmen tear Nat’s apartment apart looking for the drug route list now-dead-Saul stole. They get a call from Sonia the waitress who says she has info on Nat to give them, for the right price. She overheard Leo (Nat’s boss and friend) speaking to Nat on the phone. Nat told him that she researched leukemia and for Vero to only have 6 months to live (like she said), the cancer must have already been present 5 months ago when Vero went to the hospital with complications from an abortion (Nat says it was “un aborto provocado”), yet her medical records don’t show this. Leo wonders if she thinks her sister LIED to her. Nat isn’t ready to believe that, but it has left her worried and confused.
 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA -- miércoles
It takes a psycho to unmask a psycho

We see Martín once again engulfed in the tedium and misery and terror of prison. He is surprised to find Alex in an adjacent cell. (They can actually reach out and hold hands between the bars.) Natalia has found them a lawyer, says Alex. He's sure she'll get them out. But Martín thinks Ezequiel will contrive to keep him locked up forever.

The Mercader family is distraught to learn that Martín is in prison again. But this time, says Juan, he will fight for his son.

While Diana is fending off Luciano's obnoxious overtures, her mother calls with the news about Martín.

Martín asks Alex about the dress suit: Why did he buy it for him? I didn't, says Alex. I gave Natalia one of mine and told her to send it to Alvarado's house.

Juan comes to visit Martín to ask his forgiveness for abandoning him when he needed him most, for being a bad father and ruining his life. He can't change the past, he says, but he can be there for him now.

Martín presses him to explain his change of heart. Juan confesses that he thought Sonia was unfaithful and Martín was a reminder of that betrayal. But it's different now and he really wants to be a father to him and help him find out the truth.

Marcos is upset about what is happening to Martín. He tells his father that Martín doesn't belong in prison -- he didn't kill Mariana; and he didn't kill those children twenty years ago. Ezequiel warns him not to poke around in the past or he could end up getting hurt. Luciano said the same thing, says Marcos. Just what is it that he should be worried about?

Alex urges Martín to reveal what Jorge Castillo found out about the true murderer. If Marcos really did it, let him confront his past. Martin has suffered too much already.

Alicia is angry at Tomás Buenaventura for using her to get to Martín. Martín is innocent, she tells him. She used to think Tomás was a just man. You fell in love with Martín when we were about to get married, says Tomás. Alicia admits it. She broke up with him because she was hopelessly in love with Martín. She begs him not to let his romantic disappointment interfere with his judgment. He is a man of justice, he says. If Martín is innocent, he'll go free.

Alex wants to know why Martín asked about the suit. He explains about the impostor who had to know about it ahead of time. Although Natalia would be the obvious suspect -- she did lead the police to him, after all -- he doesn't think she's the one who set him up. What Martín really needs now is to be moved to the high security area of the prison where Layton is being held. Layton? He's a psychopath who'll be able to help decipher the clues that will lead him to the enemy.
 

MADE IN CARTEGENA:

Correction, I meant Imanuel (the security guy), not Ismael.

PABLO ESCOBAR:

Correction, I meant Lucio, brother of Miguel, the 2 right wing paramilitary guys, not Luis.
 

So happy to see another El Rostro recap especially now that you're also doing Amores Verdaderos. Thank you! Cajun Gringa
 

EL SECRETARIO - Episode 96 - Jan. 17, 2013: part 1

Toni, Olga and Frank are heading down in the elevator at Copito. Toni gets a phone call from Felix. Felix wants to talk but she's busy and hangs up.

Outside, Toni, Olga and Frank make a beeline for Toni's car and get in. Mario runs out and yells for them to stop and let him get in the car also. They don't stop. They drive away with Mario yelling at them.

Conde, Aguirre and Nelson have their coffee break/water cooler chat session at their desks.

Toni, Olga and Frank arrive at the police station and meet with Det. Fontalvo in her office. They collectively report Emilio's kidnapping and their failed attempt to work with the kidnappers. (Everytime Toni tries to answer the detective's questions, Olga interrupts in hysterics and Frank has to interrupt her in order to calmly answer the detective's questions.)

Outside Copito, Delfina stops Nelson and Yensy at the door. She interrogates them - they work together to defend their friendship but mommy Delfina doesn't really believe any of it.

Still in the office, Toni, Olga and Frank talk with Det. Fontalvo. Mario calls Toni and scolds her for leaving him behind. He's in his little red beetle and demands to know where they are. Toni doesn't answer him because she receives another call on her cell and talks to a mystery man who gives her directions on where she should go for her next instructions - and he tells her it is very important for her to follow the directions. She agrees and the call ends. (Note: the video actually shows the man is Don Omar and he is calling from jail cell).

Aguirre and Conde are arguing over a work project when Castillo enters and interrupts them. He tells them to stop arguing. Aguirre and Castillo hug and show Castillo that they are indeed best friends. Castillo likes what he sees and hears and smiles. He tells them to get back to work and leaves. Conde grumbles to Aguirre that they definitely have to go ahead with "Operation Destroy Castillo".


 

EL SECRETARIO - Episode 96 - Jan. 17, 2013: part 2

Nelson and Yensy are at an apartment. He starts to flirt with her. She plays along. Video sequence: Nelson gets the drinks ready; Yensy goes in and out of the bathroom getting herself ready/beautiful - they keep missing each other. At end of sequence, they sit down on opposite ends of the sofa and Nelson, the ladies' man, picks up flirting where he left off.

Toni tells Detective Fontalvo that she is worried that something bad has happened to Emilio. Olga panics. Frank and Detective keep everyone calm and assure them Emilio is still alive. Detective Rodriguez enters the office and hands Det. Fontalvo a folder. They ran a trace on Toni's mystery phone calls and have discovered they all originated from the prison. Toni, Olga and Frank are stunned.

Conde and Aguirre are hiding behind stacks of boxes in the Copito warehouse. They are spying on, and Conde is venting his rage against, Castillo.

In the Detective's office, Olga has a hysterical meltdown and Frank has to tell her to calm down, to think of the baby.

Detective tells them she has a hunch, and explains how Emilio was instrumental in helping the police department arresting Don Omar. She thinks the kidnapping and phone calls may be connected to Don Omar. She tells them the police department will be conducting an investigation to see if Don Omar was indeed the one responsible. Toni is surprised.

Nelson and Yensy are now much closer on the sofa, still flirting. They stand up and start dancing.

Felix calls someone and leaves a message. He hangs up, and a calls rings on his cell phone. He thinks it's Toni, but is disappointed when Paula says "Hello". She is just calling to say how wonderful, marvelous her new beau is. He asks for photos, FB page, Twitter, something to proof this new man is real. Felix hangs up.

Yensy and Nelson are now kissing and have turned into wild sexual beasts.

Conde and Aguirre hide as Millie returns to her desk. She uses her cell phone to find them. She then calls Julietta over and chases Conde and Aguirre from their hiding place.
 

QUIEN ERES TU:

Thank you Vivi for the wonderful, detailed recaps. After reading them, I realize I understand more of the story and conversations than I thought I did while watching.

MADE IN CARTAGENA:
Thanks Hombre for the recaps. I also have a hard time understanding what is happening because of the accents, especially the ones in Harvey's gang and in the barrio. But I use it to challenge myself to focus, listen and learn.
 

La Patrona: miércoles

The opening of this episode might as well be a refrito, since we revisit Alejandro telling Gabriela how she made him believe in the power of love and then lay that liplock on her...but she pushes him away and begs him to stop. Ale pleads that he's not playing with her feelings or trying to hurt her like whatever he senses did in the past--that she's the only woman he's truly cared for in his life, accompanied by what is apparently Their Song...which I don't really like. Ale, man, there's a Michael McDonald song for this. But his declaration's not enough to keep her from running off in tears.

Similarly, we're also treated to a quasi-refrito of Fernando telling Antonia that he raped Gaby as a teenager. But here he attempts to explain why he did it: Gaby outright rejected him back then, which he didn't react well to ("no woman leaves me wanting more"--that sounds familiar, right, Antonia?) and, at the time, he considered it a sort of revenge for her dismissal of him. He further confesses that the act made him feel like a man then, though now...he shows some regret, but if you include the raging self-loathing...

Antonia, after that initial shock wears off, is still impactada. Fer could have had any woman he wanted, and instead he resorted to rape? She outright calls him an animal and a brute...but he's still her son, and she's still the Ice Queen, so she orders him to stop crying over and get it together. No more tears over "what he couldn't defend as a man"--he needs to suck it up, forget it ever happened (or say that she wanted it if it ever somehow comes out), and go calm down his wife. Fer sniffles that he can't forget about it...sure you can, goes Mommie Dearest. After all, "the powerful write the history"--and that's them.

In the middle of all this we briefly detour to the stable where Alberto and Patricia decided to get their freak on--they're done now, since they're getting dressed. Alberto is adamant about Patty not telling anybody about their tryst; she's totally fine with that, still coming down from that orgasm high, and gets a little kissy with him before heading out. Alberto watches her go, looking...well, less like a jerk than usual. Since he also looked that way after his tryst with Antonia, I blame the orgasms.

Casa del Suarez: Gaby is in bed and in tears, remembering Ale's declaration of affection, when there's a knock at her door. Gaby manages to wipe away her tears before Fran comes in bearing a cup of tea--it'll help her sleep, she says, since she heard her crying. Gaby halfheartedly retorts that she wasn't crying, and Fran plays it tender on the way out: "You're right--I was crazy. Buenos noches." After she leaves Gaby briefly flashes back to her rape, but sips some tea to calm down.

Later, Gaby checks in on a sleeping David in his room and tucks a blanket over him. Max, who's crashing on a cot or something in David's room, wakes up at the bustle; Gaby notes he looks uncomfortable, but he says he's fine. He's not crazy about the two of them having to leave, though, since he likes both of them--particularly David, who is "super cool." So is he, says Gaby, and encourages him to go back to sleep--but not before he asks her why she doesn't want them all to be a family. Why can't they stay? Gaby says she'll think about it and goes back to her room, where her mood is brightened by a flashback to Ale and that kiss before she settles in for the night.
 

La Patrona: miércoles (p. 2)

La Dorada: Irene and Antonia are having a brief late night chat about the confrontation at the club. They officially have a problem with Gabriela Suarez, according to Irene; "More than one..." grumbles Antonia, before slightly changing the subject: what's up with her son? Who's the father? Irene explains that no one knows--apparently Gaby never graduated from boarding school, instead going off to live with an aunt, and came back after some time with a two-year-old son. Antonia wonders if she knows how old that child is (would be?) now, and while Irene puzzles over that we can all guess what the Ice Queen is thinking...

Meanwhile, in Fer and Julia's bedroom, Fer is telling a crying Julia to...well, stop crying. He's apologized several times for the club thing, so what else does she want? Julia, looking wounded as hell (oh, how I want to reach through the TV and give her a hug), asks him point-blank why he continues to embarrass her like that over that girl...why does he prefer Gaby over her? Naturally Fer starts yelling "You really want to know why I like her? Really?", which prompts Julia to leave the room in tears with him shouting for her to answer him. I'm thinking at this point that Manuel Balbi, who plays Fer, is rocking some unholy Ariel Lopez Padilla/Sebastian Ligarde damaged-goods mashup--it's possibly one of the best things about this show thus far (ahead of Christian Bach, maybe even ahead of Jorge Luis Pila, but a long way behind the Prime Cleavage Directive).

A little bit after this we see Poncia bringing Antonia a photo album. Wardrobe is obviously out to mess with me, since at this point Antonia is lounging in a long white nightgown...okay, the pink spangly bra was more WTH than this, but...ahem. Poncia notes the album contains pictures from Fer's first communion, which rates a "perfecto" from Antonia--I'm thinking she was looking for some pics of Fer as a child. She riffles through the album and comes across a picture of young Fer, though Poncia hovering over her with an "Awww!" smile on her face leads her to shoo her away before really looking at it. Yep, young Fer indeed looks exactly like David Suarez--and cue this epic ¡Ay! sigh from Antonia, complete with an eyeroll to the heavens, as she flashbacks to her meeting with David and how he said he never knew his father. "What I'm thinking can't be true," she thinks. "This means Fernando has to die before the end of the show," I think.

Another day dawns over SPDO. At Quinta las Princesas, Prudencia and Irene are having breakfast when Patty all but skips in; she's not just happy, since Prudencia asks, but delighted. She's got a date with a single and very handsome professional man--she gives Irene a peck on the cheek, declaring "You're not the only one who can have fun!" (Irene punctuates this with "Watch it," referring to her makeup. Shut. Up.) Prudencia wants to know about this mystery man, but Patty stays mum--it's her secret for now--and bails.

On cue Prudencia hopes that Patty's man is someone with class (once again she's betting on the wrong horse, though I think if Alberto had money she'd be kissing both cheeks on his punchable face), not like the gentuza (rabble) Ale showed up with at the club the night before. She goes on to insist that Irene do something about Gaby--obviously she can't have the object of her affections showing up at the club with a minera. Irene notes that she doesn't have a plan yet for dealing with Gaby, though she knows she can't go all hysterical like Julia--she's got to be smarter than that. She then invokes the immortal Vito Corleone: "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." (Sun Tzu? Machiavelli? Nuh-uh.)
 

La Patrona: miércoles (p. 3)

CDS: Fran and Captain Lou are having coffee in the kitchen, and Fran is telling him how she heard Gaby crying last night--she's sad over "affairs of the heart." CL figures it's over Ale, and declares he's going to go set that boy straight before Gaby walks in and asks for Fran's house keys. When she asks why, Gaby explains that Max can't keep sleeping on whatever he was sleeping on in David's room and she's taking the kids to go get his bed. Gaby then snags the keys and leaves, and Fran has a big sunny smile on her face--your daughter's accepting us, she tells CL. CL in turn is also happy.

LD: Julio, Anibal, and Antonia (actually looking kind of dowdy in a tan blouse and a scarf) are having a "for those joining us late" conversation on the grounds (with Bullethead just looming nearby like a tree) about CL and his wanting to enforce Lucia Beltran de Suarez's will. Antonia breaks it down: Lucia, who was married to CL and apparently died while giving birth to Gaby, was willed El Chamuco by her father--one Jose Maria Beltran. And Marcos, according to her, did refer to Tigre as a relative due to that...soooo, she asks Anibal, if we found anything of value on the land, could we make a case that it still belongs to the Beltran family--that is, her and her sons? Anibal, naturally, is down with the greedy villana logic.

This conversation is cut short when Ale walks up, though Antonia pulls him away--she's got something to discuss with him anyway. She takes him inside and informs him not to be taken in by cheap perfume and whatnot--they have a family, an estate, to protect. Even Ale goes WTH at that before she gets to the point: how dare he bring that girl to the club! Ale responds that, hey, he's a free adult and who he sees is his business and not hers; Antonia counters with "What if I told you that you'd be hurting your brother by seeing her?" Ale goes for the block and reminds her that Fer's a married man; if he let Gaby go, he's sorry for him--but happy for himself. He then goes for the win when he walks away from her, forcing her to stomp after him in total "Don't you walk away from me!" mode. Ale wins the round when he advises Antonia that he's not fifteen any more and doesn't have to rebel against her...he'll just keep on doing what he wants, when he wants...and leaves. We get another eyeroll out of the Ice Queen at that, accompanied by "This is bad...very bad."

Back outside Antonia's absence gives Anibal a chance to ask Bullethead about Pascual Duarte, the executor CL hired...what happened to him? Bullethead officially narcos this show up as he explains that Duarte "liked walks in the fields," so he took him to get some fresh air--but of course he didn't look well when he left him. Since he was all alone in the world, he got a little...depressed.

Anibal shrugs that off, Julio looks puzzled, and we're vooshed to a pretty forest location outside of town. Gaston is here, along with Lagarto and some other members of San Pedro's finest--and poor Duarte, who's dead under a tarp. Lagarto is telling Gaston that Duarte hadn't been feeling well, that everybody that knew him said he had been talking about suicide, and asks him to officially identify the body. (Unless the tree from Poltergeist shows up and eats Bullethead and Lagarto, this is probably going to be a long hundred-odd episodes waiting for them to get their just desserts.) Gaston reluctantly does this, but then takes a few minutes to examine the body; when Lagarto asks what he's doing, he declares that Duarte didn't commit suicide--he was tied up, beaten, and ultimately choked to death. And if San Pedro del Oro had a decent police department, they'd actually be investigating this. (I suppose hoping for CSI: San Pedro would be too much.)
 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA

Hi Cajun Gringa. I appreciate your comments. I still hope we can get someone else involved, especially on Wednesdays.
NOVELAMAN -- Phone home!
 

La Patrona: miércoles (p. 4)

Lagarto orders some guys to take Duarte's body away to the morgue, but not before Gaston swears to Duarte that his listeners will know what happened.

Back at LD Anibal is walking and talking with Bullethead, accompanied by his bodyguards. Anibal tells Bullethead he now has to watch Tigre Suarez like a hawk. Bullethead notes he never loses sight of his prey, though Anibal notes that he has to be watched very closely now--he'll tell Lagarto as well. Anibal also gives Bullethead another order: "Be careful with the reporter (Gaston). I know you understand me very well." Are we going to have to expand the deathwatch now?

CDS: Gaby, David and Max get back from picking up Max's bed. Gaby shoos the kids off to get tools and get to work while she goes into the kitchen to find CL talking to "a really nice lady"--Irene. This is accompanied by Fran in the background giving the universal headshake of disapproval. While Irene schmoozes CL with a story about how Gaby once won a teddy bear at a school fair by winning a men's pellet gun game (having seen teenaged Gaby, I actually think she might look more at home with a gun than adult Gaby), Fran pours Gaby some tea and quietly tells her that she doesn't trust Irene at all--she has the mark of Judas on her forehead. Gaby initially dismisses her brujality, but Fran stands firm; Irene might be pretty on the outside, but inside she's poisonous like a scorpion. (Compared to the Ice Queen Irene is Marimar, but Fran hasn't run into her yet.)

Fran and CL duck out to give Gaby and Irene some privacy; Irene immediately goes into full sugar slop mode, raving about how they can now have girl talk time and how awesome it was when she walked into the Club of Whatever on Ale's arm and how happy she is to see them together and barf. The one thing that saves this from being FF>>> is this awesome "Yeah, I really believe you...really...honest..." expression Gaby is rocking throughout the scene, up until she drops some truth on Irene: she saw her kissing Ale the other day. So does she want him for herself?

(And this is actually the first moment where it occurs to me that the nearly 38-year-old Aracely Arámbula is playing someone who's at most 25 or 26. This probably explains the everpresent bangs on her forehead.)

Irene tries to spin the kiss as one she "stole" from Ale, even suggesting that perhaps Gaby should try it sometime, but the real spin is when she says she does want Ale--hey, what girl wouldn't?--but won't go chasing after a man who ignores her, like her sister Julia. She's just happy it's her best friend who got him. I'm cracking the hell up at Gaby's ongoing disbelief face.

Meanwhile, Ale pulls up outside while David and Max are unloading bed parts from Gaby's jeep. David immediately goes all "What are your intentions with my mother?" at him, with Max backing him up--she's got three men in the house to defend her now. Ale asks if that was a threat, which they naturally deny, and then he gently lays down the law: whatever happens between Gaby and him is their business, because they're adults--they don't have to answer to anyone.

Ale then goes into the house and finds Gaby and Irene; "Speak of the devil!" goes Irene, though she makes a quick exit right after that. Ale asks Gaby what Irene told her, and Gaby says that she explained about the "stolen" kiss; Ale is relieved to hear that, though Gaby follows that up with "Should I believe her? Is there anything else I should know?"

(Over/under on her finding out he slept with Irene: 10 episodes.)
 

La Patrona: miércoles (p. 5)

SPDO: over at the Hotel San Pedro Alberto is in a bathrobe and quietly bitching at room service about a bottle of champagne they had brought to his room. Room Service Guy notes that he always orders champagne when he stays there, and Alberto grumbles that somebody else always pays for it--he can't afford good French champagne. This is interrupted by Patty coming into the room and almost literally going "squee!" when she sees the champagne, which is accompanied by Alberto death-glaring Room Service Guy through the wall. Alberto is distracted when his cellphone rings, though, and he answers it...it's Antonia, telling him to come to LD. She has some urgent instructions for him. Alberto briefly freaks--she might know about his latest dalliance--but manages to cover it up when Patty brings him some champagne for a toast "to magic...to us."

Radio el Espectador: Gaston is live on San Pedro FM (la voz de la verdad en San Pedro del Oro--hey, it's on the sign!), 98.9 on your dial, and he's talking about an ordinary man named Pascual Duarte who met his death in this town "plagued by murderers and criminals." Yup, it's murder--he saw the body, he saw the bruises on it--and he was killed because he messed with some powerful people in town who got away with it because they had the protection of the corrupt authorities, et cetera. So, since he can't trust the authorities, he's spreading the truth to the people...

We go to Julio's office at City Hall in mid-diatribe, where he and Lagarto are listening. Lagarto grumbles that Gaston is slandering the entire San Pedro government, though it's not until Gaston urges people to "punish the corrupt government in the next elections" that Julio is annoyed enough to switch his radio off. He then tells Lagarto (who is actually SPDO's chief of police) that Duarte shouldn't have died as he did--Gaston's apparently been blasting the government all morning, particularly Lagarto himself. Lagarto calmly replies that he had to die; if they had let him live, he would have told someone what happened to him. "That's not how you work," says Julio; "That's how Senator Villegas and la patrona like it," replies Lagarto. Julio's position as the Mussolini of San Pedro's Axis of Evil is confirmed when he declares that Lagarto works for him, that he got him his job, and Lagarto's smug retort is that Julio is indeed his boss--but it's Anibal and Antonia that call the shots.

CDS: David and Max are outside playing soccer with some other kids, as a Mercedes pulls up down the street. Inside are Bullethead and Antonia, still carrying the picture of young Fer. She asks him if he believes in premonitions; "Bones talk," he replies--if something won't work out, he'll feel it there. Antonia agrees with that, watching David, and murmurs that she also believes that blood is thicker than water. Their surveillance is cut short when Bullethead recognizes Ale's Jeep outside the house.

Inside the house Ale is telling Gaby that he and Irene didn't have a significant relationship (technically true, but). Gaby still isn't sure she trusts him, but since they don't have anything going on it's none of her business what he does with his "women." Ale laughs at her being jealous, though he says he loves it; Gaby whines that her father and son are there, which prompts Ale to grab a pot and bang on it to draw everybody into the kitchen. He then proclaims he needs witnesses, since Gaby doesn't believe him, as he goes full galan: from now on he will be courting this "stubborn, hard-headed, lovely and enchanting woman" every day.
 

La Patrona: miércoles (p. 6)

I'd throw out a token "Aww!" here if that moment wasn't immediately followed by David asking if this means Ale will be marrying his mother, accompanied by the kind of pouty bitchface only children and Aylin Mujica can pull off. Fran hustles everybody into CL's room after that so Ale can finish macking on Gaby, which ends with a much better kiss than the one outside the Club of Whatever.

That night Gaby is once again in bed when Fran brings her another cup of tea; this time, though, Fran says she won't get much sleep because of the day's "excitement." She also gives Gaby some advice--she can tell she's into Ale, so don't complicate it. She deserves to be loved, and should let herself be. Gaby gives her a genuine thank you for that. Fran goes back to CL's room, where they briefly discuss how Ale might be good for Gaby before CL gets a phone call. It's Gaston, who informs him of Pascual Duarte's murder. CL relays that to Fran. Cue worried faces.

LD: Ale is chatting with Valentina--her fever/cold's gone, so she'll be coming with him on a family trip tomorrow. Valentina briefly looks terrified as she asks "With Antonia?"; no, no, it's with his novia's family. That was quick.

Out in the foyer Julia and Irene are relaxing on a couch and Ricardo is sliding up to Patty with some drinks. He's all "Wow, you look happy! Have you got a secret lover?" up until Alberto comes in, when Patty makes a beeline for him and tries to steal her own kiss. This is amazingly ignored by everybody, particularly since Antonia shows up literally one second later and orders Alberto into her study. Ale pops up right after that, which is Irene's cue to make a beeline for him and confirm that her visit to Gaby proves to him that she just wants to be friends. Ale says he believes her...he thinks.

In the study Antonia is kissing on Alberto, but comments that he's not into it. Alberto claims that he's nervous about either of her sons walking in on them; Antonia blows it off and gets to why she sent for him: she breaks out a regional map and points out El Chamuco to him. She wants him to go explore the area. What for? "Gold." (Kind of a specific leap in logic, but combined with how Captain Lou specifically shot his mouth off about being rich I'll allow it.)

The next day (San Pedro doesn't have a cable car system, so I think we get location shots of Zacatecas) Gaby, Ale, Valentina, Max, and David are walking on a foot bridge over a stream. Val and Max are kinda into each other and the sights, Gaby and Ale are completely "oh, mi amor" into each other and forget the sights, and David is going "This is boring!" and bitchfacing everything. This is punctuated by Gaby asking if he's jealous and Ale actually pouting at him, which prompts him to yell "I'm here too!" Sure you are, kid.

Later...who am I kidding? Val and Max end up parked by the stream, Gaby and Ale are under a tree with a picnic basket, and poor ignored David is still bitchfacing them! See, this is why he needs those episodes of Soñadoras!
 

La Patrona: miércoles (p. 7...yeah, I know, these should be shorter :/ )

CDS: CL is reading the local newspaper (dated 11/14/2004--I'll have to watch for more dates), which has the "suicide" of Pascual Duarte on the front page. He wonders to Fran why anybody would want to kill him, when there's a knock on the door...yup, it's the Ice Queen (white top over tight blue pants--wardrobe is obviously hellbent on irony). Fran leaves them alone so Antonia can present CL with an unspecified generous offer to buy his and Gaby's departures from SPDO. She claims it's because he's a nuisance, Gaby more so; he laughs that off, since he has everything he needs right there. So she offers to buy his two houses as well--no dice. Antonia claims he owes everything he has to her husbands; no, he retorts, while they were his dearest friends he earned everything he has with his own two hands. And now it's time for her to GTFO of his "pigsty," which she does--but not before stealing a small picture of David sitting on a table during CL's "hands" rant.

Antonia apparently heads back to LD after that; the next time we see her, she's cutting a lock of Fer's hair. Fer grumpily wonders why she needs it, and she tells him it's for "an experiment."

Meanwhile, Alberto and Ramon are hiking through El Chamuco. Ramon freaks out a little about Satan possibly showing up to ruin their day, and WTH are they doing there in the first place? Alberto answers this by fishing a thumbnail-sized gold nugget out of a stream. That evening, after they get back to civilization (well, one of SPDO's bars) it's Ramon who makes the inevitable suggestion: they don't have to tell the Ice Queen they found anything at El Chamuco, and keep the gold they found.

And to wrap up the episode we have Ale and Gaby necking outside CDS. They're both giddy in love, and they're both being watched by two people in a car down the street (avances show that one of them is Irene, so big whoop). The one notable bit is that, when Ale says he has to leave for the night, Gaby begs him to stay--she can't spend one more moment without his love--and to "make me yours." Ale, I hope you've got some Luis Miguel or Ricardo Montaner on the stereo...
 

QUIEN ERES TU

All caught up now. Thanks to Vivi, or I wouldn't understand all of what's happening. It also helped that the first 2 episodes were subtitled on youtube.

I like the fact that the good girl is currently with the galan; most of the time, it's the opposite, and it's annoying when it takes almost til the end for them to be together.

 

PABLO ESCOBAR, Jueves, Part 1

NOW, this show is getting good! Pablo is falling like a rock, everything is collapsing around him, and I'm enjoying every minute. Pabon and a new army guy, Becerra, sort of like a cowboy, with sunglasses and gray hair, are happy the Americans are helping again. And finally everyone has the same objective, to capture Pablo Escobar, now matter what. Well, says Becerra, then why not accept the help of the Pepes? Look Becerra, those guys are narcos, and we just won't lower ourselves to work with them. This is the last time we discuss this. That's an order.

Mauricio and Lucio have some low level guy of Pablo's up in a helicopter. Where's your boss? For the last time, he says, I have no idea, I just got hired by Topo to be a bodyguard. They toss the guy out to his death.

President Gaviria cuts the tape for a new road. But someone in the crowd asks why build roads, when Pablo Escobar is free? In the car, his wife Ana Milena tells him not to let it get to him. He's doing a good job. Calm down. And govern. The Search Bloc will get results, you'll see.

Peluche tells Pati that Pablo wants her to go to the US. But she won't leave. Not until she personally speaks with Pablo. End of story.

Buitre meets with a guy to buy dynamite. The guy goes in the back and starts loading a gun! Buitre realizes it's a trap, and zooms off on this moto. He manages to kill one of the guys, but the rest follow him as he ducks into a hideout. The guys following him call Mauricio. He calls the cops. Buitre calls Pablo, who yells at him, you should never go to a hideout. Buitre says he would've been killed on the street. And now the cops are here. Pablo tells him to hang tough. He'll send reinforcements. We see Cain on the way. The cops rush up, and Buitre kills one, yelling, I'm only surrendering when the army gets here! The army gets there. Cain sees the numbers, saying “even the doe abandons the fawn when there's no grass.” They leave. The army guys, led by Becerra and Aguirre go in, and Aguirre is itching to kill Buitre, but he surrenders, and they take him into custody. Good! Pablo is enraged as usual.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR, Part 2

Peluche asks Pablo if he wants to keep fighting. I'll never give up, says Pablo. But Peluche says we're running out of money for the bribes and all. It's better to spend than save, says Pablo. And that includes YOUR stash.

Cain says a little prayer in his elaborate home altar with two young thugs. Now they can go, he has company, two hot girls! Cain shows the girls his shrine, leads them in a little invocation, then it's off to christen the bed.

Pabon is mad at Becerra, it was the Pepes who gave you the tip, right? They were after Escobar's man, and when they couldn't finish the job, they called the army. Becerra shoots back, so what? What's the difference between this, and the deals the DA always makes with criminals to catch higher ups? Cut to one of the thugs who was with Cain listening to on the radio, as the announcer says that for each of the guys working with Escobar, the government is offering 100 million pesos. Anonymity is guaranteed. He calls. We see Cain in bed with the ladies, in their underwear. But here come the cops. A few minutes later, Cain is dead, shot by Aguirre. He falls like Jesus, right in front of his altar. Divine justice, no?

In New York, Kiko reads the news about Cain, he's despondent. Then a cop asks for his papers. Then he's arrested. Next!

Pablo's Dad asks Peluche what's going on? Nothing, Dad. Relax. Look, son, I relaxed for all these years, and now it turns out my youngest son is the worst criminal in the country. And my eldest son is right with him. Can you deny that you're both drug traffickers, kidnappers.....C'mon Pa, you can't believe half of the crap the papers say. Oh yeah, says Dad? Well, that means the OTHER half is true. I may be old, but I ain't blind!

 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA -- jueves
Mark your territory and don't show fear

Alicia and Martín enlist Braterina's help in finding the stash of letters hidden in the Alvarado apartment.

Braterina enlists Miguel Ángel's help in making a baby before someone figures out her pregnancy is a fake.

Ezequiel wants nothing to do with Braterina until she agrees to abort her still non-existent fetus. Sonia and Juan weigh in on the issue. After all, they are also the (non) grandparents.

Samaniego is upset the Martín has been arrested and one more avenue to learning the truth about his daughter's death has been blocked. Valeria is scornful and dismissive.

Martín sends Alicia to question the killer nurse, Mary Ann, in Miami. She must know who is behind the murder of Antonia and Ramón. It turns out Alicia already knows Mary Ann. She threatens harm to the woman's daughter if she won't cooperate.

Natalia hands over the results of the late Jorge Castillo's research to Captain Buenaventura. She tells him they show that Marcos Alvarado is the real Niño Monstruo. She's afraid that Alvarado senior killed Mariana and framed Martín for that crime. She begs him to do what he can to get both Alex and Martín set free.

Martín establishes his dominance in the prison jungle by beating down the bullies. His reward: he gets moved in with the dangerous inmates and right next to the psychopath whose brain he wants to pick -- Leyton. He asks Leyton to help him solve a puzzle. (armar una rompecabezas): find the murderer who is framing him.
 

Enjoyed the recap once again. Thanks! Cajun Gringa
 

QUIEN ERES TU
Thursday Recap:
- Felipe and Nat/Vero chat by phone and continue to bond. He tells her the reason he has been such a weakling father to the Stepbrats is because he feels guilty about not being around much when they were little (they used to live with their mom). Nat/Vero tells him teenagers feed on guilt and fear, so he needs to man up and step up. He appreciates the advice.
- Francisca and her daughter Monica successfully forge a recommendation letter from the ambassador, which immediately gets her enrolled at the fancy high school where the Esquivel kids attend. Monica sees Lucas and is instantly smitten. I don’t get this rotten kid’s appeal. Frankie and Monica are blown away by the price of the uniform (how something with so little material can cost so much is a mystery), Laura tries to pull a rich mean girl attitude on Monica, but Monica gives her a verbal smackdown. Go girl!
- Brother-in-law Lorenzo seems less creepy each episode. He helps Nat/Vero out by going to her and telling her about Gabriela’s suspicions about her having a lover (this is a relief to Nat because for a bit she thought Gabi knew the real truth about her). He also tells her Gabi saw her speaking on a secret 2nd phone. He warns her that Gabi is going to be searching for that phone. He then asks her if the person she was talking to is the person who was harassing her before; he thought she was done with that guy. Nat has no idea what he’s talking about, but plays along. She says it’s totally over with that guy, and thanks him.
- Nat realizes Gabi must have been the one to break her IPad. She sends an email to Vero telling her she can’t communicate via the tablet or her own cell phone. She has to speak with her urgently. They arrange for Vero to call Nat (on Vero’s cell phone) that afternoon. Nat makes sure the maid is out at the market at that time, but the maid forgets her keys and decides to leave the door unlocked instead of going back for her keys. More on the fallout of that later. Nat heads out to the seaside and throws her cell phone into the ocean.
- In Panama, Vero chats with her Mystery Accomplice on the phone and bitches to him/her about Natalia not following instructions and making things more difficult. Then her documents forger brings her new passport and id docs. Her new name is Patricia Blanco. He also gives her the new passport/docs for her Mystery Accomplice. The audience does not get to see the photo or name.
- The divorce papers Felipe asked to be drawn up, when he thought Nat/Vero was cheating on him, arrive at the office. Julieta and the nosy secretary open it up, and Julieta starts to get hopeful about her chances with Felipe. She later becomes totally confused when Felipe comes back from a successful biz meeting in Miami with Ibarra (he’s back on board with investing) and calls up the secretary to arrange a weekend away for him and Vero, without the kids. Julieta wonders if he’s changed his mind about divorcing Vero, and decides the best way to stir up trouble is to send the divorce papers to the house so that Vero can see them.
- In Mexico, the drug lord decides that Leo is the key to tracking down Natalia. The two goons tell Sonia they’ll give her $300 if she gets them Leo’s phone for just a few minutes. They plan on getting Nat’s number off of it. Sonia makes a few noises about not wanting to be part of anything illegal, but that barely lasts two seconds before the dollar signs blind her. On a side note, the fiancé of the drug lord is being played by well known Mexican tns actress Marisol del Olmo (also a Televisa actress like Julian Gil and Laura Carmine), so it’s a bet that she’ll play some role in the story later.

 

QUIEN ERES TU

Thursday, Part 2:
- Finally, we end with the call between Nat and Vero. Vero is ticked off at Nat for 1) breaking her tablet (Nat says she’s the one who broke it), 2) letting Gabi see her talk on her other phone, and 3) speaking to Leo and telling him what they have been doing! Nat doesn’t see what the big deal is—Leo is her friend, won’t tell anyone, is far away, and she needed to vent to someone, given the stressful mess Vero has dropped her in. She tells Vero she should be grateful to her for saving her marriage. Then she scolds Vero for all the stuff she didn’t tell her and the stuff that doesn’t make sense—drug addiction, abortion, stalker ex-lover, the cancer that doesn’t seem to exist. Vero shuts her up by pulling her usual guilt trip on Natalia. Natalia owes her because it’s Natalia’s fault their mother committed suicide! We once again see the flashback of the near rape of Natalia by their mother’s boyfriend/husband, and their mother shooting him and then shooting herself. We then see a bit more. The girls are with the social worker who laments that they have no relatives or close family relations, and so the girls will have to go into the care of the government of Mexico. But she tells them they will do everything to keep them together. Nat is happy about this. Vero, not so much. She berates her sister for being the cause of their mother killing herself, then tells the shocked social worker that she wants to be separated from Nat—far, far away. 14 year old Nat is devastated, and adult Nat is obviously still very affected. Vero has the perfect tool to bend Nat to her will. She gives Nat instructions to just stay in the house tomorrow (Thursday), don’t go anywhere or see anyone. Friday, she is to be at the airport in the afternoon for her 3pm flight to Panama. Nat thinks she should at least leave Felipe a note so he doesn’t worry when he comes back from work that day and doesn’t find her. Vero loses her temper, and Nat loses hers. She vents at Vero about being left in the lurch, not knowing who people are, and feeling bad about Felipe not knowing she’s not his wife. She also says Vero’s name out loud a few times. She has no idea that Francisca has come to the house to confront her about the party, entered through the unlocked door, has gone out to the pool area, and has heard the whole tail end of this argument with Vero. Nat turns and they both have caras impactadas. Frankie demands to know who she is.
 

QUIEN ERES TU

whoah! Vivi. Haven't seen this epi yet, but am now so looking forward to watching after reading your recap.

It's good that Francisca will know she's not Vero, cuz maybe they'll be better friends. Glad to read that Lorenzo is getting less creepy. I really like this actor, even though he plays not such a good guy in La Mariposa.
 

PABLO ESCOBAR -- jueves

I enjoy the episode and then I get to enjoy it a second time in your scornfully gleeful retelling of the story. Thank you, Hombre.

May I add that I was particularly happy to see Kiko captured in New York, which has enough problems without another mass murderer in the crowd.

So if Pati wanted to, she could legally take up residence in the U.S.? But she chooses to Stand By Her Man. This woman really gets to me. I know she has never fired a gun (or at least I think she hasn't) but whenever I see her I think: Quien calla, otorga. She KNOWS, she PROFITS from evil. I find it very hard to see her as just another one of Escobar's victims.
 

QUIEN ERES TU

Thanks ViVi for the recaps. I missed some of the live version and the online ones are kinda spotty.

Interesting to find out where all these plot points (mystery person, Frankie, drug lord, veronica's true motives) are going and how they may connect.

I saw a commercial promoting another novela for the same timeslot as QET, is QET getting the nix or moving to a different time slot??
 

According to the gang at TW, it's indeed being yanked.
 

La Patrona: jueves

Dang quasi-refritos...Alejandro and Gabriela are still kissing like John Hughes possessed them outside Casa del Suarez, with Gaby re-declaring that she wants him to make her completely his woman. Ale naturally is all "Are you sure? Damn, let's get this show on the road!" as he hustles Gaby back in the car and hauls ass. This is all being witnessed by an increasingly depressed Irene in another car with, as it turns out, Julia (whose delusional mass has increased to the size of Gaby's Jeep, since she comments that "not only is she flirting with Fernando, but with my brother-in-law"). She has Julia follow Ale and Gaby to their next destination...

Inside (technically later), we see Fran settling in for the night and telling a drowsy Tigre that Ale actually left and Gaby is fast asleep. Fran thoughtbubbles for God to forgive her for lying, with a cute smile on her face.

Definitely condensing this for neatness: Ale naturally headed for the Hotel San Pedro, where we next see him carrying Gaby over the threshold and telling her that this is the first night of the rest of their lives. Gaby was already nervous about wanting him to make love to her before they left CDS, but it gets worse when he starts undressing her and inadvertently mentions someone else beating him to being the father of her child. That leads her to start flashing back to her rape while Ale is kissing on her, though she's able to hide that as just nerves.

They actually get naked and in bed (red sheets? I'm kind of surprised they didn't use white here), though we don't see them get there. Gaby's flashbacks get worse as Ale gets more passionate, to the point where she hallucinates that it's Fer on top of her--ski mask and all--and freaks out, pushing him away and screaming "No!" When Ale asks her what's wrong, Gaby sobs that she can't make love to him--the memories of "that man" are too much. Ale intuits that someone raped her, which she confirms, and he declares that no one else will ever hurt her--he won't let them--that el amor no duele, and that he won't touch her until she trusts him to do so. Gaby tearfully tells him that his love, next to her son, is the most beautiful thing in her life; she asks him to make love to her tonight, to "heal all the wrongs that were done" to her. She wants to be with him...and so she is, in a rather tender way with just a hint of soft filter...

(This is where I wonder if the message, so to speak, may have been hurt by someone's need for storyline brevity. I honestly can't help thinking that it might have been better if they didn't go on to make love right then. But that might be a bit weighty for this, so I digress.)

Afterwards, Gaby is happily going "I never knew it could be like this!" while Ale has his serious face on. He tells her that he needs to know what happened to her, and she in turn tells him the complete story: she was raped at the age of 16, on her way back from a movie, by the man in a ski mask. She also admits that David was indeed the result, and that while she had tried to forget and "love again" she hadn't been able to until she met him; he was the first person who could make her do that. Ale notes that he'll also be the last, if he has anything to say about it. They then briefly move on to talk about Antonia and how she really won't approve of Gaby as a a daughter-in-law, and so on.

SPDO: Ramon and Alberto are still camped out at what is actually the Doll House, discussing how they can keep quiet about the gold they found at El Chamuco. Alberto is slow to coming around to the idea, though he notes they would have to verify who owns the property...but that Antonia certainly wouldn't be going out there to check it for herself.
 

La Patrona: jueves (p. 2)

Alberto and Ramon get in one toast to "the Chamuco mine" before Bullethead shows up to ruin everything--he's been looking for them all over town, on Antonia's orders. He also discovers the gold nugget they found, which Ramon was failing at trying to hide. Alberto tries to spin it so they were just celebrating their discovery before going to tell Antonia; Bullethead naturally "suggests" he'll go along with them.

La Dorada: Anibal pops in to see Antonia, who had asked him to come by. She shows him the picture of David she stole from CDS, whom he automatically thinks is of Fernando (and the next-to-last link between them comes here, I guess, since Anibal mentions how Fer was bad-tempered as a child); Antonia tells him it's not Fer, but that she wants to find out who he really is with his help. She tells him a sanitized version of events--she suspects Fer had "something" to do with the child's mother, whom she apparently doesn't identify as Gaby--and she wants him to do a DNA test back in Mexico City on the D.L. She gives him that bit of Fer's hair she cut off in the last episode, and when Anibal notes that he'll need some of David's hair as well she says that she'll have it by tomorrow.

Fer is in his and Julia's bedroom with his close friend, the booze flask from the first episode, when Julia gets back from stalking Ale and Gaby. He asks where she's been, and she smugly says that she was watching "that slut" get it on with his brother; when he freaks and goes "Que?!?" she tells him how she saw them check in at the hotel--"Do you still want her now that she's Alejandro's?" Fer claims she's lying, and when she taunts him about it goes whack to her face. Gaby wouldn't let anyone touch her, according to him--least of all Ale--and if he really did touch her (wait for it...) he'll kill him.

Their conversation can only go downhill from here: "Fool!" "Es un amargada (bitter)!" "At least she's with a real man and not a drunk!" "Divorcing you in the morning, bitch!"

QLP: Irene is back home as well, where she breaks out the dreaded "No puede ser!" over what looks like a surveillance photo of Ale and the thought that he's getting it on with Gaby right now. He's supposed to be hers, to love only her! She follows that up by declaring that something needs to make Ale fall out of love with Gaby...

Irene...Fer...con todo mi corazón: "Deen deen deen deen..."

Back at LD Poncia comments on how Julia and Fer will be sleeping in separate bedrooms again and how their lives are a living hell to Antonia (there's the white nightgown again) before they get interrupted by a late-night visitor. Three of them in this case--Bullethead checks in with Alberto and Ramon in tow, and Alberto gives Antonia the gold he found in the stream. He correctly refers to it as alluvial gold, which is indeed found in stream beds and such, and that they just need to find the vein itself. (Ramon gets in a little sucking up, but not much.) After they leave Antonia gets a private moment to crow about how fate is apparently smiling on her between the gold she's about to obtain and the grandson she may finally have, with only one obstacle in her way: Gabriela Suarez.

The next morning Ale wakes Gaby up with breakfast in...well, next to bed. Gaby freaks, this time in a good way--she doesn't want to do the walk of shame in front of the Suarez menfolk. She gets dressed and makes it back to CDS, where Fran has already fixed everybody breakfast and told them that Gaby was sleeping in because she was sick. When Gaby shows up fully dressed, Fran covers for her by saying she went to the pharmacy; she also coaches Gaby through pantomime into saying she got a shot to back that up.
 

La Patrona: jueves (p. 3)

LD: Poncia is changing the sheets on Antonia's bed when she comes across the picture of David. She too thinks it's young Fer, and shows it to Fer when he pops in--and he denies it's him, but then realizes it's really Gaby's son. Poncia comments on the uncanny resemblance and how he and Gaby never worked out; she calls it a shame, but with Fer flashbacking to the rape I call it divine novela providence.

SPDO: a happily humming Gaby drops David and Max off at school. They head onto the school grounds, where we see Bullethead pointing them out to another kid. This can't be good.

Ale is in his office at the mine, having some coffee and a flashback to last night when Irene and Patty show up. Irene notes that Patty's too shy to ask him for a job herself--okay, she cuts her the hell off to say that--but Patty does add that perhaps she could become an assistant to one of the engineers. Maybe the new one with the big eyes and the punchable face...what's his name...Alberto Espino?

Back at LD Antonia is "urging" Julio to help her out with the El Chamuco issue. Julio explains that the Chamuco Ravine land is indeed now registered to Tomas Suarez, and that anything having to do with that now would be a messy legal entanglement; naturally this doesn't go over well with the Ice Queen. Who made him mayor, after all, and got his daughter married to her son? If he doesn't do what she wants, those decisions can easily be "reversed."

Fer interrupts her whole I-own-you-bitch thing, armed with the picture of David--what's she doing with it? Antonia orders him off to the study and sends Julio on his way with a glare; she then goes to Fer, who says he's tired of Julia and los Montemar. He then busts out the picture again, and after initially trying to swerve Antonia admits that she thinks David is his son. Fer is ecstatic about the idea of finally having a son...well, sort of...

Fer: "This is great! I can finally ditch Julia and be a family with Gabriela and my son!"
IQ: "Honey, stop, you're talking crazy."
Fer: "Nonsense! Life's given me a chance to be happy with the only woman I've ever loved!"
IQ: "What part of cra--"
Fer: "I've dreamed of this for ever, but I never expected it to come true!"
IQ: "Okay, maybe I didn't think this part through..."
Fer: "I've got to get a divorce lawyer on speed-dial so I can marry Gabriela--"
IQ: "Oh, hell no. You are not marrying that girl! Besides, she doesn't even love you!"
Fer: "Well...she'll have to love me, or I'll take her son away from her! Yeah, that's it!"
IQ: "Oh, God, stop! She's no good for you, and we still have to prove that he's your son--"
Fer: "I love her, dammit!"
IQ: "But she won't love you when she realizes what you did to her!"
Fer: "No way! She'll understand when I explain it to her! I'll lay money on it--hell, I'm gonna go tell her right now!"

And Fer bails for CDS, unfortunately not accompanied by the sound of ten thousand cuckoo clocks. Antonia actually yells for Bullethead and orders him to stop Fer before he gets there and does anything stupid...well, stupider. Irene shows up right after this and tells her that Ale and Gaby are now lovers; Antonia blows it off, saying that Ale will get tired of her once he gets what we wants, but Irene notes that after seeing him earlier...he's in love with the girl.
 

La Patrona: jueves (p. 4)

Said girl is finally getting to work at this point, and after making googly eyes at Ale across the parking lot she runs into the leader of the Pig Posse (his last name is apparently Guillen). He says that Gaby should go get a job at the Doll House and leave the mining to the men; she cheerfully replies that she's in such a good mood even he can't bring her down. "Life is beautiful--despite you, Guillencito." She leaves him actually pouting in her wake. It's elementary school with more rocks.

CDS: Fran is watering some plants outside when here comes Fer like a man on a mission. And there's Bullethead and some other goon behind him--they literally grab him when he's about twenty paces from Fran and drag him off around the corner, with Fran just staring after them.

Bullethead actually takes Fer to the SPDO jail, where he is locked up "until he calms down" according to Lagarto. Fer yells for Bullethead to get him out, which he can't do--they both know who really had him put there--but then Bullethead produces a bottle of liquor, which Antonia sent along to "help him calm down." Fer is pissed, but obviously not pissed enough to not take the bottle.

Back at the mine Antonia storms into Ale's office and demands to know what he's doing with that "tramp" Gaby. Ale tells her to watch what she says about Gaby, and Christian Bach officially makes this the funniest episode thus far as Antonia goes all out--full-blown crocodile tears, sobbing about how all she just became a widow and her sons' love is all she has left, actually invoking "I gave you life, Alejandro! Doesn't that mean anything?" and "I don't know what I did to deserve both my sons destroying their lives!" But her continued blasting of Gaby makes Ale declare that her apparent plan to split him from Gaby had the opposite effect--he's going to marry her!

Since Antonia never learned the meaning of the word "stop," she actually presses on from there--he deserves much better than raising the bastard son of a woman with no principles, a woman who no doubt has slept with dozens of other men and is trying to trap him. And that's about it for Ale; he shouts at her that she's impossible to love, storms out of his office--oh, yeah, and he quits. (Yeah, there's that "I didn't think this part through..." look on her face again.)

CDS: CL finally remembers to ask Fran where she stashed the gold he brought home. Fran admits she gave it to Max to hide, which doesn't make him happy; Max is in danger thanks to that, according to CL. Speaking of which...ah, there's Max is walking across the playground at school. We see various kids, including the one from earlier with Bullethead, signaling each other like hardened crooks as he goes by. This leads to him being mobbed by eight kids, gagged with a bandanna, dragged off and tied up before getting stuffed into a supply closet. Bullethead obviously trained them himself.
 

La Patrona: jueves (p. 5)

El Espectador Redux: at Radio San Pedro, Gaston is getting a little cuddly with an unnamed cute brunette, who is actually his assistant, during an all-music block. He notes that even though she has learned a lot there, she needs to go to school to study journalism--which he says he'll pay for, no problem--before getting on the mic and interrupting "the poetry hour" to instead deliver another diatribe on how the "suicide" of Pascual Duarte was really murder and how more people who cross those in power will be killed if this impunity doesn't stop. Julio, listening in at City Hall, comments to Lagarto that they may have to silence Gaston if he doesn't shut up. Captain Lou is also listening in on a big ol' boombox at CDS; the show then gets anvilicious as hell by showing him as Gaston asks "Who will be the next person to die like a dog?"

Julio and Lagarto end up talking about this with Anibal--since the whole town listens to Gaston Goicochea on SPFM, he could indeed become a "leader" and a threat if he keeps talking about how the Montemar administration is corrupt. Julio suggests that they take him out, but Anibal orders them to simply scare him while he checks in with Antonia about the whole thing; Antonia agrees that only scaring Gaston should be fine for the moment, though she's far more concerned with destroying CL and Gaby.

Back at SPFM Gaston is telling his assistant/paramour how she can't go off to journalism school until she finds someone to make her a wedding dress...so she can marry him. Paramour goes "yay!" and they're all kissy-face (complete with Paramour ominously going "I don't think I could breathe if you weren't here") until Lagarto oozes in; you don't like it when people come into your home and interrupt you, right? Then don't interfere in things that aren't your business!

And the episode ends in the mine, where Guillen is as usual taunting Gaby with a joke about how she, a tomboy, would never be allowed in a brothel because her skin isn't as smooth as a prostitute's. Gaby's buzz has worn off enough that she briefly threatens him with a rock, but when he asks her to show them her boobs...oh, wait, what's Ale doing down here? Pow, right in the face, and we're blessedly one jackass down as Ale's yelling at everyone to respect Gabriela Suarez!
 

QUIEN ERES TU:

Wow! I didn't see those ads. After only 2 weeks they are taking it off air? Or are they moving it? Just when the mysteries are really starting to pile up nicely.
 

QUIEN ERES TU:

Vivi - Episode 10 is the last episode for us on UniMas. According to the reports I've read on-line (both on TW and in the FB page for QET, UniMas decided to cancel it 'due to low ratings'. They are replacing it with "Rosario Tijeras".

If you want to help notify Univision to bring it back, join the fans and leave messages in the QET forum on Univision/UniMas or call the network. Maybe if we bother them enough, they may be convinced to bring it back.
 

QUIEN ERES TU:

Schedule update (according to the QET FB page): apparently Univision has consented to give us more episodes next week. Rosario T will air on Monday and then QET will air Tuesday through Friday. (10 p.m./9 p.m. hour)