Caray, Caray!

PASION PROHIBIDA FRIDAY

PART 1

Happy Easter, everybody!

We are back with B&B in the living room, she smells the perfume, Bruno asks if she likes it. Bianca says perfume giving is not about the woman, but about the men who smell them. Niiice...
They get interrupted by Flavia calling to let Bianca know she is in jail; poor thing, she was just having an innocent get together with some friends when the evil police took them. Bianca is, of course, outraged.

Nina is back with the present for Bianca, she is with her dad when Bruno comes, tells them about Flavia and that he is going to jail, it is better for Ariel to stay with Bianca, avoid the press.

The Aredondos are together when Penelope comes to let them know what happened with Flavia. Guillermo is gloating, Nico asks for his help with the press, he is afraid this story might affect Ariel's company.

In the office Ariel and Bianca talk about the effect Flavia going to jail will have on the company and what will the press say. Bianca is furious with her mother, Ariel tries to calm her down, family is more important (Really, Ariel, if there was ever a time to go balistic, this is it!)
While he is on the phone with the lawyer, Mademoiselle comes in to ask for updates; Bianca very rudely pushes her out of the room. Mlle is so upset, she screams at Tere and Camila who are on the hall, snoopping around.

Guillermo manages to convince the director of the gossip magazine to get rid of the photos taken when Flavia was arrested.

Penelope and Bianca talk on the phone, Bianca gets upset when Pene tells her she knew her mother started gambling again. When she finds out Guillermo took care of the press, Bianca gets angrier, because that means Guillermo will have Ariel in his hands (haven't thought about this angle, but it's true).

Bruno is at the police station, talking to the lawyer. Flavia comes, she is free to go; the lawyer thinks everything will be alright as long as real money were not involved. They talk about handling the press, when the lawyer Guillermo hired comes in to tell them he took care of this, only making Flavia angrier than before.

Guillermo lets his family know that Flavia is finally free; he points out he only did this for his son, not Flavia or Penelope; Penelope takes a huge offence with this, is she of no importance for her father-in-law? She totally blows things out of proportion as she trows a hissy fit about it.
 

PASION PROHIBIDA FRIDAY

PART 2

Bruno and Flavia are in the car, getting back home. She is afraid that Ariel might be upset (don't worry, he is to stupid-good for this). She is also upset that Guilermo meddled. Ariel calls and Bruno tells him the worst part is the fact Nico involved his dad in their affairs; that is what happens when you help someone and then they thank you by stabbing you in the back. I don't know what Bruno's problem is with Nico these days, if he is jealous of how much smarter Nico is when it comes to business, maybe he should concentrate more on work and school and less on Bianca, and stop this passive agressive cr/ap.
Anyway, Bruno tries to calm Flavia, but she has a pity party to throw herself.

Penelope and Nico fight about what Guillermo said. Nico knows his father is only trying to manipulate him to get him back to work for him, but Penelope thinks Guillermo is to blame for all their problems. When Nico tells her she knows about the 25.000 she gave her mother for gambling, without even consulting him, Penelope reminds him about the million dollars. This is a good argument, but then Nico reminds her of Flavia's involvment in that story. Oh, but Flavia helped them when Guillermo cut Nico off financially. So is Flavia a saint then? Is Peneope turning into her mother? The fight is messy, eventually Nico storms out. (I am team Nico, I don't get why he is so much to blame for asking his father's help and why is Guillermo the devil for wanting his son to work with him - yes, he made mistakes in the past, but at least he loves his son and grand-son which is more than can be said about Flavia).

Flavia and Bruno arrive home, she goes straight to her room (what, no welcome back from being arrested receiving committee?)
Bruno goes to the kitchen, where the fishermen he met on the dock and who know Don Salo, too, came with fish for Don Ariel. Bianca comes by, too, the guy who was Bruno's drinking budy recognizes her and almost says something compromising about them. Bruno quickly shuts him up as Bianca leaves. (Isn't it great how even the most unexpected scenes can turn into a possible threat for B&B's secret now? I love it!)
Tere likes the fisherman, does that mean he will like Katia and we will get a new forbidden/ in love with someone else triangle?

Bianca goes to Flavia's room for this episode's mandatory mother-daughter fight; Flavia tries to explain she was only playing with her friends and it was an innocent game. But Bianca knows better, has her mother turned into some mafiosa, gambling what she doesn't have? or does Flavia expect Bianca to believe she was only playing Monopoly. The scene is beyond funny, it is obvious the actresses are barely able to deliver their lines without cracking up.
Bianca asks Flavia to stop with the humiliations and the scandal, because of her they are now in Guillermo's hands.





 

PASION PROHIBIDA FRIDAY

PART 3

Bruno and Ariel talk about how uncomfortable the situation is, with the press and the company. Bruno is more worried that Nico asked help from their enemy. Ariel is willing to listen to Nico's explanation, just in time for Nico's call.
As Ariel and Nico talk, Bianca walks in. And how deliciously troubling is the moment when they can't help but gaze at one another (and, boy, is Bianca smitten) behind Ariel's back? After Ariel finishes his talk with Nico, he explains that he only wanted to help. Bianca is uspet with Flavia, who is, like usual, playing the victim. Ariel tries to cheer her up (with Bruno's help!), reminding her it's her birthday. Bruno says Flavia feels bad about everything, but Bianca is only to happy about this (I just love Bianca for being like this when it comes to her mother).
Bianca doesn't feel like having a party, but Ariel insists they should go out. He is very amorous with her, while Bruno looks on.
When he leaves to let the servants know they will be dinning out, Bruno encourages Bianca in his own way, caressing her face (I love how he always does this, Ariel rarely does it). They have a nice moment until Eliana calls and interrupts them. There is always something reminding us the reality of our situations, Bianca says.

Later, alone in her room, Bianca is combing her hair while she remembers the day spent with Bruno on the dock, the moment he gave her the perfume. She takes the little bottle, as Bruno is on the other side of the door, thinking about wheather to come in o not. As Bianca sprays some perfume in the air and smells it, Bruno gives up on knocking and leaves. But if he would have come in, there is no saying what would have happened, because Bianca was so far away in dream land.
Penelope calls her, apologises for not telling her that Flavia started gambling again, mentions the 25.000 that are now causing problems with Nico.

Then Bianca goes down in the living room, Ariel smells the perfume and likes it. Bianca says she wore it for him, while Bruno has to witness the entire scene. Flavia comes in with the necklace Ariel gave her, wants to return it as part of the money she owes everybody for helping her with the police.
She is all apologetic for messing with the family's reputation, Ariel tries to cheer her up, remind her about the celebration for Bianca. But Flavia in one of her "poor me" moments, says that maybe Bianca doesn't want her at the party. She is only begging for attention, but Bianca, bless her heart for being so beatchy when it's right, for a change, agrees that it might be better if Flavia stayed behind tonight. And she leaves, Flavia remaining in a well deserved state of stupor.
 

MADE IN CARTAGENA -- jueves

Thank you for the great recap, Jody. And thanks, Hombre, for chiming in with some details.

My take on Vicente:

He is feeling guilty about what he has chosen to do, namely, betray Flora. He knows she is telling him the truth now; and he understands why she had to lie to him before.

When he agreed to "the plan", he was angry and hurt and was more than willing to punish Flora in the service of rescuing Sofia and getting the bad guys. Now his anger at her has subsided and HE feels like a bad guy.
 

Pasión Prohibida -

thanks so much AdrianaNoel!
such great comments you add,

loved your comment yesterday on Bianca's "50 Shades of Crazy", this really sums up this show,

I wonder if was it Guillermo that tipped the police to begin with?

and here I was waiting for Flavia to be put in that ever popular novela cell with the drunks, prostitutes, and murders, but alas, they didn't even take her cell phone away,

and when Mademoiselle comes to see if there is anything that she can do, and Bianca cuts her off, forcing her to back out of the room, then closes the door in her face, wow, so blunt, and so much for the let's be friends talk.

monopoly, ha!

so I guess when Nicolas told Penelope that she could give her mom some money she went ahead and gave her the whole $25,000, why not?

and now the fishermen see Ariel's picture in the paper, make all of the connections and show up at the mansion, ha!, so will B&B have their own cheering section now?

Ariel smelling Bianca's new perfume while Bruno is forced to watch, poor Bruno, all of his master seduction plans seem to go awry in the hands of Bianca,

and yes Flavia, maybe you should stay home, Ha!

 

PASION PROHIBIDA

Deb, I haven't thought about Guillero tipping of the police, by the way the scenes were shown the moment he found out about the game and the police showing up were pretty close. So I don't think he did it. If anything, I didn't midn him in this episode; and I do find it awful how Flavia manages to mess with Penelope and Nico, too, and she is not even living with them. It is a wonder Bianca's marriage lasted that long.

When I saw the fishermen recognizing Bianca I thought I was gonna die, because it just came out of the nowhere. B&B having a cheering section? LOL, great idea, someone has to be in their corner, too.
Love your idea about Flavia sharing a cell with prostitutes and drunks, it would have been hilarious!! To bad she got out so fast. But staying behind whiele everybody else is partying in the city should be punishemnt enough.

When Bianca showed off her perfume in front of Ariel and Bruno I got the feeling she was maybe paying Bruno back for before, when Bruno kissed Eliana in front of everybody, including her. All is faire in love and war, right? And how convenient to have a husband or a fiancee at hand when you want to make the one you love jealous.
 

La Patrona - Friday, episode 59

Alejandro totally dismisses Poncia's big reveal (about Antonia injecting something into their father's IV line just before he died), my mother couldn't have done this, it just didn't happen, and he storms away,

Veronica finally gets rid of Julio and Lagarto, who are snooping around looking for la Tuerta, on their way out they meet Irene on her way in, snooping about her husband.

Alejandro takes charge of the la Chamuco mine, reassures the workers, fires Ramon,

at home Julio locks up the family jewels, you can wear them when you want, just ask me for them first, the always slutty looking Lucecita is insulted. (is Julio having second thoughts?)

Irene leaves Veronica's, Alejandro pops in through Veronica's bedroom window,

Ramon drinks with Lucho, he wants to cleanse his soul, Marcario and Lucas look on, Lucho gets it all on tape, Antonia giving orders, Macario and Lagarto taking Tigre to the mine and torturing him, Alberto setting the charges, Ramon the lookout, Lucho runs home with the tape,

Alberto is romancing Valentina with some slow dances, David cuts in and speaks up for Max, Valentina is taken by his words since he never has anything good to say about Max,

Alejandro is hot on the trail of uncovering this whole Gabriela/Veronica thing, Gabriela breaks down, gives in, ok, this is how it is, Lucho in a fit of jealousy dashes into the room and punches Alejandro, security splits them up, Veronica tells Alejandro to leave, by the door this time, Lucho goes to his room and starts packing, he is outta here, Veronica can't convince him to stay,

Macario and Lucas report back to the Antonia, she wants to know who this other guy (Lucho) is, (was there a point here where Lucas realizes that these people killed his father in the mine as well, and then he just lets it all slide)

Alberto shows up to serenade Valentina, who is not there, but at Francisca's to see a shirtless Max, they kiss,

a frustrated Veronica is reminded by Constanza, that Lucho has put his life on the line for her more than once,

the ever cool Gastón shows up at Lucho's room with a bottle of Tequila and talks the hothead Lucho down from the ledge, (I think other than the jealousy thingy, Lucho has Alejandro on the hit list as one of the bad guys, but Gastón brings up the point, that maybe he isn't)

Alejandro, hard at work, can see from the books that Alberto and Ramon were stealing from the mine, he wants Lagarto and Ricardo to prosecute,

Ramon is awaken by the bartender at closing time, as well as by Macario and his mini-me wanna be Lucas, and escorted home, by gun point, as Macario puts the gun to his head, Antonia strolls into the room, tell me about this other guy? (Lucho)

 

La Patrona -

It's sometimes hard to see what a hold someone like Antonia can have over a person, especially her own kids, until you see something like Alejandro's complete inability to deal with what she is capable of, when deep down inside, he already knows,

I wasn't quite sure what Ramon's job was, transportation, a fleet of trucks?

Veronica seems to have a steady stream of visitors, I keep thinking she should have a security set up like the government, that people have different security clearances that only allow them to go into certain areas, where only the top clearances have access to the whole house,

It seems like Lucho's tape is all that they were looking for as proof, but will the always alert Antonia foil this somehow,

Francisca is still one of my favorite characters, I wish she had a bigger part,

Alejandro's new office looks a lot like his old office, I wish he would bring back Manuel to help (of course he wouldn't be fooled by Gabriela).

and why is Macario hanging out with this young dummy, this could surely be his downfall, I'd rather see him switch sides, or go rogue.

 

PASIÓN PROHIBIDA

Thanks for the great recap, AdrianaNoel.

I'm sure Guillermo set Flavia up. Silvia, who he knows to be Flavia's frenemy, was begging him to come to this private gambling party she was throwing - only the crème de la crème of Miami to attend. My memory of this was that she told him at least a day before the party happened.

When the cops burst in and the Glamour photographer was conveniently right there, I was sure Guillermo was behind it. At first I thought he just wanted Flavia's picture in that magazine. Now I think he's playing a long game, saving Flavia's bacon to eventually lure his son back with good deeds.

This is one twisted guy. He threw his son out of his business and, like a kid who doesn't want a toy until the other kid picks it up, he can't stand that Nico is doing so well for a company that, I'm pretty sure, competes with his own.

What's up with Penélope? She's always been pretty low IQ, but that trick of forking over $25K of her husband's money - none of which she earned a penny of - to her rotten mother. Unbelievable. And, when confronted, she reams him out for the $1 million? Has she forgotten that he got his mother to sell land to raise that money for the sole purpose of marrying his wife? Because she's so dumb I guess she would have let her mother cancel the wedding and been an unwed mother if Mommie Dearest said so. Gah!

And don't get me started on the Bruno and Bianca fiesta de estupideces.
 

LA PATRONA

Thanks so much for the terrific recap, Deb.

That was a very exciting episode. One thing I like about the writing of this one is that annoying plot points don't really last forever. For me that annoying plot point was Valentina continuing to think Max betrayed her. That one's over.

I wonder what's going to happen with Alberto now that Valentina isn't going to fall into his clutches and Alejandro knows he was stealing from the mine.

I know it's what they do in telenovelas, but it's kind of boring the way Macario is always watching and/or listening every time some truth is about to come out.

I enjoyed seeing Irene rebuff her awful father at Verónica's house for installing Luz in his house. Luz could take some step-mother lessons from Francisca!

Poncia telling Ale about Antonia injecting something into his father's intravenous line was bound to be a false cliffhanger. It's waaaay too early for Antonia to be put in the slammer for that one.

I guess it's the eternal male telenovela character's jealousy plot, but Lucho's behavior was over the top. Vero has always told him he has no chance. So why would a guy as smart as that go all foaming at the mouth over Alejandro and risk exposing himself. Antonia is asking about him, so he's in real danger now. He was better off in the burka!
 

El Señor de los Cielos -

"Inspired by true events, the story follows a police officer (Gabriel Porras) specializing in drug trafficking whose sole mission is to capture one of the biggest Mexican drug lords of the 1990s and who was known as the Lord of the Skies, played by Rafael Amaya."

http://scryptyd.wordpress.com/2013/03/23/telemundo-preps-el-senor-de-los-cielos/

 

LA PATRONA

Thanks, Deb, for the excellent recap.

Amazing Ale took over the mine and in 2 days improved employee morale, fired the crook and ferreted out the embezzlers. Antonia was absolutely correct that he was the man for the job. Now I wonder what she's going to do about Alberto stealing her gold (don't have to worry about Ramon's fate, do we?)

I think Ramon owns the fleet of trucks that transport the El Chamuco ore, and that's how he and Alberto been able to falsify the weights on the shipments and make a profit on the unreported gold.

It sure looked to me like Julio is having 2nd, 3rd and 4th thoughts about moving Luz and son into his casa. He is not going to defend Luz against Irene. He buys into the class thing as much as Irene does and will have a hard time taking his prostitute wife out in public.

David did learn a few things from el Tigre and Gabriela. He recognizes that Alberto is a thief, and he was honest telling Val that, even though Max and he may not get along, Max is not a thief. David also has that quick hot-head reaction that both his mother and grandfather had.

It seemed to me too that Lucas was getting the picture as to who killed his father, but decided to let it slide. I wonder if this means that Lucas is completely corruptible or if he's going to bide his time and eventually get even with the lobos. He was deeply hateful towards David, blaming los Suarez for his father's death. Maybe now he's rethinking the whole situation.

I thought Macario had a funny look on his face when Antonia was asking who this other guy (Lucho) is - like he knows but doesn't want to say.

And why doesn't Vero turn off that camera?

Beth
 

LA PATRONA

You guys may be right about Lucas. I just thought he was loyal to Antonia for giving him a job and refused to believe she was guilty of blowing up the mine. It didn't occur to me that he believed she'd done it and was willing to let it slide. One thing is for sure, inherited from his father is a strong hatred of Los Suarez. I think his mother was the one who came unglued during Gabriela's trial. Sometimes it seems like the crappier the husband who dies unexpectedly the fiercer the widow defends him.
 

Pasión Prohibida -

ah novelera, so glad to see you are still with this one,
I feel your frustrations, and love your comments,

I spend about half of the time scared to death that Bruno and Bianca are going to get busy and just do it, (hopefully not in the back of Bianca's SUV love nest while Ariel drives them around),

that dam they are building is only going to hold back so much water,

and the other half of the time pulling my hair out (or lately laughing a lot), while all of these crazy people try to resolve their complicated problems without actually letting out the truth about anything,

but always amazed at how the lives of all of these annoying people are all so intricately intertwined to the point that anything that one might do, affects all of the others, which makes the game Bruno and Bianca are playing, all the more dangerous,

this is surprisingly well written,

 

Telemundo -

novelera, I'm guessing you didn't get a reply as to when El Rostro de la Venganza will end,
but I do see that it is in últimos capítulos, 2 or 3 weeks ???

Telemundo isn't saying much,
but if you would like to chew on a couple of rumors,

1) it was posted at TW that El Señor de los Cielos will start April 15th, not substantiated but logically this would be 3 months since production started, enough time to complete the filming of a 1/2 novela like LRdS,
(this start date is also being posted at the wiki site)

2) it was also posted at TW that Aracely Arámbula's contract had a provision that she would not have to do a full length novela, interesting as this is probably not true, but the fact that La Patrona could end at any time has actually increased my enjoyment of this one, although the longer the better for me.

btw Gaby Espino, Jencarlos Canela's significant other, has announced that she has signed on for a new novela, but she also is not talking.

 

PASION PROHIBIDA

Novelera, I am happy you haven't given up, yet, it is interesting to read your opinions, you always give me a new perspective on the show.
You make some good points about Guillermo, but I do believe he found out about the game in the same scene we saw Flavia at the table, getting ready to play. Anyway, we'll know soon enough. I guess it is a little hard for me to root against him when it comes to Flavia, I just DESPISE her to much.

Deb, your comment about B&B getting it on in her new SUV while Ariel plays chofer made me ROTFL
They are hanging by a thread and sooner or later someone will find them.
I, too, love the way all these people's lives are so strongly connected; and the ones you are supposed to like because they are good people, like Ariel or Deniz, annoy me the most, because they live amongst the wolves and have no clue about it. Take Ariel: how much better life for everybody in the house would be if he stood up to Flavia a bit more. And this is only an exemple.
 

PASIÓN PROHIBIDA

Happy Easter one and all!

AdrianaNoel - thanks once again for the entertaining recap. last week you mentioned watching tns purely for eye-candy, and I totally agree with you. One day, I was watching El Gordo y La Flaca, waiting for news on Luis Miguel, as an ad for Cuidado Con El Ángel came on, and William Levy's face flashed before my eyes. I was compelled to watch even though I didn't understand a lick of Spanish, and Univision didn't have cc3 then. god-awful story, but I was transfixed by his beauty, and his acting was decent. That was my introduction to telenovelas.

deb - B&B in suv w/ Ariel.... eeewww.... uproarious. as for the show being well-written, I've been thinking all these weeks that by now I would've/should've been bored with the constant back and forth between the 2protagonists, but I look forward to the next episode even more. they've managed to prolong the inevitable, and perhaps that's why I'm still here. moreover, their acting feels natural (unlike say Cristian Bach in La Patrona - could it be the stiff hair).

novelera - I too thought Guillermo may have had a hand in the gambling bust. ya veremos.

 

PASIÓN PROHIBIDA

Risking beating a dead horse about Guillermo, but I remember two scenes about the gambling party. In the first one Silvia told him about the game in person, face to face. He already knew about Flavia gambling. Can't remember how. At that time he didn't really say no, just that he might be able to attend. That was making me think they might both show up at the game.

Then later, on the phone, she called him again at his office urging him to come. He was with Nico and said he was in a meeting and couldn't make it. Then they showed the scene with Flavia arriving, and saying she had money to gamble. This made me think she hadn't yet paid her debt and was going to use Penélope's money to gamble some more.

I thought that would have given him plenty of time to rat Silvia out to the cops and get hold of his Glamour buddy - the one he'd already had dinner with.
 

PASIÓN PROHIBIDA

btw, I love:

- when Nico pointed out to Penélope that she might be like her mother. he's an upstanding guy.
- that Bianca really is sweet on and cares about her sister, and that she's not like her materialistic mother
- Tere crushing on Gabriel the fisherman; cute.

 

LA PATRONA:
It's driving me nuts that we don't know when this is going to end. I've been trying to find info on it, but Telemundo is keeping it like a state secret. I also didn't believe the TW rumor as the novela is just in the middle and I've read mainstream Spanish-language articles saying Aracely dropped her theater work in Mexico to devote herself to La Patrona. There are so many unrevealed secrets in this TN, we know nothing about Guerra's past-which we have to know because she is never surprised by her sons' cochinados, as if she has been there, done that and buried the bodies who could out her porquerias.

Aracely's husband Sebastian Rulli is in Amores Verdaderos which is also filming in Mexico and from their tweets, they seem to be fine with filming at the same time.
 

LA PATRONA:
Beth, prosecuting Alberto is gonna be a problem because he knows Guerra's secrets. He will sing like a sparrow if he's in jail. Guerra will find a way to get him out of prosecution, but kill him. Ramon is also due for his anvil, but killing the both of them will present problems. I don't know how the writers are going to work that one out.

Julio is a pig, plain and simple, who is having second thoughts about Lucecita, but has no one to blame but himself for his problems.

David sticking up for Max is a welcome improvement. I think it's sad and cool that GabyVero had to come back from the dead so to speak to give her son some hometraining. I cheered when GabyVero got her guards to kick David out her house since he was hounding Cecila. It speaks to Guerra's horrible parenting skills. No wonder Fer and Ale are so messed up.

I think GabyVero keeps the camera to make sure she doesn't end up in bed with Ale. I think it also reminds her not to get too comfy, since she's on a mission.
 

LA PATRONA

J desde NYC - agree about the length of this story. It's been going for 3 months now, and it's no where near the end. And with all the sub-plots, I think it could go on for another 6 more months.

From the original Venganza list:

Antonia - alive and kicking
Anibal - ditto
Irene - still here, dammit!
Julio - alive in his own private hell
Macario - living la vida loca
Lagarto - ditto
Alberto - still doing his thing
Ramon - on very thin ice with a heat wave coming
Gertrudis - out of sight, out of business
Prudencia- gone and almost forgotten
Ricardo - probably absolved of guilt
Alejandro - suffering, but probably pardoned

And now there's the Lucia leukemia problem, Valentina's inheritance issue, Poncia's dilemma, Lucas's story, etc, etc, etc.

Antonia will never let Alberto be prosecuted for exactly the reason you stated. I'm worried that she's going to set up Max to take the fall for Alberto's death - you know, kill two birds with one car accident.

Beth
 

MADE IN CARTAGENA:

I've been enjoying getting familiar with the Cartagena accent and expressions. We all know their favorite word is vaina, which means "stuff", among other meanings. One of the interesting things about the accent is they sometimes pronounce h's the way we do in English, not silently the way they usually are in Spanish. For example, they often say mi Hermano, pronouncing the h. The other day Harvey said Estoy Harto, which of course means I've had it, but he pronounced the h at the start of the word, which certainly is different from what we usually hear. Of course, maybe that's because his name starts with an H which is pronounced. Although when Cande says it, it sort of sounds like "Hobby". :)
 

NOVELAMAN:
I reposted your recap from Friday with the last line deleted. I appreciate your recaps but I have to ask you -- please don't talk about things that haven't happened in the show yet. Thanks!

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA

Aliva travels to Miami to stop Francis from talking to Diana and telling her what happened on the night of Marianas murder. For the plan to work, she asks fed to call Luci and distract them.

But Tom suspects something is wrong, since Luis tells him that Aliva was going to spend the day with Eli. To prove it, he visits Eli and is shocked that she isn’t there.

That afternoon, Tom visits Layton in prison and asks how to stop Aliva, in case she is the killer. Layton says that sooner or later she will kill again, to stop her, Tom will have to put his feelings for Aliva aside, that’s the only way he will find the clues that she left behind.

That night, Francis is about to meet up with Diana, but instead, she finds Aliva. Francis panics and tries to flee, but Aliva injects her with a substance that leaves her completely disoriented.

Aliva bounds and gags Francis. Aliva tells her next victim that she felt obliged to kill the schoolkids to save dMart. Francis begs to be freed, if something happens to her, the police will soon suspect Aliva. Francis already told a friend about the hotel incident.

Meanwhile, Tom investigates Alivas apt from ceiling to floor, looking for anything useful. Luisa tries to stop him and demands an explanation, but he says God will never forgive her for covering up a murder...
 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA

Just to be clear, everyone -- the above recap was written by NovelaMan. I just reposted it.
:-)
 

General -

if you haven't seen it yet, El Señor de los Cielos will start the 15th of April in the El Rostro de la Venganza time slot,

also of interest,
Arranque de Pasion -
a webnovela by Univision
starring,
Carlos Ponce, Kate del Castillo, Christian Meier
all Nascar race drivers

I thought this was an April fools joke so I went over to the library to watch the first episode, a little more than 6 minutes, that aired today, hmm, also has the option to add english captions, looks like Roberto Mateos also has a part in this one, and Christian Meier looks like the bad guy, and Carlos Ponce being, well being the Carlos we all love, and Kate looks like things aren't going so well.

an article on this was posted on We Love Soaps with a link there to the first episode,
http://www.welovesoaps.net/2013/04/arranque-de-pasion-la-historia-de-ela.html#more

 

MADE IN CARTAGENA, Lunes, Part 1

Another super exciting episode! We start with Flora emotionally telling Vicente she'd rob the Santa Helena for him. But his phone rings. Silvie is in, Imanol has the codes to the bank, and they're all set to rob the Santa Helena themselves! So Vicente tells Flora he's busy, and she leaves. When Imanol shows up, Vicente tells him he's not so sure he hates Flora anymore, she's been so kind and trusting. But Imanol tells him to focus, we have a job to do.

Vicente enters the bank, goes downstairs, and Imanol remotely jams the security cameras. Vicente has all the codes, provided by Silvie. He successfully gets the Santa Helena out of the safe. Meanwhile, Silvie has started a little fire in her office to set off the smoke alarm. She tells all the bank employees, everyone go outside, it's nothing, and we've called the fire department. All's fine for now. But then it all starts to go bad. First, the smoke alarms disabled the elevator, which is Vicente's only way to get out of the basement with the statue. Then, Imanol's signal to Vicente keeps cutting out, and they try to talk by cell phone. Vicente, desperate to get out, puts a chair under an air duct, and climbs up. But he drops his cell phone down onto the floor! A fireman comes in, asks if anyone is there, as Vicente stays quiet just above. But the fireman sees the cellphone, and calls Sanchez! Sanchez tries to call Vicente. No answer. He tries to call Imanol. No answer. He thinks back to the other day, when Vicente said he was going to get the Santa Helena to save his daughter. Sanchez smells a rat. All units, to the bank!

Meanwhile, Cande, Dixon and Agua Mala have Blatcho prisoner. They're discussing strategy, Cande says they should turn in Harvey to the police. Dixon isn't happy with this, sees a gun on the table, grabs it, and points it at everyone! No way is Harvey going to the police. I'm going to KILL him! He ties up Cande and Agua Mala, and locks them all in the closet with Blatcho. He goes to find Harvey and kill him. Unfortunately, he's not that good at this, and Harvey sees him coming. In fact, Harvey has Belen with a noose around her neck, standing on a block of wood! Watusi is there, too. Harvey and Dixon point guns at each other. Harvey tells Dixon he's going to kill Belen, and then Dixon. Dixon makes a rush towards, him, but Harvey is too fast, and disarms him. He points the gun at Dixon's head, as Dixon urges him, kill me, c'mon! The block of wood falls, and Belen starts to get hanged! But Watusi grabs her, holds her up as she coughs for breath.

Harvey points the trigger at Dixon's head, is just about to shoot when Belen yells out, he's your son! She proceeds to give him all the data, 18 years ago, remember that place, etc. and Harvey believes her. Dixon yells that Harvey was never there for him, he's not his father! Belen says see, he's stubborn and stupid, just like you! Harvey seems to be swayed by this. He tells Dixon, look, I wasn't there for you, but I didn't know. You and I can be a team. I'll take you in as my right hand man. You'll be the most powerful man in Cartagena. No, says Belen, don't do it! Don't end up like Robinson. But Dixon agrees, he DOES want to be in the band. Harvey says you me, Sapo (Blatcho) and Mireya, we'll form the new band. So your first job is to get Sapo and bring him back here. If you don't I'll kill your mother. You can count on me, says Dixon, and leaves. Watu has gotten Belen down by this point. I'm not convinced that Dixon is really in with Harvey.
 

MADE IN CARTAGENA, Part 2

Flora is walking on the beach with Karen, she's so upset and confused. She gets a call from Matilda, come back to the house, and she does. At the house, Matilda rocks Flora's entire world by telling her that Don Vicente has been using her, ever since the day he saw her and her whole family at the cemetery! Matilda tells Flora that she believes Flora is a good person, and had to do all that stuff for her family. And don't you see, Don Vicente has to do it all for his family, too! But wait a minute, says Flora, I see how he's using me now for Sofi, but before, he double crossed me to get Candelario in jail, and that was not to help Sofi. That was for revenge! Matilda can't really deny this. Flora rushes out, tears in her eyes, and tells Karen everything. It all fits.

Back at the bank, things are going from bad to worse. Sanchez arrives, and asks a very nervous Silvie what's really going on. Silvie tries to dodge his questions, look there's really a fire, can't you see the smoke? (there is, by this time). But Sanchez asks, how come I can't reach Vicente and Imanol? Where are they? I don't know, she replies, they must be in their houses. Yeah, right. Sanchez goes to the basement, gets Vicente's cell from the fireman, and calls the last number. Imanol answers it, what's the matter, Vicente? Oooops! Sanchez KNOWS it's a robbery now! He goes back to Silvie tells her about the phone, says you're in big trouble, demands to see the Santa Helena. She stalls a bit, has to ask the board, but eventually has to take him to it, and of course, it's gone. She's in BIG trouble now.

So Imanol calls Flora, who is crying to Karen at the beach, how she trusted Vicente, loved Vicente. Imanol says Flora, Vicente is trapped at the bank, and only YOU can save her! Karen says don't do it, he's betrayed you, you'd be crazy, but she decides to do it anyway, even if just for Sofi, or for Vicente, or who knows? Here's the plan. Flora will dress up as a firefighter, walk right through the front door, down to the basement, give Vicente a matching firefighter outfit, and they'll both walk right out! And that's what she does, the cutest little firefighter you ever did see, Silvie sees her go in, but Sanchez doesn't, she finds Vicente in the basement, and tells him she knows EVERYTHING. They yell at each other, there's hate, love, betrayal, longing and desire, but they'd better get those outfits on and get outta there!

Dixon goes back to the hideout, releases Cande, who's royally pissed at him, but Dixon tells him he pretended to be on Harvey's side, but he's really not! He tells Cande Harvey has Belen. We see Harvey dump Belen in with Sofi in his new lair, they're both prisoners. He hits Watu with a gun for good measure, knocking him out. Mireya says don't trust Dixon. But Harvey thinks he's a chip off the old block. Sofi says to Belen, don't worry, when Harvey gets the Santa Helena back, he'll let us go. No, girl, you don't know that man, says Belen. When he gets the Santa Helena back, he'll kill us all! But why? Revenge, since Vicente killed his son Robinson. That's crazy, says Sofi, my Dad wouldn't kill a flea!

Cande tells Dixon it's time to kill Shadow, but they need to find him. Cande calls him, and Agua Mala does his computer magic. They keep Shadow on the line long enough to triangulate his location. Let's get him! Dixon, you guard Sapo. Here we goooo!
 

Pasion Prohibida Monday part 1

I found this episode quite boring...

Everybody goes to celebrate Bianca's birthday, except Flavia. She is left behind and just as she is about to go to bed, Guillermo calls her to mock, remember her all the bad moves she's made recently (losing the house to him, the car accident, the latest jail situation). Flavia tries to defend herself in her usual manner, but Guillermo is the winner after all, pointing out how he saved her for people's mockery by silencing the press. After he hangs up, she starts sobbing, then she remembers all the things Bianca, Penelope, Ariel or Guillermo have told her over the last few months: how Bianca threw her out of the house, how Penelope screamed at her when she found out about the million dollars etc... Katia comes over to see if she needed anything, but Flavia throws her out.
When the voices in her head telling her that she is a looser become to much to bare, she starts messing up the entire room, making enough noise for Camila to hear her.
Camila runs to the kitchen and Katia reluctantly agrees to go check on Flavia again.
She finds her swallowing a bunch of pills, trying to kill herself -again!- (suicidal maniac this Flavia, I hope she takes enough pills to get the job done this time); Katia runs to Deniz, together they go to Flavia's room, realize what she is trying to do and decide to call a taxi, take her to the hospital.

In the meantime, at the restaurant, everybody is enjoying the night - sort of. Bruno and Eliana offer Bianca a pair of earrings. Just as Bruno is about to make a toast Bianca she cuts him off, she wants to blow in her birthday cake already; she makes a wish that everybody can hear (and just like Nina, I think this is a bad omen): she wishes for her life to go on just like it is now and may the destiny take care of her happiness (translation: may her life continue between being married to Ariel and sneaking around the house with Bruno, as her destiny is to be forever caught between the hottness that Bruno represents and the safe life that Ariel can give her - good wish!); when blowing the candle, she gives Bruno a suggestive look.
Later they are all dancing, Nina is pouting until Ariel invites her to dance; Bianca asks to talk to Nico, he is still upset with Penelope; they tried to patch things up earlier at home, but they ended up arguing again because of the whole partner position at the company. Nico doesn't want Bianca to meddle in their marriage, but she points out the fact that they shouldn't fight because of Flavia.

 

Pasion Prohibida Monday - part 2

At the hospital Deniz is waiting to hear news about Flavia and tells Katia on the phone to make sure nobody knows what happened. When they all arrive home, Katia lies that both Flavia and Deniz are asleep.

In her room, Bianca goes to the balcony, to make googly eyes at Bruno, who is downstairs, by the pool, smiling at her. Their tete-a-tete is interrupted by Ariel who starts kissing Bianca, wanting to make love to his wife. Bianca and Ariel go inside and close the balcony door behind them, while Bruno, who witnessed everything is left outside, crushed.

Back in the house, as Ariel is kissing her neck, Bianca starts crying; she looks desperate and for a moment I think she is going to tell Ariel about Bruno, but she chickens out in the end and tells him she is very affected by her mother's attitude. Ariel is very understandind and lovable, tries to console her, suggest that maybe she needs some air. He is talking about taking some air from Flavia, sending her in a trip, but Bianca first thinks he means going outside, where Bruno and the tentation are waiting and she doesn't want that.
A little later, when Ariel needs to go to the bathroom, she is panicked that she might be left alone; at this point she is clinging to Ariel for dear life, afraid that if he leaves her alone for a moment, she will go to Bruno; the scene with her, on the side of the bed, in that state of torturous pain over Bruno is really poignant.

Back at the hospital, Flavia is alright and Deniz wants to take her home; they decide that nobody has to find out about the suicide attempt. Deniz is very understanding and comforting in front of Flavia's shame and whinning that she can't even commit suicide the right way (no arguments there!) Deniz talks to Katia, decides it is better to get into the house through the back gate, so that nobody sees them.

And that is exactly what they do, with Flavia still dizzy and clinging to Deniz.
But Bruno is there, still thinking about Bianca and Ariel and imagining how they are probably making love right now. He is completely torn apart, but not enough to not see Deniz and Flavia. When she sees Bruno Flavia faints into his arms.
 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA



Tom finds a hidden box in the back of a small drawer. Inside the box are jewels of each of the victims, Marianas wedding ring and Veronicas earrings.

Meanwhile, dMart confesses to Alex that Aliva has been acting strange lately, and he is starting to have doubts.

That night, Tom visits Zeke and asks him if he recognizes the ring he found. Zeke confirmed that the ring belonged to Mariana. Tom doesnt tell him who had it, first he has to dig deeper in the investigation.

At San Gabriel, Aliva beheads Francis and waits for her partner to arrive. when he does, he finds the body mutilated and panics, he finds himself face to face with Aliva who kill his with one swipe.

In prison, Layton and Alex plan Alivas murder, but first they need to make her confess so she wont look like a victim and free Nat. But in case she refuses to talk, Alex tells Layton his man can do what they want to Aliva.

At the station, Tom investigates the clues from the murders he found at Alivas apt. Tanias ear(shouldnt it be decomposed by now?!), wedding ring taken from Mariana as well as her finger, among others. For now he wont reveal the killers name, but Tom couldnt feel more betrayed, for so many years he was blinded by Alivas beauty.

The next morning, Miggy and Braterina meet the adoptive parents of their child. A young traditional family from San Francisco. The parents they wouldve loved to have.

The news of the San Gabriel double murder spreads rapidly through New York. Tom asks his partner to investigate if Aliva really was in Boston.
 

LA PATRONA:

Lucho, Lucho, Lucho. He's all set to leave, since Vero doesn't love him, when she gives him a BIG (fake) kiss, and tells him she can't live without him. So he's staying. But a number of people are discovering him, including Alejandro and Antonia.

I hope Ramon and Alberto have a lot of life insurance.

Antonia really showed her true colors to Valentina, after Val defiantly proclaimed Max was her novio, and after she turns 18, she's going to get all her money, and MARRY him! Antonia said something like don't be so sure.

Antonia's problem, as Poncia keeps pointing out, is that she has no real allies or friends. Once she's killed or alienated everyone, she'll be all alone. This is far in the future of this show, but I'm enjoying every little setback she has. She's a fighter, though, and keeps having some little triumphs to keep her going.

I actually felt a little sorry for Irene, having to unburden herself to her sister, who had an affair with her husband. I still hate Irene, but she's already getting some payback for her manipulations and haughtiness.

Cecelia sure wowed David with her new look! We already knew she was very pretty even in her maid outfit, but still, nice makeover. She's wisely continuing to play hard to get. And David is gradually changing. I have high hopes he will eventually help take down Antonia.

Sure enough, Anibal could be a donor for little Lucia. But he'd have to do it secretly. Will Pati convince him?
 

PASIÓN PROHIBIDA

Thanks for the recap, AdrianaNoel. Yes, last night was mostly about 'f'... boring is right.

Stupid of Bianca to make a bday wish out loud. I really liked the music when the adults were dancing. gotta find out the name.

I too thought, and prayed Bianca was gonna come out and tell Ariel about her attraction to Bruno. oh how I wish I were a writer of this novela. She was very good in this scene.
 

La Patrona -

great comments Hombre!

Lucho worries me because he is such a hothead, and this love he has for Gabriela, is this really love, I can really see how deeply they have bonded through all that they have been through, but as far as man and wife living happily ever after, that is just not there, as well as the fire and the passion, but his impromptu actions are so capable of totally screwing everything up.

did Gabriela say or imply that they would marry?

and didn't she tell Alejandro they were engaged, who then politely bowed out, commenting on how much he has hurt people in the past,

was Lucho's accidentally closing the safe really an accident,
or a clever way for him to leave with the files?
and tossing Lucecita all of the jewels was a pretty good distraction,

interesting that the doctor left open the door for an anonymous donor, but in the meantime why aren't Irene and Alejandro busy making stem cells?
they can hardly look at each other,

I'm still thinking brother Ricardo will save the day,
or will he just keep on in his passive way while his world gets rearranged around him.
Ricardo and Alejandro really are quite the pair,

Alberto sure is slow to realize he is being played the fool, does he really have a thing for Antonia or is this just business for him.

I thought that Ricardo and Lagarto looked a little stunned when Alejandro suggested that they arrest Ramon and Alberto, but I was surprised when Antonia simply told Lagarto to just forget about it, no wonder Alejandro never seems to follow through if his mother has always been there keeping him from doing so.

Alejandro's relationship with his mother runs deep.

 

Pasión Prohibida -

thanks so much AdrianaNoel!

I had trouble sorting through Bianca's birthday wish, thanks for the help on that, but I did get Nina's ominous warning about saying your birthday wishes out loud, and admired Bianca's defying spirit against all odds.

what a saint Mademoiselle is in cleaning up Flavia's mess, LOVED the slap, Flavia and Katia should be feeling like real fools for stealing her letter, but of course tomorrow Mademoiselle will once again be just one of the help.

I was also surprised at how well Mademoiselle has contained all of this, no wake up Yair, call Eliana, etc., but it's not a done deal yet, as the tormented Bruno catches her fall,

poor Eliana sent home alone,

 

LA PATRONA

I'm really disappointed in Vero, telling Lucho she can't live without him. What a cheap trick! And he's so smitten, he believes she's made a true statement of love. Bad move, Vero, and one that I don't think Gaby would have made. I think Vero is in for more suffering because she's become so obsessed with revenge and lost her perspective.

I think she told him they would be together forever, but not that they would get married....

I fear for Lucho's life - too many people are looking for him. And he's such a hothead, he's not being smart. He needs to get back into the burka!

Antonia said something to Val and Max about how a lot could happen to prevent a wedding and then said 'don't buy your wedding dress!' I thought it was a clear threat, but neither Max nor Val said anything to her. I wish these kids would learn to keep their plans to themselves - Val in particular gives Antonia way too much information.

Those two Suarez boys are just like their grandfather with their quick tempers. Antonia was hilarious when she told AniMal to just watch the scene play out with Max going after Alberto. Max's yelling that he'd kill Alberto was the perfect set up -guess who'll be arrested when Alberto turns up dead?

I absolutely loved Patty giving AniMal his marching orders (to the lab). He's probably going to be exposed anyway because Vero is having that DNA test done.

Antonia must have something planned for Ramon since she told Macario not to kill him - yet.

Beth
 

LA PATRONA

'been watching ocassionally. reading your recaps and comments is preferable to viewing. thanks all.
 

PASIÓN PROHIBIDA

deb - wooooo yeah... the slap! a much-deserved, long overdue one! each of them should take turns with the "f."
 

PASIÓN PROHIBIDA

Thanks for the recap, AdrianaNoel.

Is there any chance at all that Deniz' tender care of Flavia will produce a kinder, gentler Flavia - at least toward that one person?

I guess it was sad about Bianca's tears. But are they going for her NEVER having sex with her husband again? Every time he attempts a move lately, something prevents it.
I sure hope not. Poor Ariel doesn't deserve to be sexually rejected all the time.
 

LA PATRONA

I don't understand why Antonia wanted the "arrangement" with Alberto to end. Sure, she knows he stole from her. But I thought she'd still use him to try to get Val's money.
 

Pasion Prohibida

Shallowgal, if Bianca had said anything to Ariel, then where would the "fun" be? They would most probably have to brake up, Bruno would leave the house, too. And you know, nobody ever leaves the mansion for good. Now that is a bad omen.

Deb, I loved the slap, too, but I have a feeling Flavia will find a way to hate Deniz again.
I had to LOL at your comment about Deniz being able to take Flavia to the hospital without getting the entire house to participate. Very well put and so funny!

Novelera, I am wondering about Bianca's sex life, too...if she said no today this is just the beginning. Sooner or later she will run out of excuses. Since this is a TN, the heroine would not want to sleep with anyone else but the object of her affection, this being Bruno here; so it will be interesting to see how this no sex for Ariel will be solved.
 

MADE IN CARTAGENA -- lunes

"Karen says don't do it, he's betrayed you, you'd be crazy, but she decides to do it anyway, even if just for Sofi, or for Vicente, or who knows?"

I love that Flora decided to do it anyway, Hombre. She may just be one of my favorite telenovela protagonistas and Carmen V is doing a fabulous job of bringing her to life.

So I was listening for the 'h' thing you mentioned. You're right -- I heard a 'hermano' with an aspirated 'h', even though most of the time the 'h' is silent. Interesting.

Thanks for another great one, Hombre.
 

LA PATRONA

Novelera - I think that in spite of (in addition to?) being a cold, calculating sociopath, our Antonia has 'issues'. She had an almost phobic reaction to giving blood for the bone marrow compatibility test; she has a pathological need for more wealth, always wants more, especially other people's; and she cannot tolerate someone betraying her - because she's the 'boss'.

In addition to being bored with Alberto, I think she felt he had crossed the line with her by conspiring with Ramon to take her gold. I read that as 3 strikes: bored, disloyal, stealing. His only use would have been seducing Valentina, but that's not gonna happen now. He's a goner.

Beth
 

LA PATRONA:
Antonia doesn't have issues, she has subscriptions. I have a different interpretation about the whole Lucho /Gaby thing. I think Lucho was being very selfish expecting Gaby to declare she loved him or he'll leave. She saved his life first and never guilted him or pulled rank about it. She did it out of the kindness of her heart b/c they were in a desperate situation. Remember Gaby was even going to help Psycho asanova out of the manicomio fire before Lucho asked her why she was wasting time trying to save a rapist. She, Costanza and Lucho are a family and need each other but Lucho basically pulled the 'you scratch my back or I won't scratch yours' card. He doesn't value the family aspect of the venganza, which is problematic to me

He hasn't matured, since he isn't considering that they are family first and foremost, and that his skills are needed so GabyVero can get her son back.

As whorish as Ale has been, when Gaby escaped the manicomio he was willing to give her his car so she could escape with her son, never to see him again, because he knew how important her son was to her especially with Tigre's
death. He always saw his relationship with Gaby as a package deal with David. He protected David from Gaby when she was under the drugs that made her hullucinate. He was willing to lose her for her to be happy. Lucho hasn't been there for money, but to get into Gaby's pants and that's just as despicable to me because Gaby has been a great friend to him and needs his support even if she doesn't want Lucho in her pants. The venganza is primarily to get her son back and expose Guerra, but Lucho thinks its about alejandro. So while it was wrong for her to lead him on, Lucho doesn't deserve or love Gaby as much as he thinks.

Even in last night's ep, Ale stepped back when Vero said no and wished her the best with Lucho because she deserved it.
 

MADE IN CARTAGENA, Martes, Part 1

Extreme close-ups. Hand held cameras. We feel as if we're INSIDE the action. And what action! At the bank, Sanchez has arrested Silvie and Imanol, and they'll be taken to the station for questioning. Sanchez is very suspicious of the whole scene, he has the little wastebasket that shows the fire was started in Silive's office. He orders all the firefighters to line up, and take off their helmets and masks. Uh oh, Flora and Vicente are coming out now, wearing those firefighter outfits! But another fireman gets a call, there's another fire, and he needs all the firefighters for that. Flora and Vicente manage to walk RIGHT PAST Sanchez, onto the firetruck! They later get off, drive down to the beach, take off the disguises, and discuss the next step.

Vicente is mad at Flora. And Flora asks him, if you knew who I was from the start (a poor girl), would you still have acted the same towards me? His silence is revealing. He calls Harvey, tells him he has the Santa Helena, let's meet and make the exchange. No way, responds Harvey, last time it was a trap. Besides, I'm busy (he's waiting for Dixon to bring him Sapo), so I'll call YOU! He hangs up. Vicente gets in his jeep, tells Flora you stay out of this, I'll take him the Santa Helena. No, Harvey's crazy, she says. But after all you've done, he replies, I don't know if I can trust you. You HAVE to trust me! She gets in front of the car, won't let him leave. She grabs a gun, points it at Vicente, I'll shoot! My life is crap! I have nothing left. Harvey has my mother, too, not just Sofia! So get out of the car, and give me the cellphone! Tears are streaming down her face. Eventually, they agree to go together. She figures Harvey is at her rich house. This is true, that's where Sofi and Belen are being held prisoner.

Downstairs at the police station, waiting to be interrogated, Silvie tells Imanol she's over Vicente, and wants to start something with him, should they go for it? He says he normally is very cautious, and he's been hurt before, but for HER, he'll risk it! They kiss.

Cande and Agua Mala have located Shadow. They're dressed up as cable guys, Cande surprises Shadow, but he gets the slip on Cande, grabs his gun, points it at Cande's head. But Agua Mala points a gun at SHADOW's head! They take him outside, and when his goons arrive, they jump the goons, and lock them inside. Now they have Shadow prisoner. Cande calls Harvey and the cops. I think he wants to have the cops catch both Shadow and Harvey. But Harvey's still busy, doesn't answer his phone. Cande stops, forces Shadow to handcuff himself to a pole. But Shadow says he's having trouble closing the cuffs, they're too tight. Agua Mala goes to help, and Shadow handcuffs Agua Mala to him and the pole! And here come the police! Sorry, man, says Cande, I've gotta go. But not before he puts a big sign on Shadow saying “I'm know as the Shadow, I'm a killer” Hah! Cande drives away, the cops arrive, arrest both Shadow and Agua Mala. Agua is furiously protesting, I don't know this guy, I'm innocent! But both are taken to the station.
 

MADE IN CARTAGENA, Part 2

Later, Agua Mala convinces Sanchez he'll help locate Harvey, in return for his freedom. Sanchez isn't promising anything, but he'll take the help. Agua Mala almost has an orgasm at the cool police equipment, he wishes he had that model! He tells the cops Harvey has to be in one of three places, the old warehouse, the new warehouse, or Flora's rich house. Sanchez sends units to all three places. He goes to the new warehouse, and tells Agua Mala it's empty. Agua Mala says, can't be, I have a trace on Harvey's phone. Well, his phone is there, but he isn't.

Remember Dixon was supposed to be guarding Sapo (Blatcho)? Well, he gets bored, and starts playing around with Agua Mala's computer (this is at the old warehouse). And what's this? He plays the disk which proves that Mireya killed Robinson! Whoa! He calls Harvey, I've gotta show you something. He rushes over to where Harvey is. When Flora calls Harvey about the Santa Helena, Harvey even tells HER he's busy. Dixon completely ignores Sapo, and goes to see Harvey. Sapo is struggling to get free of his bonds, still locked in that wired off area. The second unit of cops arrive at the old warehouse just as he finally gets free. The dumb cops open the wired area, Sapo bursts out, overpowers a cop, takes his assault rifle, and escapes!

Dixon meets with Harvey, Harvey is very angry, where is Sapo? You're double crossing me! No, Dad, no, shoot me if you want, but I'm going to show you what really happened to Robinson! What! They view the disk, which shows that Mireya shot Robinson. You see, Pop, it was Mireya all along! Harvey wonders if this was Photoshopped, but then thinks back, way back, to when he asked who could have killed Robinson, and Mireya was the one who pointed at the tv, and said that man did it! It was that man Dominguez! It all fits. Dixon says if you're not sure, ask her to her face. The one you trusted all along has betrayed you. But I'm with you, Pop! Harvey tells him son, we're going to be rich. I KNEW you would help me. We'll run this town! Right.

 

MADE IN CARTAGENA, Part 3

Sofi and Belen are desperate. They realize they need to escape. Sofi pretends to be sick, and Belen calls Mireya, who was their guard, for help. Mireya comes in, Belen overpowers her, and grabs the gun. But when Belen and Sofi disagree over who should go for help, Mireya overpowers Belen, and grabs the gun right back! She's just about to kill Belen when her phone rings. It's Harvey, don't you harm one hair on their heads, I'm on my way. Damn! Harvey arrives, and asks Mireya, why did you do it? You killed Robinson, I have the proof! Dixon is right there. Mireya says no way, it must be a photo montage. But she's holding a gun behind her back. Harvey says it's no montage, I know you're guilty. Mireya takes a breath, says okay, I'll tell you the truth. She then pulls her gun, struggles with Harvey, and fires! But she hits Dixon! He's wounded in the arm. Mireya runs out. Just at this moment, Vicente and Flora arrive! Vicente runs right towards Harvey who shoots HIM in the arm! Then Flora arrives. Harvey is mad, and he's the only one with a gun. Flora says wait, we have the Santa Helena! She gets it from the car. Harvey frees Sofi, leaves Belen tied up, but then takes out a hand grenade!!!! He's tied up Sofi and Flora, places them on the ground facing away from each other, both with hands tied behind their backs. He pulls the pin on the grenade, places it on the ground between Sofi and Flora's arms, tells everyone if anyone moves, the grenade will kill them! Vicente, you decide, who will you save, your daughter and granddaughter she's expecting, or your amante?! He leaves with the Santa Helena.

Candelario arrives at the hideout where Watusi is, unties him, points the gun at him, Watusi says wait, I know where Flora is! So those two also go to the rich house. They arrive and see the grenade! They free Belen. Vicente says I'll handle this. But how? Sofi has a hairpin, they may be able to use it to put back in the grenade, which they do. But it could go off at any moment! Vicente, arm bleeding, very carefully lifts the grenade out from between Sofi and Flora, very carefully starts going outside. But Watusi the hero says let me do it. He takes it outside, and as gently as possible, places it on the ground. He moves to go away, but when he's a few feet away, it explodes! He's knocked to the ground. At this point, the cops arrive! Watusi is not dead, his neck is put in a brace and he's on a stretcher. Cande has to give up his gun and surrender, he going to cooperate, tells Sanchez Harvey's probably on a boat to get away. Sanchez wants to question everyone, but where's Vicente?

There he is, zooming away in his jeep! Cut to Harvey, with the Santa Helena, getting on his boat, starting the engine. But here's comes Vicente, jumping onto the boat, trying to punch Harvey, but Harvey's too strong, and Vicente has that bleeding arm, Harvey knocks him out with a gun blow to the head, Vicente collapses on the boat, and Harvey speeds off! And there's no show tomorrow, so all we have left is the Gran Final, where we'll find out who will live and who will die. Noooooooo!!!!!!!
 

LA PATRONA – MARTES

Verónica tells Constanza she now thinks Alejandro might have been another victim of the plot, but then says that his sin was one of omission, not defending her. She also says that he will hate her after she wipes out everyone close to him.

Vero is happy to see David behaving like a gentleman and that he and Cecilia are having clean fun together.

Alberto insists on his innocence about stealing gold and Antonia pretends to believe him.

Julio overhears Gastón on the radio saying he’ll bring justice in the name of Inocencia and gets a bit of an evil smile, saying he almost forgot about that young woman. Later Gastón gets an anonymous letter at the radio station that Lagarto was the one who killed Inocencia.

Antonia tells Macario to kill Ramón himself since she’s gotten all the info out of him; she doesn’t trust Lucas to do it.

Pati notices Ale’s bruised face and says to him that Irene was right about his fighting over Vero.

David and Cecilia are having lunch with Vero when Lucho runs in excitedly. She introduces him to them as her future husband. When they are alone he shows her the papers incriminating Julio that he got from the safe.

Gastón wants El Tigre’s shotgun from Francisca to kill Lagarto, but Vero and Lucho manage to talk him out of it.

Irene rants at Antonia about her jealousy of Vero. Antonia tells her she can hang onto him by taking care of her daughter. And if she doesn’t, Antonia will see to it herself that Ale leaves her!

Alejandro confides in Patti that he’s in love with Verónica Dantés and can’t figure out why. But he knows she’s marrying someone else and says he’ll probably get over it.

Francisca gets a psychic feeling that Vero is on the wrong path. She says only God can judge people and they’ll be punished.

Irene and Antonia show up with a big teddy bear for Lucía. Unbelievable. While standing at her daughter’s bedside, Irene says Alejandro should promise in front of his daughter to never leave her.

Alejandro describes Alberto Espino’s stealing to Antonia. In addition to stealing the actual gold, the books are a mess: double payments, excessive salaries, and false expenses. He also says the vein of gold is running out, and they need to pay for an expensive geological survey.

Gastón and Constanza talk. Both say they are sick and tired of the vengeance scheme, but Vero isn’t budging on any of it.

Aníbal turns out NOT to be a compatible donor for Lucía. Ricardo almost overhears Patti and his father talking about this.

Lucho tries to break it to Luz gently that he’s now engaged and plans to be faithful. She isn’t ready to give him up. He almost sneaks out when Julio comes home and sees him. Luz manages to prevent his being shot and he gets away.

After Gastón tells Constanza she should follow her heart, she calls Ricardo and tells him it’s his mother. She says she’s alive and never abandoned him. They were separated. Ricardo sobs at the sound of her voice, but Vero comes in and Constanza hangs up. Constanza lies about making the call.

Lucas and some guys beat Espino with a baseball bat. Antonia had given the little weasel some money earlier.
 

LA PATRONA

Novelera - thanks so much for the great recap. This one was a little spooky, what with Poncia's feeling the ghosts of Antonia's murder victims and Francisca's bad vibes about Vero's venganza.

I thought Gaston's reaction to the anonymous letter was a little over the top. It seemed out of character for him, but maybe it was an indication of how frustrated and stressed out he is with this venganza plan.

I really like that the Ricardo-Patty relationship is improving and they are becoming physically closer.

It looks like Ricardo or a distant Beltran (maybe Gaby/Vero?) will be the donor for Lucia. That DNA test should be ready by now.

Constanza's call to Ricardo was the high point of the episode for me. I think this is the beginning of the end for AniMal. Ricardo is a smart guy, and, after what the NY lawyer told him about AniMal grabbing Constanza's money, it won't take him long to figure out what happened to his mother.

And does anyone else think Ricardo sitting up late reading papers in a suit and tie is a bit odd?

That scene with Lucas and his thugs beating Alberto was hard to watch. If Alberto is truly dead, I expect Lagarto will arrest Max for murder. It was a little surprising that Antonia went ahead with her plans to kill both Ramon and Alberto so quickly. AniMal had told her not to do it because, with Ale's allegations of fraud and theft at the mine, they would come under suspicion. But I think her arrogance got the best of her.

Beth
 

Pasion Prohibida Tuesday
PART 1

Flavia faints in Bruno's arms and he carries her to the house. They enter through the piano room door, that Katia opened, while she was being followed by Tere and Camila, more annoying than usual with their curiosity and meddling. After Flavia is in bed, Bruno asks what happened with her, he doesn't believe the story that they went for a walk. Deniz tells him Flavia was sick because of the fish she had for dinner and they went to the hospital.
Bruno doesn't care about asking anymore questions because he receives a text from Bianca; he gets out of Flavia's room and reads it:
"I'm dying to run to you and be with you in the moonlight, but the weight tied to my feet prevents me from moving" (according to cc, I wanted to get this right)

The next morning Ariel and the kids are checking the press to see if there is something about Flavia; they can't find any articles. Ariel mentions how he will take part at the same bid as Guillermo only to raise the prize and cause troubles to his rival; Nina is surprised her dad would use tactics like this (yeah, Nina, this is how real world works).

Later Bruno comes for breakfast and he ends up telling everybody what happened with Flavia, about the food-poisoning and Deniz's help.
Bianca lashes out at Deniz for not telling her; eventually it is Flavia who defends Deniz, by saying she didn't want the truth to come out, to ruin Bianca's day. Bianca is surprised that for once, her mother didn't want all the attention to be directed at her.

Ariel doesn't believe the story about the food-poisoning and confronts Deniz (in a very harsh way) about what really happened. Whenever I see Ariel so serious I have a hard time believing him because he is usually so mellow, and when he is like this with Mlle it is even more upseting because he never treats Flavia or Bianca the same way.
Anyway, Deniz caves in, tells him about the suicide attempt and the fact that Flavia wants to keep it hidden because she is very ashamed. Flavia might look like a tough woman, but deep down she is very fragile, she is living a tragedy of her own making (I don't believe Flavia is fragile, I believe she is a suicidal maniac, as I already said; this is her second attempt at suicide, they should not keep this hidden, what she needs is a shrink, not a pat on the back).

Nico and Penelope are with their baby, they end up fighting about Guillermo again; Nico wants to leave Miami, he thinks this is the only way to keep their peace, but eventually they both decide to never let their families come between them. Good luck with that!

Penelope then calls Bianca, tells her Flavia called Guillermo to thank him for his help with the press (that is what Nico thinks happened), but later when she asks Flavia, she denies everything: she would never call Guillermo, she is sick of him and his continuing quest to humiliate her (I get Flavia's point of view, but she is making things so easy for Guilly, so it is her fault, after all).
Ariel is in the room, too, they get interrupted by the screams that come from the kitchen.

 

Pasion Prohibida Tuesday
PART 2

It turns out that Don Salo is upset with Gabriel, the fisherman, because of the rotten fish; when Gabriel arrives with some more, Salo starts a huge fight with him; Gabriel, of course, defends his fish.
Ariel and Bianca come to see what is going on and seeing Bianca Gabriel asks her to corroborate his story about his fish being fresh, since she saw him working on the dock. Oh, boy, Bianca doesn't know how to get out of the kitchen faster.
Ariel, who knows the fish had nothing to do with Flavia's sickness, tells don Salo they can't blame Gabriel without proof, it could have been something else that hurt Flavia. He calms down the spirits.

Bianca goes to Bruno, who is reading the paper in the living room; tells him about being confronted by Gabriel, but Bruno has the perfect excuse: Bianca met Gabriel when she went with Bruno to apologize for the night of drunkness.
Then Bianca wants to know about the text she sent him, but Bruno erased it and how easy things would be if he could erase her, too. So this is the day Bianca does all the pushing...good to know. Bruno decided to leave home for a while, he can't stand to see Bianca with Ariel, he is afraid he will end up hating his uncle and he is such a good man, he doesn't deserve what they are doing to him.Bianca has turned into a desease and he needs time away to get well; he bever had so much trouble with a woman and she will not be the first one. Feeling offended by this, she agrees that maybe it is better if he left, after all this thing between them is so silly, it will surely go away very fast.

When Ariel and the kids join them, Nina (who was hidden, overhearing all the fight between Gabriel and don Salo) asks Bianca how come the fisherman knew her. She gives the same explanation Bruno made up and all is well, until she mentions how Bruno plans to leave the house.
Nina doesn't agree, of course, but Bruno says he needs to spend time with Eliana, reconnect with her, forget about his womanizing ways. And he will leave today.

Flavia thanks Deniz for being there for her, it's been a long time since anyone has been so kind to her; she's had a lot of problems recently, she treated Deniz badly, but from now on she is on her side.

Bruno is packing his bags when Bianca comes in. He is scared that someone might see her, but she has an alibi; she told the others she is going upstairs to thank Bruno for helping Flavia. So, if someone sees them making out, will it be conssidered a thank you kiss?
Bianca doesn't want Bruno to leave, after all; she knows that the thought that Ariel is touching her, kissing her, is driving him crazy. Bruno is getting more and more angry that she is mentioning this, but she tells him that she couldn't be with Ariel last night, because all she does is think about him. There is no turning back from this, no matter where they run.
He is trying to resist her, but she keeps touching his face, his shoulders and chest, she whispers in his ear, gives him a small kiss on the neck...
When she finally leaves, he is in a state of ...you know what.
Uff, these crazy kids... After chaising Bianca for months, now that he has her exactly where he wants her, Bruno is developping a conscience? Not cool, Bruno, not cool :)))
 

MADE IN CARTAGENA:

I may have misunderstood the after show ads. I think there IS a show tonight, and the last one on Thursday.
 

MADE IN CARTAGENA -- martes

Hombre:

Thanks for clarifying that there is a show tonight. Probably. Also, it looks like the final episode is being repeated on Friday, one hour later than the usual time.

Your recaps at this point really capture the breathlessness of the episodes. Thanks so much to you and Jody for taking this one on. (I wonder how many people are reading and enjoying your recaps but just not commenting. I bet there are plenty.)

Agua Mala probably lucked out by being delivered to the police. There's no safer place for him right now, especially with Mireya and Blancho running around loose. I hope he ends up hacking for good, not only in the pursuit of Harvey, but afterward.
 

LA PATRONA:

Thanks for the recap, Novelera and great comments, Beth. I agree with almost all of your predictions (especially Max being blamed if Alberto is killed). My only disagreement is that I think Ricardo is actually stupid. And Alejandro is stupider. In fact, almost all the characters are way stupider than us viewers, right? :)

But I like the fact they keep revealing little things each day, and each day has lots of events (as opposed to just a lot of talking). The show is so entertaining, even when things are going wrong for Veronica, that it has me on the edge of my seat.

I don't know if it's her makeup or what, but I currently find Veronica so amazingly beautiful, despite her somewhat evil intentions, that if she ever asked ME for anything, I'd do it!

Do we know who sent that note to Gaston? Julio, maybe? He's not too happy with Lagarto these days.

Yes, Antonia did shudder a bit when Poncia gave her that line about all her ghosts are watching her - from inside! It's fun to see her suffer.
 

PASIÓN PROHIBIDA

Thanks as usual, AdrianaNoel, for the lovely recap.

oh boy.... all I can say is B&B has me in knots... they are making me very noivous. I did like when he said he wished he could 'erase' her as easily.
 

La Patrona -

thanks so much for the recap novelera!
I had a lot of trouble following the story last night and this helps a lot,

and thanks for your comments as well Beth and Hombre,

ah, so Julio might have sent the anonymous letter about Lagarto,

I'm not thrilled about Veronica's announcement that she will marry Lucho,
(that is just not Gabriela at all),
nor with Lucho's over elated reaction.

didn't Veronica say they couldn't use Julio's file because it was stolen,
so Lucho copied it and took it back,
only to get caught,
he seems to be more careless than ever,
now that he has won Veronica,

Veronica's revenge plan seems stalled,
I can't blame Constanza, Gastón, or Lucho for being impatient,
and what about Gertrudis in the basement?
I thought they would try to get her files,

I was surprised Gastón went to borrow Tigre's shotgun,
seems like with their weapons and self defense training, they would have their own guns,

I would think Anibal would just have said he is not compatible and be done with it,
but it looks like he actually did the test,

so Ricardo had no doubts he was talking to his mother,

I didn't really follow Poncia's rant about the people that Antonia has had killed,
or where this came from,
but was she saying Alejandro would be the one to do her in?

seems like this would be the only way Alejandro can break the silent hold she has on him once and for all.

Hombre, I find Veronica's makeup tilted toward accentuating her dark, hollow, crazy eyes, that she acquired in the manicomio, the ones that roll when she finishes her Veronica pretense with someone.

 

LA PATRONA

LOL, Hombre. Yes, our two brothers are estupidos about so many things. I'm hoping that Ricardo's rational brain will figure out what AniMal did to Constanza.

I thought that Julio sent the anon note to Gaston based on Julio's reaction to Gaston's radio broadcast and the timing of the delivery, but the writers have fooled me so many times during this TN.

I had been watching Amor Bravio and Amores Verdaderos before finding this TN, but La Patrona is so much more engaging that it's become my favorite.

Beth
 

Pasión Prohibida -

thanks so much AdrianaNoel!

wow, it seems impossible for anyone to keep a secret in this house, but that doesn't stop everyone from trying,

poor Gabriel, blamed for the whole Flavia thing,

is Mademoiselle becoming Flavia's best buddy a good thing?

I'm glad Ariel got the truth about Flavia's suicide attempt out of Mademoiselle, this would I think add to his respect of her, but now he has a secret he will keep from Bianca,

so Bruno is leaving, I wonder how far he will get this time, and I guess Bianca will go into stalker mode to keep tabs on him,

 

MADE IN CARTAGENA:

Thanks Hombre for all your well-detailed recaps, especially this week. There was a lot of activity last night. I loved watching Agua Mala geek out looking at all the computer equipment at the police station. I think he actually told one of the officers how jealous he was. I don't think we have to worry about him leaving that room any time at all.

I'm going to be sad when this ends thursday. I've loved watching and trying to understand all the different accents spoken in this drama.
 

Pasion Prohibida
AdrianaNoel, thanks, I'm out here reading, even if not commenting every day, appreciate your efforts! Concise, you capture everything with your own unique spin.
Great comments deb, shallowgal, novelera!
Yep, Deniz is a saint! Always so classy. As you predicted novelera, produced a gentler Flavia, seemed genuine, at least for one night?
Question, goes back to last week, was Bianca shuffling some loose pages she stashed in her diary? Was that the copy of Deniz's purloined letter B got from Katia?
"Dear Diary, another steamy Miami night....." B&B, circling each other, never quite in synch. Bruno sounded sooooo sensible last night. Bianca will have to go back to stalker mode, right deb. Hope Bruno doesn't leave his punching bag behind.
Clara
 

PASIÓN PROHIBIDA

I liked Mónica Spear so much in Flor Salvaje, and she just bothers me in this one.

When Bruno was coming on to her, say in that sauna scene, she's all prissy and no-can-touch.

Now that Bruno has found his conscience, she's in full-on tease mode. What she said in Bruno's room was torturing him, actually verbally reminding him of his earlier thoughts of his uncle touching her skin, kissing her, etc. She can't stand it when he pulls away and doesn't pursue her.

I'm extremely tired of the scenes of the household staff. Last night's scene of Tere and Cami sneaking around trying to find out what Katia was up to were infantile in the extreme. Except for Don Salo, I would fire ALL these people for busybodies.

And they even had Don Salo acting like an idiot last night.

It's a dark, weird episode when the second nicest person in the novela is Flavia! [Deniz is always first!]
 

PASIÓN PROHIBIDA

hi novelera. I didn't see Flor Salvaje, or any other show with Mónica Spear, so I have no basis for comparison.

as for her character here, she IS all sorts of crazy, and flawed. I am incredulous when she blows hot and cold with Bruno. seems to me she is grappling with doing the right thing by staying with Ariel, and yet can't help the attraction to Bruno. it probably also has a little to do with ego, being young, confused, and a bit inexperienced in love. she thought she'd marry Ariel, learn to love him, and that's that. she didn't expect this curve ball at all. that's how I justify her craziness anyway.
 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA


Fed asks Aliva if she was involved in the double murder in Miami, since he learned that she lied and never went to Boston.

Before acting, Tom visits Nat and apologizes for locking her up. Now he knows she is innocent. Next he goes to Alivas apt and tells her she has 24 hours to leave the country, he will have an arrest warrant the next day.

Tom is shocked by Alivas answers, how and why she killed her victims. After being with her for many years, he doesnt understand how blind he was, an angel face but the heart of a demon.

Aliva asks for a few days to complete her dream of marrying dMart, then she will turn herself in and pay for her crimes. But Tom knows she is insane, and asks how she plans to escape the Miami double murder, she admits that she has evidence to incriminate Luci, that way Nats free and Tom can sleep with her.

That afternoon, dMart visits Alex and asks for his help to protect Aliva, since Felipe told him that Layton hatched a plot to kill her. Alex feels like a rat in a cage, but he says he cant interfere, Nat is in prison because of Aliva. dMart feels betrayed.

At the hospital, Braterina gives birth to a healthy and beautiful baby. When the adoptive parents arrive and take the baby, Brat feels devastated, but she already made her choice.....
 

MADE IN CARTAGENA, Miércoles, Part 1

In the penultimate episode of Made in Cartegena, about half of the cast members get “early retirement” as we head to the Gran Final. We begin at the docks. Flora and Karen arrive, as do Sanchez, Silvie and Imanol. It seems Sanchez has temporarily forgotten he arrested Silvie and Imanol, and they're all working together. But there's no sign of Harvey's boat. Sanchez is going to send the coast guard to search the area. They find nothing. Flora hires a guy in a boat to search, but she also finds nothing. She decides to wait on the dock for news, and she and Karen wait all night there, but nothing. So where's Vicente?

We see Harvey come to Sapo's house, or hideout, hi, cousin! They hug. Harvey shows him the Santa Helena. We're rich, man! Sapo asks where's Vicente. The answer? Eaten by sharks! Cut to the open seas, Vicente sinks down, down, down, but somehow musters enough strength to rise the surface, breaking free to breathe! He painfully takes off his shirt, wraps it around his bleeding arm (he was shot, remember?), and tries to float on his back. By a miracle, he washes ashore on a deserted island. Fortunately, Gilligan, Ginger and Mary Anne are there to greet him. Just kidding! No, he lies there, all alone, with no strength to even look for food. Too bad he doesn't have a basketball to keep him company. But we know he hasn't just been “Cast Away”.

Harvey tells Sapo that Mireya was the one who killed Robinson. It's time for her to die. Harvey asks Sapo to do it as a personal favor. Sapo says with pleasure! We later see Mireya in another disguise, a blond wig, as she gets a new identity from a woman who specializes in this. The woman is proud of her work. She thinks she deserves a bonus. Here's your bonus, says Mireya, and shoots her dead.

But as soon as Mireya walks outside, there's Sapo, coming up behind her with a gun, time to die, honey. But we all know, everybody always underestimates Mireya, and she quickly turns the tables on Sapo, knocks away his gun, kicks him in the jewels, and he's down on the ground. She tells him I need to know where Harvey is. No way, says Sapo, I'll NEVER tell you. You'll have to kill me first. She shoots him in the arm. He still won't talk. But she sees a little piece of paper in his pocket. She grabs it, must be Sapo's hideout where Harvey is. I don't need you alive anymore, she tells Sapo coldly, and KILLS him. Next!

We see Harvey relaxing with a prostitute. Mireya has followed the two of them into the hideout. Later, we see the prostitute, tied up and dead in the outer room. Mireya is calmly exchanging clothes with her. She puts on a black wig, same color as the hooker. She knocks on the door. Is that you, honey? Harvey opens the door, and walks over to the bed, ready for round two? But he spies Mireya's pocketbook, whirls, gets her gun away from her. He starts to pretend to love her, tells her the two of them can get away together, then suddenly shoots her in the stomach, saying as if! Gritting her teeth, she says you'll die all alone, Harvey, I already killed your cousin Blatcho! Harvey goes into a rage, grabs her around the throat, and chokes the life out of Mireya. Next!

 

MADE IN CARTAGENA, Part 2

Harvey meets with Perez, the corrupt guard. Here's what I want you to do. Poison Candelario and Dixon in prison with some drops in their food. And get Shadow released and brought to a typical abandoned yard (well he doesn't exactly put it that way :) Perez says it's gonna cost mucho billete, but this is no problem for Harvey. At the prison, some confederates of Perez put drops in Dixon and Cande's food, and Dixon collapses. Harvey gets the good news from the prison. Mission accomplished. Cande and Dixon are dead! Hooray! But it's not really true, Cande and Dixon survived, and are recovering, but being held in a witness protection program. Sanchez and Imanol tell this to Flora and Belen. But they have to keep quiet about this. They have to pretend and act as if Dixon and Cande are dead. Flora confesses to Sanchez she helped Harvey, helped rob the Santa Helena, she'll face the music. But Imanol says you can't go to jail, we don't know how far Noriega's reach is, you wouldn't be safe there, so you have to pretend everything's normal. We'll be guarding you 24 hours a day (yeah, right).

Corrupt guards usher Shadow out of prison. He knows something's wrong. He's taken to the typical abandoned yard as planned. Harvey and Perez are waiting. With a bunch of corrupt police enjoying the view, Harvey makes Shadow kneel down. Shadow says you know how much I have, I'll give you half. Not enough says Harvey, say your prayers. Shadow says I have guys all over, you'll be running for the rest of your life, you'll never have a minute of peace. Wrong, says Harvey, and kills Shadow with a bullet between the eyes. That leaves my goddaughter, he says to himself. He then has the cops take the body to Shadow's hideout, where they surprise Shadow's men, kill one of them, show them their dead boss. From now on, says Harvey, EVERYTHING Shadow had is mine! Any questions? Meet the new boss.

Days pass. Sofi and Flora read the newspapers, telling how the search was called off for Vicente. Sofi says he's never coming back. But Flora feels the telenovela call of the blood! I KNOW he's alive. And he is. A little old guy in a canoe just happens to row up to Vicente's island, stuffs him in the boat, and not long after, Vicente's recovering in a hospital bed, and Flora, Silvie and Imanol visit him. Flora starts to cry, I was really thinking about you (pendiente de te), all the time, I really was! I love you, says Vicente. Awwww, they're finally over the mistrust, and bluebirds are chirping.

But wait! Harvey has a plan to kill Flora. But he wants it to be big. In fact, he wants to do something Cartagena's never seen before! The producers want big ratings for the Gran Final! Oh, sorry about that, got carried away. The big champeta contest is tomorrow, and Harvey wants to lock everyone inside, and blow up the whole joint!! He hires several thugs, gives them orange wristbands to hide the fact that they're way too old (and ugly) to champeta, and tells them each to put some dynamite in the corners of the club. And Harvey's got the little cute detonator! Whoopee!

Back at the Basurto, Karen's in charge of all the “international” participants. Celina is in charge of the TV and news crews, and Watusi, having recovered from that hand grenade, is in charge of smiling, which he does really well. I've said it before, but it looks as if our show is about to explode!!!!!

 

Pasion Prohibida Wednesday
PART 1

I don't know if it shows in my recaps, but the show I'm not enjoying the shwo to much lately. Today, especially, Bianca was insufferable.

Moving on...

Bianca goes to her room and Ariel tells her he will accompany Flavia to teh hospital. She doesn't think it's necessary, but he insists. Also, he mentions how he has aplan against Guillermo and his constant meddling in his family.

Guillermo is trying to find out from Nico how much will Ariel bid at the auction. Nico doesn't want to tell him anything. Later her mother warns him that Guilly might blackmail him with exposing Flavia's photos if he denies to tell him insight information from Ariel's firm. Oh, and Penelope has nausea..is she pregnant again??

Flavia and Deniz are getting ready to go to the doctor, Flavia is afraid Ariel will find out the truth if he joins them, but Deniz is sure they will manage to keep him in the dark (I wonder if Flavia will be mad with Deniz again when she finds out she told Ariel the truth).

Outside, Santi wants to go on a boat trip (with their yacht, because of course they have one), but Ariel is busy going to the hospital. Bruno says he won't leave after all, he wants to spend the time he has left until his marriage with them (aka. Bianca), so he will take the kids sailing.
While they are preparing the food for the trip, Nina invites Tere and Camila to join them, but Bianca rudely cuts their wings, saying the servants will have the yacht all to themselves another day (yeah, right!). It was the first time I liked Nina over Bianca...this is not a good sign.

At the hospital, Flavia and Deniz have a nice talk, Flavia wants them to be friends. Ariel calls Silvia to invite her to a dinner he decided to throw for Flavia; it is obvious he has a plan. This devious Ariel is a nice change.

On the yacht, the kids are sunbathing, but the sun os to strong for Bruno, and apparently, Bianca, too. They are on the upper deck - or however it is called, I have no yacht knoledge, sadly - Bianca keeps coming out strongly, saying the sea is so wonderful, to bad they have company. Bruno asks her to stop provoking him, she denies doing any of that, but then she goes into the sun and shows off her body. So there is that...

Later, as the kids want to go for a swim, B&B are alone with their "chit chat". Bianca is remembering their first day on the dock and is upset they can't repeat it. Well, yes, they can, because Bruno starts kissing her, just as Nina and Santi are coming back. They are almost caught, but not quite and the moment is broken.

The next day, at the office, there is a meeting where more employees talk about the auction. When someone suggests that Nico might go to his father with secret information, Nico decides to leave the room.
Later Ariel tells Francisca that he has complete confidence in Nico and his integrity, but he will make Guillermo pay for the way he has been messing up with his family (mostly Flavia, but these days she is easier to stand, so I'll let this slide).

Bianca and Penelope are having lunch at the same place Bruno took her the day they went to the dock. And of course, Bianca spend the entire time remembering that day. When Penelope notices how happy she looks, she asks if she had a sunday marathon with Ariel. Hehhe, not quite!

 

Pasion Prohibida Wednesday
PART 2

Bruno is at Santi's football )ok, soccer) game, when Bianca shows up. She doesn't care about footbal, she just came to be with him (of course). Bruno is not happy to see her, says that since this game between them started he feels like he has no life; Bianca wants them to enjoy the present, and let the destiny take care of the rest. Bruno disagrees, it is them who are doing all this, destiny has nothing to do with it, so they need to stop. So stop, then, Bianca says. But Bruno can't do that, because he likes it, too. But it is dangereous, in the yacht they were almost seen. They need to finish this, they are hurting Ariel, but they can't stop...and back and forth like this they go forgetting about poor Santi, until someone injures the poor kid's leg during the game.

Flavia calls Ivan, they meet and she says that she's had some problems lately that helped her see life a different way; she is tired of being alone and living for others. She won't get back together with him, but she is willing to give him a second chance, he needs to win her back.

At the house, Nina, Bruno, Ariel and Deniz are all in Santi's room fawning over him (where is Bianca??!!). Ariel apologizes for not being able to attend the game but Santi says B&B were there, not that they payed him any attention, they were to busy talking (ooops!)
Eventually Bianca shows up, too, but so does Eliana, and Bianca feels the need tu put on an entire show of "friendliness" with Eliana.

Silvia arrives and Ariel, Francisca and Flavia are with her downstairs; Bianca is taking a long time getting ready (which I bet means she is in Bruno's room). Anyway, Ariel manages to feed Silvia the information that they will bid 650 mill dollars for the auction. When Silvia is gone he explains Flavia this is just a ploy to make Guillermo bid more than the actual prize of the service; Flavia is overjoyed with the plan.

In his room Nico and Eliana are playing video games. She wants to go search for Bruno, but Santi asks for a new game...

...and saves the day because Bruno is in his room with Bianca. They are kissing, but this time it is her who wants them to stop; but he likes the adrenaline, the fear of getting caught. She tries to reject him (why are you in his room, then?) but just as he is about to go to his closet in search of a game for Santi he turns around, hugs her from the back and says he wants her so much it hurts (goody, then, it's not like the house isn't filled with people). Just as Bianca manages to push Bruno aside again Eliana enters. When Bianca leaves, she tells Bruno that it is totally inappropriate to have Bianca in his room, what would Ariel say? Oh, Eliana, how dare you suggest something like this, she is my aunt, ny uncle's wife. So Eliana apologizes...

In the piano room Ariel thanks Deniz for her help with the whole Flavia situation, she managed to solve a very delicate problem. He keeps telling her how important she is for him and for the entore family, how he admires her so much; she becomes emotional and starts to cry, but Ariel feels this has to do with more than her emotions. He caresses her face, trying to console her. If only he would kiss her, it's not like Bianca is not busy doing her stuff in Bruno's room.
But no, she is not. She comes in just in time to see the tender moment between Ariel and Deniz and she is fu-ri-ous!! With what right, Biana, with what right?
 

MADE IN CARTAGENA:

Hombre, you are too funny. "Gillian, Ginger and Mary Ann" - "Cast Away" - "telenovela call of the blood".

And yes, i think you're right. the grand finale will definitely be explosive.
 

LA PATRONA:

Alberto's not dead, just beaten to a pulp, but it doesn't look good. As expected, Max is arrested, Lagarto giving him a pistol whip, and as for his right to remain silent, Lagarto starts, then says "you know the rest". Very professional :)

Lucho has the silliest disguise yet. They say he looks really elegant, but please! With that little bowler hat, dark glasses and handlebar mustache, he looks like a reject from the set of Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines. But he fools Julio. After showing Julio the incriminating papers, and not flinching from Julio's gun waving, he suggests the next time they meet, Julio acts like they're good buddies. Julio looks like he can't decide whether to cry or barf (I suggest both).

Pati appears to be the smart one in our crowd. After Ricardo tells her about the call from his Mommy (totally disbelieved by Alejandro the idiot, of course), Pati remembers how Ricardo spoke of Fatima's perfume. Ahah, Fatima could be Constanza!

Veronica is finally starting to have second thoughts about her revenge scheme, especially when Francisca says it's her fault Max was arrested. She knows Antonia is behind this, but she did put Max in harm's way. At the start of this conversation, I think Francisca called Veronica "Gabriela", and Cecilia heard this.

I liked when Ricardo gave Anibal a dressing down, stating he KNOWS that Anibal abused Constanza, and doesn't believe for a minute Anibal's story of Constanza's leaving with a lover. After he walks away, and Anibal asks Pati what happened to Ricardo? She responds, he became a man. Can potency be on the horizon?
 

PASIÓN PROHIBIDA

AdrianaNoel - I agree the show is not too enjoyable w/Bianca in baiter mode. thanks for the recap though.

wow! Bruno is putty in her hands... he decided to stay after all that. IMHO, he really started all this, and now he's worried about repercussions? but just as Bianca said, they ARE young (in their 20s!)... slightly fearless, reckless...hormones, emotions uncontrolable. never having made this mistake, they can only imagine the outcome, and not truly know the gravity of it.

Bruno is a womanizer (and how so) after all; Bianca, like her sister said in a conversation to Flavia, probably would end up falling. and for womanizers, we know it's the thrill of the chase, or the unattainable.

I was still laughing a lot last night, at Bianca's audacity and madness. she now knows her power over Bruno. I can only wish I had a tad of her nerve.

Love Ariel's strategy to bring Guillermo down a notch.
 

Pasion Prohibida

Shallowgal, if they stop now it wouldn't be that bad, but I don't see this happening.
Bruno started all this and then became a coward when he had to own up to it himself (like Bianca said). Now Bianca is the one doing most of the heavy lifting, but as soon as she has a moment of clarity, this only makes Bruno crazier, like in his room, right before Eliana almost caught them.
So I would say that at this point it is a joined effort. :)

Deb, as we've seen, all Bruno needed to stay was for Bianca to ask him to. Nobody is leaving that house!!

Clara, glad you keep reading and your comments are much appreciated. Bianca stashed Deniz's letter in her diary; oh, if those pages could talk...
You made me chuckle with your: "Dear Diary..." maybe we should start a diary ourselves about Bianca's thoughts.
Like, after today, she could say: "Dear diary, I caught my husband and our nanny almost making out just I was getting out of my lover's bedroom. The nerve on these two..."

Novelera, I can't stand any of the servants. They make me root for Katia, or, God forbid, Flavia.
 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA

Aliva packs her bags to flee, but first considers to silence Tom. At that moment, Alex gets Aliva out of her apt saying the minister wants to talk to her. But soon after, she realizes something is wrong and theyre going on the wrong road. Aliva tells him not to do anything crazy, but Alex brought a gun, just in case.

dMart knows his future wife is in danger and calls Luisa to warn her. She goes with Zeke to save Aliva, but they are stopped by an armed man. The nun grabs Zekes gun and kills the man. Zeke is shocked, he asks who she really is, he wants her real identity, she is Alivas psychiatrist.

Finally, Alex traps Aliva with Laytons thugs. Alex tries to get her to confess, but she screams that she is innocent and hits one of the thugs to escape. Felipe shoots the thug and the thug shoots back, hitting him. Then another thug arrives and Alex shoots him (WTF?)

dMart and the police arrive at the crime scene. dMart is furious that Alex betrayed him, but Aliva saves his skin saying Layton and his thugs manipulated Alex.

Meanwhile, Tom quits his job as a cop. Since he knows the truth, he cant turn in the woman he loves. Nevertheless, he will not allow Aliva to kill again. He demands that she break up with dMart, the realtionship that ruined innocent peoples lives.....

 

Pasión Prohibida -

thanks so much AdrianaNoel!

yes AdrianaNoel, Bruno didn't get very far this time in his desperate attempt to escape, the pull of the house must be getting stronger,

I find anyone having Flavia for a friend very scary,

did Bianca really say she doesn't like futbol, but what a grand opportunity to spend time with Bruno,
of course Santi gets hurt, but they don't notice,

oh, so Ariel has a devious side, an interesting plan letting his bid price slip in front of Silvia, but why then did he tell Flavia what he was doing, this information is worth money, and this could so easily backfire, falling on Nicolas,

interesting that Flavia, being Ariel's mother-in-law makes her family in his book and so falls under his umbrella of protection,

it seems like Ariel is spending more and more time with other adults lately rather than with his young wife, a very touching scene with Mademoiselle, who adores him, but, oh the look on Bianca's face as she sees them,
yikes!

 

MADE IN CARTAGENA -- miércoles

Ay Hombre, ¡qué cínico eres! Or do I mean "¡qué cómico eres!"??? what a hoot your recap is! Explosive finish indeed.

Have we talked about Harvey's nicknames for people? Care sapo (Blancho), care gamín (Watusi), care tamal (Pérez) which I assume mean something like cara de sapo, toad-face, street-boy face, and, I don't know, face like a tamal, dough-face? And then there's Mireya: jopo loco, crazy excrement?

I can't remember what he called Agua Mala and Max ...
 

La Patrona -

great comments Hombre,

and a spread eagle Gertrudis laying motionless on the floor in the dark in chains was a bit bizarre,

I like Patti, no one pulls the wool over her eyes, definitely not a match for Alejandro,

Max also called her Gabriela at the jail, her obsession with her revenge, and her two identities, all seems to be coming unraveled, and now Alejandro appears at the jail asking her why she is there,

but didn't Max spend the night with Valentina, and so has the perfect alibi?

I didn't understand Antonia's insistence that Macario finish off Ramon because she didn't trust Lucas, but then has him kill Alberto, which he botches,

so what was the explanation of why Constanza fainted?
she is such a wonderful lady, I am really hoping that some peace will finally come into her life.

 

Pasion Prohibida
Thanks AdrianaNoel for your recap! If you are losing enthusiasm no, it does not show. ITA that Bianca tough to take right now. Really annoying me that she doesn't even pay "lip service" to the idea of hurting Ariel, even with all the excuses offered by shallowgal, young, etc. At least Bruno is "oh, mi tio" no can do. I guess gonna be this TN ping pong match for a while.
Thanks too AdrianaNoel for clarifying location of Deniz's stolen letter. Bianca best be aware that if Deniz's letter can be stolen from her locked chest, her own diary [now with Deniz's letter] wrapped up in that old shmata is fair game.
Yes, "Dear Diary" is ripe with satirical possibilities! Not sure how contemplative Bianca is when she writes her entries....I want more quotes.
Downstairs, not really liking any of them either, but not liking when people [Bianca/Flavia] are so rude to them.
Interesting that Penelope doesn't seem alert to B&B, especially since she was involved with Bruno. True she's not living in that house, but still.
Clara
 

PASIÓN PROHIBIDA

deb, novelera, Clara (happy you're still here) - enjoying your comments.
 

Pasion Prohibida
shallowgal, thanks for the shout-out. We share an obsession [WL].
Someone said on this blog [sorry don't remember who] that the whole premise of any telenovela is to keep the protagonists apart by whatever means necessary for as long as possible.
So, unless this TN breaks that rule, could be a long slog of more of the same push/pull with B&B.
Clara
 

LA PATRONA

Thanks for the mini-cap, Hombre. I cracked up at "Can potency be on the horizon?" I'm sure Ricardo is going to be "effective" before this novela is over.

I was struck also, Hombre, by your comment that you'd probably do anything that Vero/Gaby asked because she's so gorgeous. Yes, Aracely is simply stunning. Those eyes! I saw her in a couple of novelas years ago: Abrázame Muy Fuerte and Las Vías del Amor. She was pretty then, of course, but didn't have many acting chops. She's much better now.

I LOVED Aníbal lighting into Antonia. He hit the nail right on the head. Her avaricia is putting the rest of them at risk of discovery.

I'm hoping Vero can manage to get Max out on bail. That was simply outrageous when Lagarto punched him before he arrested him. Max was NOT resisting at all.

When, oh when, is there going to be some karma for Lagarto and Macario, stone killers both?

It appeared that all Lucho wanted from Julio was the ability to appear as Lucho Vampa on the streets of SPDO, doubtless so he can behave possessively toward Vero in public without being arrested.

I can't stand Lucas. I liked that Antonia shorted him for not finishing off Alberto. [Did he see Lucas before they put the bag on his head?] I suppose it would be too much to hope for that Alberto, before he dies, implicates someone other than Max.
 

PASIÓN PROHIBIDA

Clara, I believe I was the one who made the comment about the whole premise of any telenovela being to keep the male and female protagonists separate as much as possible with various plot devices. I read this online and it was a telenovela writer who said it.

Reading that sort of soothed some of my frustrations at the ways they get separated: false pregnancies by scheming females, lying villains, etc. ad nauseum.
 

MADE IN CARTAGENA, Gran Final, Part 1

Months ago, I felt almost for sure this show was heading for a tragic end. Was I right?

We begin at the Basurto, everyone's excited, it's the World Finals of Champeta! We've got entrants from Brazil, Jamaica, Spain, somewhere I didn't catch, and of course, Colombia! We get to watch the super hot dancers jump and twist to the happy but sexy music. The girls' skimpy costumes show off their toned legs, sleek bodies, and the guys show their ripped torsos. I'm thinking this episode could be a great workout tape.

At Vicente's hospital bed, Imanol reminds Flora that today is the Champeta contest. Since she has to pretend everything's normal (and that Vicente is dead) she should go, so as not to arouse Harvey's suspicion. But don't worry, Imanol and Silive will watch over Vicente. Flora and Vicente have another big kiss, declare their love, and she's off for the contest, after telling Vicente she's not going to be dancing, she's just an organizer. But when she gets there, Celina approaches her. Look, Flora, I know we've had our differences. And I know you're sad because Don Vicente died. But I really love Watusi. And it's his lifelong dream to win the contest. You're just a better dancer than I am, I'll admit it, so can you please dance with him and help him win? Flora is floored. Celina even gives her a dance outfit which will really wow the crowd.

But someone has other plans. That someone is Harvey, who approaches the Basurto from the back, on his motorcycle. He enters the code to get in the back door, goes up the steps to the office, and very, very gingerly takes out a nasty looking bomb, full of wires, glass, tickers, the usual. He also has several little auxiliary sections of plastic explosive. He hooks everything up, takes out his little detonator. We later see his new crew, formerly Shadow's group, putting little explosives in the corners of the club. Uh oh! All this, while the dance contest is going full blast. After two great dance acts, it's time for Watusi and......Flora! He's surprised, but here she is, in a shiny blue two piece outfit, looking hot as a firecracker! They start to dance to the main theme song of the novela, and you know that's going win it for them!

 

MADE IN CARTAGENA, Gran Final, Part 2

Meanwhile, Vicente is watching the contest on TV, enjoying the show, smiling away. Although I thought Silvie and Imanol were going to watch after him, they've left him alone. Okaay. In the club, Sabroso decides to go up to the office, and Harvey hears someone outside the door. He goes out, and struggles with Sabroso on the steps. No one in the club sees this, but Vicente sees it on TV! He sees Harvey Noriega in the club! So, forget about the fact that he's in a hospital bed, he rips off all those IV's and wires, throws on his clothes, and it's time to save the day! He gets into his SUV, I think he has an armed driver to drive, tells the driver to step on it. On the way, he calls Imanol, tells him Noriega's in the club, and Imanol calls Sanchez. They're all on the way.

The cops and Imanol arrive, rush into the club. Sanchez tells Flora she has to stay with these two guards, Harvey is here, and she's a target! Flora and Watusi are declared winners of the contest! But she's being guarded by the plain clothes police, and can't hug Watu! Celina does, however, with the crowd screaming their heads off in delight.

Harvey leaves through the back door, has his men put chains on the doors. Inside, Imanol has gone upstairs, found Sabroso on the floor, and sees the bomb. He's going to try to deactivate it, but it won't be easy. It's counting down from about 10 minutes.

Vicente and the driver pull up just as Harvey is exiting the back door. Vicente starts to get out of his car, Harvey shoots! He and the driver hide behind the bullet proof glass. After emptying his clip, Harvey has to reload. Vicente sees his chance, and though completely unarmed, charges Harvey, tries to beat him up, and isn't doing too well, but his driver/guard has a gun, points it at Harvey, it's all over, there's no escape. Oh really, says Harvey. He pulls out his detonator. You try anything, and the whole Basurto will blow up, with your Flora in it! You're sick, spits out Vicente. How could you kill all those innocent people? Just watch me. Of course, there's a code to stop the bomb. I'll tell it to you if you let me escape. Vicente agrees. Harvey tells him, the code is the date my son Robinson was killed! He puts the detonator where Vicente can't get it, jumps in his speedboat, and zooms away.
 

MADE IN CARTAGENA, Gran Final, Part 3

Inside, Flora goes upstairs, and sees Imanol with the bomb. How can they stop it? Imanol tells the police to get Flora out, but the doors are barred! She goes back upstairs. By this time, Karen is there, too, and Belen. Sabroso has recovered. But how can they stop that bomb?! It's down to five minutes!

Vicente goes to enter the club, sees the chains, grabs a metal bar, breaks the chains, and rushes in. He grabs the mike from the MC. Everybody out of the club, there's a bomb! Screaming, pushing, but I think they all get out. But upstairs in the office, Imanol, Flora, etc. are still sitting around that little bomb, and it's down to three minutes! Vicente rushes in, I know the code. He enters the date of Robinson's death, but it doesn't work! That darn Harvey! It's down to one minute now. Imanol says if only we had a contact lens. Well, we know Sabroso had that vision problem, he happens to be wearing them! He takes out one, and Imanol tries to put it in front of the striking pin of the bomb. Six, five, four, three, two, he DOES IT! The bomb is deactivated.

Vicente rushes back outside, tells the cops that Harvey got away. Where could he have gone? But that guy who was working for Shadow, whom Harvey intimidated, is hiding in the bushes. HE might know, says Vicente. Look buddy, says our hero, if you don't tell us where Harvey is, YOU'll pay for all his crimes! We then see that same guy drive a black van into Harvey's hideout, yelling at his guys, let me in, something went wrong at the club, we have to regroup! But once they let the van inside, cops jump out, drop your weapons! Harvey rushes upstairs with Perez, and holds a gun to his head. Sanchez and Vicente tell him it's all over. With ten guns pointed at him, Harvey's at first defiant, I'll kill this guy! But then he gets philosophical, teary. I did this all for my son, Dominguez. My son was killed, and I had to avenge his death. It turned out I had the wrong man, though. He looks at Vicente. You have a child, right? You should understand. He then points his gun into his own mouth, and pulls the trigger. Uuuuuy! (they also recover the Santa Helena, but do we really care about that? What's gonna happen to our stars?

Back at the station, Flora tells Vicente she has to turn herself in. Vicente and Imanol don't want her to. But she tells them she could never live with herself if she didn't do the right thing. She wants to finally set everything straight. Sanchez turns on the tape recorder.

It's a year later. Flora meets with Candelario in the jail. She's getting out! He still has 3 years left, but he can wait. He's just happy that she'll finally be free. They hug. Outside the jail, Flora is greeted by her two men, Watusi and Vicente. Watu is so happy, and guess what? He and Celina are gonna have a little Watusi! Flora is overjoyed for them. And Vicente? He never stopped thinking about her for one minute. And neither did she. They stand next to the beautiful Cartagena harbor, wind blowing their perfectly coiffed hair (he's actually shaved for once), as he tells her Flora, you turned my life around. So, she replies, are you happy now? I'm the happiest guy in the world. The only thing that would make me happier, would be if you'd marry me. Flora, quieres casar conmigo? She launches herself into her big guy with a super beso!

So we ARE having a happy ending! There's a big party, and everyone's dancing the champeta. We have Flora and Vicente, Silvie and Imanol, Watusi and a very pregnant Celina, even Agua Mala has a girl. Sofi's got her little baby, Belen and Sabroso are dancing, little Champion is there, and they dance into the rich Colombian sunset, with balloons, streamers, music and love. FIN
 

MADE IN CARTAGENA:

Almost forgot, Dixon and Karen are together, too. Yaaaay!
 

LA PATRONA – JUEVES –Part 1

Alejandro catches Verónica visiting Max in jail. [Do visitors really go right to the prisoner’s cell and talk through the bars that way in México.? No visitors’ rooms? This is the norm in telenovelas, anyway.] Vero tells Alejandro that she met Max through Cecilia, who is now staying with her; and he asked for her help.

When Vero comes to Lagarto’s office, he practically drools on his shoes at the sight of her.

Max and Ale discuss all the people who saw him hit Espino. Max starts out being very, very dumb. He doesn’t want to tell Ale that he spent the night with Valentina. But, thankfully, Ale gets it out of him.

Vero gets right in Lagarto’s face, basically threatening him with speaking to the president of México if Max is mistreated in any way.

Alejandro tells Antonia about Max being in jail and she pretends to be surprised. Then she goes on to say it’s not surprising since Max is the brother of a killer, Gabriela, and it must be in the genes.

Lagarto doesn’t want to believe Max was with Valentina, but Ale gets right in his face and says he’ll accuse him of negligence of duty if he doesn’t take her statement.

Patti comes to see Alberto Espino in the hospital. She forgives him for everything and says he gave her a great gift, her son. Antonia has also come, probably to finish him off, and overhears this.

Ricardo comes to see “Fatima” and, when Vero says she’s gone back to the United Emirates, he tells her angrily that he’s sure she’s being held against her will and he’s going to get a search warrant. Vero goes right to Constanza and angrily accuses her of betrayal.

Constanza says she can’t wait any longer. [And Vero gets to see her son, although Connie didn’t say that – I did!] Constanza also says that the torture they are giving Gertrudis makes them just as bad as she is. She also accuses Vero of what happened to Max.

Antonia gets in Pati’s face about what she overheard. [She’s probably jealous that he was making love to Pati when she thought he was only HER boy toy.] She also accuses Pati of passing off Espino’s baby as Ricardo’s. Pati replies that he knew she was pregnant and he married her anyway because he’s the best man there is. Guerra hints that either Ricardo can’t or she can’t make a man happy. Pati, fires right back that Guerra knows how to make her husbands so happy that they die of happiness. Whoa! Pati also says she hopes Alberto isn’t one of those who die of happiness.

Pati asks Alberto if he knows who did this to him. He nods. He sees Guerra looming in the background and has a panic attack.
 

LA PATRONA – JUEVES –Part 2

Vero breaks down and begs Constanza to forgive her. She hands her a phone and tells her to call Ricardo. When Constanza speaks to him she assures him that she’s not being held prisoner. She’ll call him often, but they must wait a bit longer to be together. He guesses the one who separated them was his father.

Lagarto comes and tells Guerra about Vero hiring a lawyer to defend Max and he also shows her the statement of Valentina. Ominously she says she’ll have to make sure that girl doesn’t go out any more.

Pati tells Ricardo how Alberto reacted to Antonia being in the room.

David comes to see Max, telling him he wants to be there for him. He thanks him for saving him from bullies when they were boys. They both say they miss El Tigre. On his way out David hugs Francisca. He then goes to Guerra, flattering her a bit, reminding her she said that very day she loves him. He asks her to help him get Max cleared of the crime. She says she’ll do it.

Ricardo and Vero make up. He says he knows no one is prisoner in her house and to pass along his best wishes to whoever might be there. She says she doesn’t know what he means but her eyes say differently.

Lucho has gotten the DNA results and, Aníbal is NOT Alejandro’s father. Hmmm. Is her first husband the father, and she’s used this to bind Aníbal to her, or is someone else the father?

Guerra has Macario bring a woman from the Casa de las Muñecas to bribe to swear she saw Max attack Alberto Espino.

Vero has come to see Alberto. She leans toward him, basically saying he needs to get right since his time is about up. She reminds him of the mine explosion where people died. And a woman was accused of HIS crime. She says she was also one of his victims. She knows because she is Gabriela Suarez!
 

Pasion Prohibida Thursday
PART 1

Bianca catches Ariel and Deniz in the middle of a tender scene; she tries to play nice, show empathy when Ariel explains that he thanked Deniz for her help with Flavia. But we know Bianca better than that. Once Deniz leaves, she asks Ariel to go outside with her.

Flavia and Francisca are talking about Ariel and his plan to take down Guillermo. Flavia is overjoyed that Ariel would do this for her, she never imagined he had it in him. Francisca points out to the fact that "still waters run deep". Just as Bruno comes in, Flavia says that sometimes members of our family hurt us the most (she is talking about Guillermo). Bruno asks about Bianca and Ariel, Santi wants to say goodnight to them.
Outside, Bianca expresses her surprise at the fact that Deniz would cry so quickly. Ariel says she is a very sensitive person, he just wanted to make her feel better. Bianca sees Bruno watching over from his balcony (now he has a balcony, too!!!!!), Eliana joins him and then they both get inside the house. Bianca tells Ariel he needs to be careful with showing to much affection to Deniz, she could misinterpret his actions. Ariel thinks she is jealous, but Bianca denies that, Deniz could never be a rival for her (really?), it's just that she is in love with Ariel. He doesn't believe it, he would have seen something in the many years they lived together (yeah, Ariel, you should have seen something). Bianca insists she is right, she feels it and since Deniz is such a quiet person, she could have kept all her feelings hidden.

In her room, Deniz remembers when Santi said B&B were at his game but they paid no attention to him. Is she starting to suspect something?

Silvia calls Guillermo, they meet and she tells him about the money Ariel plans to bid for the new project. Guillermo is happy this way he will win the auction.
Back at Nico's house, he wonders where his father left. Penelope is in the bathroom, taking a home pregnancy test. It's positive. When she tells Nico she is not happy about it, what will her mother say? (Geez, Penelope!) But Nico, who is very happy, reminds her the pact they made to never let their parents come between them.

The next day, they are all having breakfast outside, by the pool. When Deniz shows up, Flavia is very friendly with her while Bianca gives her the stink eye. Bruno comes, too, and Bianca tells him Eliana called to ask for him. Santi, who is getting ready to leave for the country with Francisca, wants to wait for Eliana; from all the moments Santi fantasized about the pretty women he meets every day, Ariel chooses this one to teach his son a lesson: he tells Santi that Eliana is with Bruno, it is not appropriate for him to say things like these about her; not only the fact that she is spoken for, but she is also with his cousin, a member of his family, is very important and makes her off limits for him; what if, let's say Bruno would like Bianca, that would be bad, right?
Bruno drops his fork, all the ladies at the table (Francisca, Mademoiselle, Nina, Flavia) freeze. To add fuel to the fire Bianca tells Bruno that by his reaction, this could very well be true. Bruno throws a hissy fit, how can they say that about him, to only think about Binaca like this makes him sick to the stomach. Ariel apologizes, it was not a big deal, he only wanted to teach Santi something. Poor Ariel, he should have taught Bruno this like 10-15 years ago, now it't to late.

In the house Yair is not feeling well, his allergies are troubling him. All the rest are happy with the boat trip they will be taking the next day: Bianca kept her promise and let them use the yacht, just like she said. (wow, that is a shocker!)
 

Pasion Prohibida Thrusday
Part 2

When Santi leaves, everybody is there to say goodbye (except for Bianca, again!). Nina wants to go visit the cemetery with Ariel, Flavia goes in the house. Bruno complains they will leave him all alone by the pool (worst fate ever!). Ariel suggests to ask Bianca to join him, she loves the pool.

And sure enough, Bianca shows up, very happy. Ariel asked her to keep Bruno company. She asks Tere for a pina colada. She is happy they are alone, at last, but Bruno is very pensive. He tells her how when he was a kid, he used to be afraid of the water and his uncle helped him get over that fear; day after day, he stood by him, guiding him, never letting him go; that is why now he feels so bad. The scene is very emotional, it almost made me weep. Bianca listens silently, she remembers how for her the pool was always an escape; when her parents fought, she would go and hide there, not to hear their scream anymore. Bruno remembers how his home has always been peacefull, but this thing they are doing is going to start a war and they will all end up losing. Then, he leaves.

In the kitchen, the servants are talking about how much B&B probably despise one another and only get well in front of Ariel. hehe

Nuria tells Nico that Guillermo found out from Silvia how much Ariel plans to bid at the auction. He is surprised that Ariel would let an information like this slip.

Bianca goes to her mother's room, Flavia tells her about Ivan. Bianca is not happy about it, but she has better subjects to talk about: she noticed how close Flavia and Deniz have become, but is Flavia doing this to uspet her? No, it's not about you, Bianca, Flavia says, Deniz is a very good woman, she helped me a lot. Bianca, now using the same speech Flavia had just last week, says Deniz is a hypocrite, she is trying to steal Ariel. Flavia thinks Bianca is crazy and she needs to calm down. Nice going from Flavia, but later on, when Penelope tells her she is pregnant she calls her stupid. So...yeah...

At the cemetery, Nina and Ariel talk about how much they both still miss Isabel. Nina says how she sometimes sees her mother in Deniz, like an extension of her love has gone to the nanny. Nina confesses how she would have liked it so much if he'd married Deniz. Ariel is very surprised, he never tought about Deniz like that and if nothing happened in the 10 years the lived together...Sadly, Ariel liked fresh meet better (sorry to say this, he is a good guy, but it is becoming more and more obvious what a terrible choice he made with Bianca).

Upset that her mother doesn't agree with her about Deniz, Bianca leaves and goes to Bruno's room (seriously!). He is on the balcony, when he sees her. He opens the door, asks Tere who is in the hallway to bring them something to drink. He leaves the door open and asks Bianca what does she want now. They talked outside but this is his room, she can't be here. But Bianca doesn't care about this, she wants to tell him about Deniz and her love for Ariel.
Bruno knows the truth, but denies everything in front of Bianca and accuses her that she is fixating on this because she is feeling guilty for what they are doing. Upset that she is not believed, Bianca mentions the letter, but Bruno still won't admit she might be right. He is only trying to protect Deniz's secret, but I bet this will only provoke Bianca to make the letter known to everybody.

The next day, at the country, Bruno is riding his horse when Bianca shows up. Nobody is to happy to see her, though.

At the auction Guillermo wins the new project and is very happy until he realizes Ariel tricked him: he bid 660 mill, while Ariel bid only 450! Nico, who is also there, I believe is starting to see what Ariel did. Now his loyalty will really be tested.

 

MADE IN CARTAGENA -- gran final

Bravo, Hombre! You outdid yourself with this one. We were BOTH expecting this to end in tragedy. I'm so glad we were both wrong:-)

"(they also recover the Santa Helena, but do we really care about that? What's gonna happen to our stars?"

Hah! No, we never really cared about the Santa Elena despite its central role in the story. I am kind of glad that it gets to stay in Colombia though -- and better the museum in Bogotá than the bank in Cartagena.

Small point: Silvia did say she had something to do and then she would be right back to look after Vicente.

Random thoughts --

It was kind of funny when Vicente unhooked the monitors and the display screens didn't change, nor did an alarm sound. And if he had a phone, why didn't he alert Imanol at once?

Famous last words: Harvey to Pérez: "Trust me." But in this case, Harvey really did save Pérez with his quick thinking. (If Pérez had had his gun pointed at the cops, they would have shot him down in a Cartagena minute!)

Sofi was at the party with an adorable baby girl. No one ever worried about who the father of the baby was, huh?

Maybe they started out making a tragedy but then realized what a hot property they had and chose to keep the protagonists alive so they could make a sequel... Hey, I'd watch.

Thank you so much, Hombre and Jody, for this and all the recaps of this extraordinary show. I enjoyed watching it with you. I wish a few more people had been in on the conversation. Ni modo ...
 

Pasion Prohibida
Thanks again, AdrianaN! Interesting epi as loyalties seem to be shifting. I'd forgotten that Bruno already knows Deniz's secret. And, does look like Deniz suspects B&B, what twists there?
novelera, sorry not to credit you, that was your comment I remembered about TN plotting. At first I thought PP would be different with its Turkish roots, but seems not.
BTW novelera, enjoy your PP contrarian comments.
Clara
 

PASIÓN PROHIBIDA

Thank you, AdrianaNoel, for yet another diligent recap.

ugh... not fun this episode... Bruno recalling a happy household before the Santillanas moved in. ay Bruno... man-up!

it's no wonder Bianca is the way she is. after 'f' planted the seed about Deniz being after Ariel, she now is opposing her daughter. and Penelope was right about the reaction to another pregnancy... double ugh... bruja!


 

LA PATRONA:

Excellent recap, Novelera, thank you. I really enjoyed seeing Pati enter Alberto's room, covered with protective blue hospital material even over her high heels, but nothing over her mouth! She had a mask, but it was down.

Vero is taking a chance by telling Alberto she's Gaby. What if he lives?

Although Vero can see her son, Constanza can also see her son, while dressed as Fatima. They're both in disguise. Maybe she can't hug him, though.

It was funny to see David butter up Antonia before asking a favor of her. That's how SHE'D do it. She's always acting nice when it's convenient. But I don't see how she can get Max out while at the same time paying that young lady to testify against him. Maybe she just say David, I tried, but there's a witness!

It was funny to hear Ricardo say to Vero I suppose you don't have anyone prisoner in your house, right? And she responds you suppose correctly (although he does have Gertrudis!).

Pati is definitely a key character (like David), caught between the worlds of good and bad (her sister and father are lobos). I enjoyed her giving Antonia a cool but biting response when Guerra tried to insult her.
 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA


Fed asks Aliva if she was responible for the double murders in Miami. Though Aliva denies the murders (with Luisas help), Fed realizes he cant trust her, even if it hurts.

That night, Nat returns home with Alex, after being locked up in prison accused of the murders. But the pain and suffering made Nat realize that the only man she loves is her husband. he always believed in her and never doubted in her innocence.

The wedding reception is held in the Samaniego Manor. There, Tom says tells Aliva to continue with the plan, he protect her of any accusation, in return she must end her relationship with dMart.

Then, Laura arrives at the reception to make an unexpected toast. Surprising everyone, Laura asks Aliva if shes wearing the dress she bought in Miami, then she says no. Surely the dress was covered in blood by the couple in Miami.

dMart is shocked, and Tom calms the storm with Luisas help. Luisa says she went to Miami with Aliva and they were together the whole time.

Soon another unexpected guest arrives. Nat arrives and apologizes for doubting Aliva. Now luci took her place in prison.

The next morning Aliva breaks up with dMart.....
 

La Patrona -

thanks so much for your recap novelera!
and for your comments Hombre,

I like seeing Constanza and Ricardo getting together, but she really hasn't given him much to work with, I wonder what he is thinking about the whole Veronica setup, seems like it is time for them to meet in person, but then everything would come out,
I guess the fact that Animal has immunity will really complicate things,

and it's nice that Patti is there for Ricardo,

so Max is still in jail, no lawyer in sight, and no one seems to notice where Lagarto whacked him,
it's nice to see him and David getting together,

you never want to be in intensive care in a novela hospital because there is always a long line of people that come to torment you, and why didn't they get from Alberto who beat him up,

I guess Patti's concern with what Antonia overheard is that she will use the information to hurt Ricardo and her son, Antonia seems to be pretty busy pushing all of the neutral people to the other side, which I guess would work except for the fact that the powerful Veronica is now there,

so Veronica went to the hospital just to reveal herself to Alberto,
I thought she was going to pump him for information on Antonia,
and on who did this to him so she could help Max.

 

LA PATRONA

Hombre and Novelera, thanks for the excellent recaps the last two days. They really help me keep up with what's happening in our little pueblo.

I usually don't feel too much sympathy for Vero, but she's certainly been on an emotional roller coaster recently. Who said, "Revenge is a dish best served cold"? Vero's emotions are getting the best of her these days, and she's having trouble staying detached and focused on her venganza plan.

I'm even feeling sorry for Alberto. He must be in a state of constant terror knowing that at any minute one of the lobos will cut off his air.

I also loved AniMal getting on Antonia's case about the assault on Alberto. Didn't AniMal ask Antonia if she planned to kill half the people in town to get all their money and didn't she straight-faced say something like 'if she had to'?

David is growing on me. It was so encouraging to see him go to the jail and be supportive of Max. And he certainly tried to play Antonia to get help for Max. Too bad he has no idea of the depths of her depravity.

Valentina has a bull's eye on her backside. I think the only thing that will save her right now is if David tells Antonia he wants to marry Val.

And where do we think Macario has stashed Ramon?

Beth
 

EL ROSTRO

Thanks so much, NovelaMan, for continuing with your faithful recaps. I'm mostly watching now that it's almost over, although I occasionally miss one and depend on your recaps.

I have a question for anyone who knows. How did the guy, don't remember his name, who was Ezekiel's stooge who kidnapped people for him and spied on Mariana for him, and was also Zeke's driver, become Alicia/Eva's helper?
 

Big shout out to La Patrona bloggers! Great novela and Thanks so much for recaps.
I am so stressed out with Antonia madness but enjoy beautiful Veronica and her emotional battle, be good or evil today!
David calling Max "Tio" sweet!
Thanks again
 

Pasión Prohibida -

thanks so much AdrianaNoel!

you really filled in a lot that I missed from some of the conversations,

so funny to see Bruno on his balcony looking down at Bianca,
then Eliana comes out and pulls him inside,

and Flavia standing up for Mademoiselle, while Bianca runs her down,

I too forgot about Bruno knowing Mademoiselle's secret, wow,
will Bianca crack and show him the letter?

interesting how one by one everyone in the house is beginning to suspect Bruno and Bianca, (except Ariel of course) and they will all probably be convinced that they are doing the deed, before they actually do, there are no secrets in this house,

horrible that Flavia calls Penelope stupid for being pregnant, (Flavia really has an aversion to children) I guess she could have sent her daughters to college to be a doctor or lawyer or... rather than teaching them the art of capturing a successful man, but I guess she never got to the second part of the lesson as to what they are supposed do after they are married,

but I guess Bianca got the part where you don't have kids, except I guess you should have at least one to use as a tool to control your husband, is that the talk Flavia was giving Bianca when she was pregnant?

so true AdrianaNoel, when Bianca showed up at the ranch, no one seemed happy to see her, of course she wasn't there to see any of them anyway.

Nicolas always seems to be getting caught in the crossfire, it seems to do little good to try to be a nice person in this story as everyone else seems to gang up on you, what's he to think now that he is seeing Ariel's devious side,

 

PASION PROHIBIDA

Clara, Deniz is definitely starting to suspect something. There was another moment in the country when she remembered how Bruno got out of his room very nervous the night Bianca was there (when they slammed the door closed while kissing), I forgot to add this to my recap; she is putting two and two together. The question is what she will do with this information. She and Bruno are rather close and she has a forbidden type of love, too. I am not saying that she'll be their cheerleader, but I bet she'll show more understanding than Bianca is showing now.

Shallowgal, the moment when Bruno was talking about his uncle got to me; they really were a happy family before Ariel got married again. And although problems came with Flavia, B&B would have still happened in her absence, too, so we can't only blame her.
As for Penelope's regnancy, I agree that Flavia is a witch, but why did Penelope have to get pregnant when her baby is what, not even 6 months old? The first pregnancy was an accident, this doesn't seem planned, either...Not saying that I agree with Flavia, having two kids close in age could be better and it's not like Penelope can't pay a bunch of nannies to help her, but what is it with these girls (she and Bianca) that neither of them thinks about having a career? I am their age more or less and a baby is the last thing on my mind right now.

Deb, can you imagine how Penelope and Bianca were raised in a family where their mother had this aversion to children? That must not have been pretty.
As for everybody finding out about B&B, Flavia already knows something, Deniz is starting to remember stuff, Francisca is always on the look out as far as I can tell...
There is no doubt in my mind that they will get caught, but so far their game hasn't gone that far. They need to do a whole lot more before someone actually sees them and has proof of their doings. I hope it won't be Guillermo, now that Ariel tricked him, I bet he will want his revenge.


 

MADE IN CARTAGENA:

Thank you Hombre for the wonderful recaps, especially the gran finale. What a novel full of plot twists after plot twists every episode including the end.

Just so you know, the party scene at the end was a welcome home party for Flora. The big banner said "Bienvenidos a casa Flora".