Caray, Caray!

LA PATRONA – VIERNES

This one will be brief.

Alejandro confronts Guerra and asks if he’s the son of Aníbal Villegas.

Cecilia and David make up over the phone.

Alejandro confronts Aníbal about being his bio dad. Aníbal looks shifty eyed, but denies it.

Ricardo meets with Vero and Constanza and says that Ale is his brother. Connie says it’s not true, and Vero tells him they have the DNA test. They give Ricardo Gertrudis’ stash of incriminating documents and checks.

La Tuerta still hasn’t managed to get out of Dodge.

Julio tries to hire Macario to kill Lagargo.

Irene confronts Guerra, smirking, about her having been unfaithful with Aníbal. She wonders how she could treat Prudencia that way when she had done the same thing. Antonia threatens her with a replacement daughter-in-law, but Irene doesn’t back down.

Irene tells Alejandro she wants to leave SPDO. Guerra interrupts saying Ale should divorce Irene. Ale finally blows. He says they ARE going to leave because he’s fed up with his mother’s lies and manipulations. He tells her she’s a terrible mother.

Valentina is discovered unconscious in her bed and rushed to the hospital. The doctor says he thinks it’s some sort of drug intoxication. Guerra has the GALL to first try to bring her home and then to try to bring her meals! The doctor says she’s only going to get intravenous liquids until they diagnose what’s causing her to be ill.

Ricardo has a phone conversation with a higher-up. It appears they’re sending a special commission to take charge of the investigation of the crooked dealings in SPDO.

Luz comes to beg Lucho to help her get her son. Vero steps in, saying she knows how it hurts to lose a child.

Ricardo shows up at the Comisaría and fires Lagarto, making Gonzalez the temporary top cop.

Aníbal goes right after Guerra in front of Alejandro about lying about Ale being his son. He waves the DNA test. He’s royally pissed at her. Later she admits she lied. She wanted him to leave his money to Ale, plus Beltrán was too good of a man. She needed another rat to be her accomplice.

Max, from his cell, tells David that Guerra is killing Valentina, just like he did El Tigre and Gabriela.

Vero comes to show Julio some checks to Gertrudis that he signed, telling him he better let Luz take her child. She tells him these aren’t the only checks she has, and that all of them are in her power!!
 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA- El Gran Final! pt 1


Aliva takes Diana to the San Gabriel school in Miami. Aliva explains about how she collects objects from her victims. dMart deduces that Aliva is hiding in Miami. He calls Tom telling him he knows the answer but refuses to tell him(Tom says Aliva is more dangerous than anything). Diana begs Aliva to turn herself in, but her death has been planned. dMart goes to Zekes pent and asks (he wants to go too but dMart refuses)and Zeke not to tell anyone(dMart knows where Aliva is). Aliva plans to kill Diana using a spinning saw. Then Diana admits she is pregnant. dMart takes Letis phone in case Aliva calls Fed also figures out that she went to Miami and Luci decides to go.

Luci wants to go with dMart because Diana is his wife but dMart says no. He takes Letis fone in case Aliva calls. Luci wants to go but Zeke and Marcia say that dMart is their only hope. Tom follows dMart. Aliva thinks Diana is lying about the pregnancy. Diana says Aliva is like her mother. This infuriates Aliva. Diana says they can both be better mothers. Miggy A is still mad at Fed. Fed admits he made a mistake and says he is going to turn in Aliva (He also knows where she is). dMart is at his pent. He calls Carlos for a favor. Aliva calls Leti to see if Dianas pregnancy is true. Since dmart has the phone he tells Aliva to give up he will come to her because he still loves her.

They can leave the country together. Aliva says he may forgive her for Mariana but not for Diana. She hangs up. dMart gets in his BMW and Tom follows him. Luci wants to go to Miami. Fed and Zeke say things will get worse but eventually Zeke prepares a flight for him. Aliva wants Diana to take a pregnancy test to confirm it. Tom and the police follow dMart to the woods but its not dMart. Its Carlos! Tom is furious that dMart outsmarted him. The pregnancy test turns out negative. Aliva says Diana will suffer an evil more painful death. Dmart is in Miami. He is in a taxi. Zeke calls dMart to tell him that Luci is on his way. At the police station Sandra tells Tom that the Florida Police is their only hope. But Tom has been working on the case for months and decides to go regardless.




 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA- El Gran Final! pt 2


dMart arrives at the school in the classroom where the massacre started. Aliva wants him to forgive her for ruining his childhood. He forgave her when he married her. She keeps teasing him about killing Diana while Dmart asks her to flee the country together. Diana is tied up in the woods. Luci calls dMart. dMart doesn’t answer. Luci asks the bar owner if hes seen dMart, Diana or Aliva. The owner hasn’t seen them. dMart is still trying to coax Aliva into freeing Diana. He asks why she killed all those people She feels an adrenaline rush every time she kills. Dmart says his love can overpower her feelings. He can tame the beast inside her. Aliva says Diana would’ve died had dMart not arrived. dMart is sweet talking her about how he belongs to her then they kiss.

Luci is talking to a man who owns a taxi service. He wants to know where dMarts Taxi dropped him off. Sandra and Tom arrive. Luci is furious and insults Tom he put innocent people away and covered for the real killer. Because of his failure many people died. Tom says he will pay for his crimes but first Aliva will pay. Luci thinks Tom is still covering and refuses to have him by his side. Dmart and Aliva are driven to the woods. Aliva says that they are in the area where Toni died. Aliva taunts dMart over Toni. The she gives him a gun and tells him to kill her but of course he cant do it. By the time he gets the courage she flees.

dMart calls Luci for help. Luci tells the cops where dMart is at. Sandra tells Tom he is out of the game. dMart chases Aliva then he finds Diana, terrified but unharmed. Aliva has a gun and plans to kill the twins. She drops the gun and admits that she didn’t plan on killing dMart. This is his last chance to finish her once and for all. She admits she ordered her Blonde Gorgon mom to kill Toni(she watched her do it too). This angers dMart. He puts the gun to her chest. The police arrive with Luci and Tom secretly follows (how the hell did he get his his car from NYC to Miami?!). Aliva enjoyed ruining dMarts childhood. Ultimately dMart cant kill her. The cops finally show up. Diana admits to dMart that Aliva is pregnant. The twins beg the cops not to fire but Aliva is shot anyway.
 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA- El Gran Final! pt 3


Sandra demand to know who fired. It was Tom (I knew it!). dMart begs Aliva to hang in there. She is taken to a hospital. Luci and Diana assure that the baby will be okay. dMart is pissed that Tom fired at Aliva. Luckily (or unlickily) Aliva is alive and so is the baby.

Alivas trial is held in NYC (Omar is there). The cards are heavily against her. After a lengthy trial Aliva is guilty for the murders of Marian San Lucas (Elizabeth Gutierrez had to leave the cast. Shame ), Tania Staurdo (Didn’t like her was glad she was offed!), Patrica Valdez (Was kinda hoping she and Miggy A would end up together. Didn’t want her to die), Alejandra Moreno (didn’t like her too much either), Carolina Pinto (Saw her in MSED. Was great seeing her again), Valeria Samaniego (She asked to be freed. But deserved prison imo), Veronica Beaza (kinda weird death imo ), Rafaela Carrasco (died the same way she died in CV), Francisca Marquez and Pablo Bertelon (I think Francisca deserved it. Pablo? Not so much).

She is sentenced to life in prison. Aliva marks the days she spends in prison. Months pass and dMart visits her. Aliva says she is glad to be in prison. dMart didn’t deserve to lose his childhood because of her. she admits that she lied when she said she reveled in dMarts suffering. dMart wants custody of his son. Aliva says that the child is actually a girl. She asks him to be a good father to their daughter. She has more notes for him. But dMart says he doesn’t want his child to see the notes. He leaves and she breaks down in tears. dMart is leaving the prison.
 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA- El Gran Final! pt 4

Zeke spends three years in prison. He is freed and Fed also spent time in prison but Fed was released early for good behavior (they both deserved life). The Alvarados, Mercaders and Samaniegos are all at the penthouse waiting for Zeke. Marcia is also there (Really no punishment?! Unless they just never mentioned it). Luci and Diana have a son. Marquitos is 3 years old. Zeke asks for dMart and his granddaughter. They are at a cemetery but will arrive soon. They all raise their glasses.

dMart is at the cemetary telling his daughter about how sweet of a woman Antonia was. He sets down flowers on Tonis grave. Little Toni (I think that’s the name of his daughter) is running around and when dMart calls for her she turns around and acts as if she is shooting him!. dMart says there are nicer things in life. Little Toni shouldn’t play like that. They walk for Zekes pent. In prison Aliva flashes a killer smile….. FIN!!!!!!!!!!!
 

PASION PROHIBIDA

Only now I had the chance to watch the Thursday and Friday episodes of PP; I watched them back to back, which turned out to be for the best, because they were 'de infarto'!!

First, Yair kissed Nina and she actually liked it. But then, just as his character was starting to get more interesting, Yair didn't tell Nina that he does have feelings for her; if he waits any longer, Sebas, who is back, or Bruno, in one of his breaks from Bianca, will make a move.
Separately I find both Nina and Yair very annoying, but together they kind of click. I wasn't expecting for Nina to actually respond the way that she did, but I don't think she is so indifferent to Yair as she pretends to be; especially after he said she was only his friend, she did treat him like she cared.
I didn't really get why after she asked Bruno to accompany her to prom, she went and asked Yair. Wouldn't Sebas have been a better solution if she only wanted to use a guy? I believe she does like Yair for real, but the fact that she practically told him this up front makes me doubt it a bit (was she just upset with Bruno?)
Anyway, I'm team..Nayr :))

And now to the point: I was on the edge of my seat all through B&B's attempted escape. I was sure Bruno would back off, I didn't even think he will show up at the airport, really.
Although I did get Bianca's rage, Bruno has bigger ties to Ariel than she will ever have. He is like his father, the pain of hurting him has to be bigger than his love for Bianca...Because, BTW, they both said "I love you" the night they decided to leave. But it was kind of blah, not a very romantic moment, as far as I'm concerned.
Anyway, Bruno got cold feet, Bianca ran back home to patch things up with Ariel, putting on an entire show in front of Bruno (and boy, did I almost loose my breath when I realized Flavia had the letter), Bruno wants to get married in a week...so you could say everything is back to normal in the Piamonte house. Now, the next in line for a ticket out seems to be Deniz, let's see how far she gets before being dragged in again.
What I hope happens next:
- Nina starts developing some real feelings for Yair, he was after all the first guy to kiss her; for a guy so weak, he sure didn't loose any time: the moment he felt Nina had a thing for him (taking care of him when he was sick) he went in for the kiss - and this time I didn't see her scream like she did with Sebas.

- Bruno starts paying attention to work; I suspect Bianca will be very upset with him for a while, so let's see what he does next, because it is his turn to do all the pushing

What I don't like to see:
- Nina going back to crushing for Bruno, I like her so much better with Yair

- I definitely don't want Bruno to get married and move Eliana into the house; I hope she goes to NY and stays there



 

Pasion Prohibida
AdrianaNoel, thanks for this and all your efforts! and good luck juggling your new work schedule!
Yes, these two episodes were capitulos cruciales! Thursday, B&B escaping to Spain with carry-ons and they even made it as far the check-in desk. Amazing.
I think Nina really likes Yair, she's got Paula in her ear about him all the time, and when Yair denied feelings for her she seemed really disappointed. Plus, the kiss and caring for him, even without the special remedy.
Eliana is dim, but I'm really glad she refused to give up her new NY gig as Brunito demanded.
The scene where Bianca was doing her "cielo" routine with Ariel and talking about going to Spain with someone she loved while throwing intense looks at Bruno was kind of disgusting.
Bianca's basically admitted she can't stand Ariel touching her. No turning back from that.
Ariel seems to have gotten the point how immature Bianca is, and is he, subconsciously at least, suspecting Bruno, sending him off on a business trip?
Mlle working 9-5 at the mansion but having her own place, makes sense to me.
Clara
 

LA PATRONA

Thanks, Novelera, for the recap. Great comments on Antonia trying to continue her dosing of Valentina. You'd think Ale would figure out that his mother is the one making Val sick. And this doc seems to be competent - he's going to keep Val in the hospital on IVs until he knows what's causing her illness. Now they need to post a guard at her door! Where's Vero?

Don't understand why La Tuerta still hasn’t managed to get out of town. I get that she wants to get across the border, but you'd think she'd want to put as much distance as possible between her and SPdO.

It looked to me like AniMal and Antonia will stay united in crime for the time being. He's still hopping mad about her years of lying to him, but, short of killing her, I don't think he has any other options.

It wasn't a good day for Lagarto what with Julio trying to put out a contract on him and Ricardo firing him.

Poor David. Everyone is telling him his abuela is an evil murderer, and, even though he doesn't want to believe it, by now he's got to have doubts. I'm wondering how long it will be until he confronts Antonia.

I loved Vero sticking it to Julio. Maybe she'll also force him to pay mucho maintenance and child support. That slimy SOB really deserves to suffer.

Beth
 

Pasión Prohibida -

thanks for your comments AdrianaNoel,
and Clara,

wow, a couple of more steps and they would have been on the airplane, so close, and when Bruno stalled, their glass dream shattered into a million pieces, anything and everything in Bianca's life came crashing down on her, well played by both,

so Flavia saved the day by recovering the note, but now she knows,
enough with Bianca always blaming her for having a lover,

Bruno was so run over by this bus,
yea, that's it, marry the other girl, that will surely work,
I'm so proud of Eliana for not buying into this mess,

funny to watch him hiding out till he gets an "all clear" from the house,

so cruel of Bianca to throw her reconciliation with Ariel in Bruno's face,
kicking him when he is down so to speak,
not to worry, I'm sure she will pay for that, or for something else,

and yes, it's now Bruno's turn to make the move,
how long before these two realize that you don't have to fly to Spain to have an intimate moment,

so Mademoiselle will be able to leave the house, is that possible, but what if Ariel runs into her later out-and-about, say with another man perhaps, will this light a fire in Ariel?

it never seems to be a good day for Nicolas,
and will Katia ever smile for real.

 

El Rostro de la Venganza -

thanks so much NovelaMan!
your recaps enabled me to watch the gran final,

wow!

getting a chance to see chainsaw Marlene Favela in a role other than the good looking girl, was interesting,

pow, pow, says her daughter

 

La Patrona -

thank you so much for the summary novelera,
and for your comments Beth,

hmm, it will be odd to see Lagarto without a gun to rest his hand on,
and yes he is quite the ladies man,
at least to all the desperate women that have no other place to turn,
I keep waiting for Gastón to zero in on him as well,

did Antonia refer to Anibal as plan "B", she sure has a way of making others feel good about themselves,

interesting that Antonia wonders where the dna test came from, always calculating,

is Irene starting to realize that she is of no use to anyone,

Veronica didn't seem to mind Lucecita hanging all over Lucho, I sometimes forget how much our extended family went through, and how many times they have been willing to give their life for the other,

I'm hoping la Tuerta gets a chance to take out a couple of her enemies,
or at least stir their pot a little,

Macario warning Lagarto, hmm, Macario could have so gracefully walked away from this whole thing, and yet he hangs out with Lucas,

Max has no doubt what Antonia is capable of, and yet David, following in Alejandro's footsteps, is always looking the other way.

Julio fell out of favor with Antonia quite a while ago, and yet he is still around, I'm curious to see how this will go.

 

LA PATRONA:

Novelera, thank you for the recap. Since this show apparently isn't going to end anytime soon, they're taking their time with events, but it does seem that each day, a little piece of Antonia's armor falls off. Now she has Anibal mad at her. She's humiliated Julio, Irene isn't please with the way Antonia's been treating her. It's like a ship where little leaks have started to spring, and she has to plug them. But they keep happening. And Poncia keeps telling her "I told you so!"

I'm not sure Gonzalez is going to be able to do that sheriff thing.

What's with Julio and his son? He doesn't care a fig about the boy, just wants to hurt Lucecita. That's pretty low.

Macario was just about to slit Lucas's throat (I can't even remember why) when Lucas let out that Gertrudis is still in town. Macario is basically looking out for himself, pretending to help Julio, then warning Lagarto. He's one of the few bad guys who doesn't have any weakness (I think), so he may be difficult to bring down.

Gaston flashed back to that day when he blamed Antonia and crew in front of the whole town. He was drunk at the time, and no one believed him. But maybe over time, the whole town will believe him. Can you just imagine all the townspeople descending on Antonia, you did it, you ruined our town, you betrayed us.......Doubt that'll happen, but a couple of movies ended like that.
 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA

NovelaMan, thank you so much for this terrific recap of the final episode. I appreciate your work on this and all the other recaps you posted in this space. Nice work!

I agree that some people seemed to get away with murder (literally!) at the end. It's as if the writers forget who these characters were early on in the story. (Not that I blame them... it was SUCH a long time ago.)

Marlene Favela was impressive, wasn't she? She had the best role and she took advantage of the opportunity. I hope David Chocarro gets a chance to show what he can do with a better role in a better novela.

Now if this story had been told in, say, a third of the time, it might actually have worked.

What does everyone think of the "bad seed" thing? You know, the beautiful little girl shooting her imaginary gun at her father? If you saw "Alguien te mira", you might remember a similar trope (Julián's son, Emilio, flips his hair back the way evil Julián used to do). Me, I don't like it. It's a cheap trick, a bad joke.


 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA:

Thanks, NovelaMan, excellent job, I really enjoyed your recaps.

My favorite lines of the episode?
Alicia: Urinate, now!
Diana: I don't feel like it!
Yes, that was a weird scene....

I liked how Alicia got life "plus 100 years, with no possibility of parole for good behavior". But she's still smilin'! Of course we've seen that bad seed thing before, but it's always fun, even if you can see it coming.

I watched the first few weeks of this, and the last week. As a result, I never saw anyone get killed, the bad guys at the start were now good guys, several people from the start weren't there anymore, and almost nothing made sense. But I still liked it! I think that's one of the appeals of telenovelas. Although they're much better when you know the characters and see their development, they're still fun when you just turn them on right in the middle. It doesn't take long to know who's good, who's bad, and who's REALLY bad! And you're almost guaranteed to have some of the famous novela cliches.

Of course, the show starting Monday, El Señor de los Cielos, won't have those standard telenovela cliches, since it's based on real life (it'll have the "based on real life novela cliches :). Can't wait!
 

Aníbal is a funny character. He's as wicked and evil as Antonia, but he isn't as psychopathic. In Fri's ep, he gives her this look as if he just realizes she's psycho-as if he's finally realizing who she is after 40 years of friendship. He's gonna turn on her.

Gonzalez will so fail as jefe.

The best part about the DNA flap with Antonia and Ale is that David heard it and it's sowing seeds of doubt about Guerra.
 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA

I'd like to also thank you so much, NovelaMan, for the fine recaps. I gave up on the novela, but, as Silvio, in his Sopranos role, used to imitate Michael Corleone in the Godfather: "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in." And NovelaMan pulled me back in with his recaps!

So I pretty much watched all of the last two weeks.

NovelaMaven, I'm with you. The gesture of the boy pushing back hair off his forehead in Alguien didn't bother me, especially since the kid was kind of a brat even before that. But I hated the little girl fake shooting her father. It seemed like piling on, at least to me. Diego/Martín had been to hell and back and certainly deserved a sweet and normal little girl. It WAS cheap!
 

LA PATRONA

Very soon after Vero arrived in SPDO, she predicted that a big feature of her vengeance would be the lobos turning on each other. She keeps reminding Constanza and Lucho of that. And, when things aren't coming to the boil quickly enough, in her own words: echó leño al fuego.

Various examples of the leño were when she goaded Prudencia into running for the president of the club, knowing what Antonia's reaction would be. She had Lucho get Ramón drunk over and over, getting him to admit the crimes. She had the DNA test delivered to Aníbal's house, knowing full well the pride he had in supposedly siring a specimen like Alejandro. I'm sure there are other examples of her pitting them against each other, but can't think of any more just now.
 

LA PATRONA

Hombre - I agree about Macario and how difficult it will be to bring him down. The only time I remember Macario uttering a 'God forgive me' or looking like he might regret what he was doing was when he kicked and beat Gabriela and killed her baby. Other than that, I think he's been very unemotional and cold-blooded about leaving no evidence of his crimes (that's why I was surprised when he supposedly left Ramon's body so exposed in a trash pile). He did at one point tell Antonia that he didn't want to kill (was it Prudencia or Gert) because he is now a (gentleman?) farmer.

I'd forgotten that bit where Macario looked like he was going to slit Lucas' throat. Could it be that he had paid Lucas to kill and get rid of Ramon, and Lucas made a real mess of things?

Beth
 

EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA


This novela was pretty much a train wreck but strangely i liked it. And i stuck through it through the end while everyone else was watching CORAZON VALIENTE, LA PATRONA, and PASION PROHIBIDA. ERDLV to me was like a cross between MSED and ATM (and it was great to see some actors that were in those novelas).

MSED:

Roberto Mateos (Federico Samaniego) - Leon Beltran, owner of "La Cueva", Cachorros dad and El Hierros partner.

Cristian Carabias (Omar Mercader) - El Topo, Diablos best friend who ends up with Perla.

Jose Guillermo Cortines (Alex Maldonado) - Osvaldo Guerra, the galan who tried to take Manuela from Diablo.
Dayana Garroz(Carolina Pinto)- Ada the undercover cop who brought down El Principe.

Ivan Hernandez(Felipe Rios)- One of the executives of Davila Enterprises. Could be wrong, but i think Virginia left him in charge when she announced her pregnancy. He was also in ATM as a police detective.

Jonathan Islas(Luciano) - Special appearance in the first cap. One of young Martins friends who spied on him doing the deed with the maid.

ATM:

David Chocarro (Diego/Martin)- Benjamin Morande, Tatiana's husband, Rodrigo's best friend, a womanizer & associate of Piedad and Julian.

Rodrigo de la Rosa (Victor Layton) - Pedro Pablo Peñafiel, Lawyer; Benjamin, Julian and Piedad's associate, Dolores' husband

Cynthia Olavarria (Diana Mercader) - Lucia Saldana, A masseuse at the clinic. obsessed with Pedro Pablo. Ends up in an insane asylum.
(Chocarro and Olavarria had their first Telemundo roles in ATM. Olavarria played JC Canelas aunt in MCI, and Chocarro played the villanous Ismael in LCDAL.)

To be honest i kinda found the gran final of ERDLV to be a bit boring. I didnt get tense like i did from previous novelas.
Also they never said if Aliva killed Marcela Llanos. Tonis dad was pushed on a train, no explenation for that either. (I think Valeria said she sent someone to kill him: Her daughter? Salvador?)
Surprised no one attacked Zeke, Fed, or Aliva while in prison (Maybe they were put in solitary confinement).
Regarding dMarts daughter i doubt she will turn out evil. Aliva had mobster parents. but im sure when she gets older she will want to meet her mother.....
Once the truth came out I saw a lot of similarities between Aliva and the Reptile (Loved to kill, several accomplices, mobster dad (Though Fed wasnt a douche like D8D)). Maybe they attended the same school in Europe?

Guys i will be watching PASION Prohibida so if anyone asks, I will be willing to do recaps on thursdays. Someone will have to take over "El Señor de los Cielos".
 

Final thoughts on ERDLV

Did Felipe Rios even die? i remember the last scene with him he was talking to Diana about how he wanted to see Sonia. Diana said her mother would never forgive him.

I thought Sandra said that Tomas was going to prison after Aliva was captured, but he was present at her trial.

Fun facts: Jonathan Islas and Dayana Garroz are dating in real life.

Kimberly Dos Ramos (Katerina) has replaced Vanessa Pose in MARIDO EN ALQUILER. She will play Juan Solers daughter and Gabriel Coronels love interest. She looks more like Sonya Smiths daughter to me, but oh well.

Jose Guillermo Cortines will also have a role in that novela.

If MED replaces PP then i will definitely watch.
 

LA PATRONA

Antonia did indeed refer to Anahi as her Plan B. I had wondered for some time if she had lied to him about Ale just to keep him attahed to her. Now the question will be who really is his father.

Antonia fancies herself as smarter than everyone else so at least she wonders where the DNA test came from. She really should statr to think that all the unrest among the lobos began when Vero and Co came to town. Once that hsappens all hell is sure to break loose.

Ric took his life in his hands when he relieved Largato of his badge and gun.
 

Hey, folks. (Oh, how I hate unemployment.) Assuming it doesn't step on anybody's toes, I thought I'd go ahead and get y'all started recap-wise with El Señor de los Cielos this week. What the heck, there's got to be a Rogelio Montero joke I can use. :)
 

El Señor de los Cielos

I was heartened to read Bill C's offer. I just got done watching the first episode of El Señor de los Cielos . I'm going to need all the help I can get! The characters seem to be speaking MUCH faster than in Amor Bravío, and they're using a lot of words my brain isn't processing. I guess I'll stick with it and hope to become more acclimated as time goes on, but I do hope some kind souls will offer recaps and/or vocabulary. Or maybe just hold my hand and say "no te preocupes."

 

Pasion Prohibida Monday

Bruno is getting ready for his trip to Merida; he tries to have one last talk with Bianca before leaving, but she calls him a coward, says they are over, he needs to stop trying to seduce her in his uncles's house.

After another talk with Paula about Yair's true feelings for her, Nina goes to his room when everybody is asleep ( because in Casa Piamonte there is no better way to talk to your sweetheart then to barge in his bedroom in the dead of night); she asks him for the third time as far as I can remember if he feels something for her and comes closer, wanting a kiss to be the answer. But Yair pulls away and Nina thinks he doesn't care for her like that, after all. But for once in his life Yair takes the reigns and grabs her arm as she is leaving (and I love this type of scene whenever I see it); they kiss and it's very sweet and nice - I really like them together, but Yair needs to loose the "poor me" attitude fast, it's a real turn off.

A few days after Bruno left, they still weren't able to finish their work in Merida because it rained the whole time. Bruno calls Bianca, he seems desperate; he misses her, he wants them to continue their relationship; Bianca, who had to answer the phone in front of all her family, moves away and tells him that they had their chance, now it's over; she is very blunt, he is trying to convince her to find another way to be together, but she won't have any of it.

After their fight, in a desperate attempt to forget his pain, Bruno takes the helicopter and goes scouting for the new land on his own. And, of course, he has an accident, he is missing and everybody back in Miami is worried sick.

Their reactions:
- Ariel goes to Mexico to search with the rescue party
- Nina faints and is a whine, but this time she has a point and I don't find her as annoying as usual; I'm not sure this is about more than just being her cousin; Yair chooses this very bad moment to talk about them, but Nina doesn't want to loose him as a friend (for now, at least), so I guess this counts as a rejection - you should have waited, Yair!!
-Eliana keeps crying, both Penelope and Flavia try to comfort her
- Santi is very upset, too, but he is holding it together a lot better than Nina
-Denise tries to console everybody
-the servants pray
-Bianca does her best to hide her true concern in front of everybody, but when she is alone she breaks down; she remembers her father's death; plays the piano a little, remembers a lot of stuff that hapened between Bruno and her, goes to his room and smells his stuff, starts wearing the necklace he gave her (where under her father's photo she has a photo of Bruno!!! - did she put the picture there, or was it Bruno? that wasn't very clear for me); when everybody is asleep, she goes to the garden and has a good cry, but Denise sees her.
 

El Señor de los Cielos:

Bill- It would be wonderful if you could recap for us! I'm looking forward to your take on last night's explosive first episode. I recorded it while I watched Que Bonito Amor, then switched my station because I suspected Senor would go over by a few minutes, which it did. QBA started 5 mins early. Just love these schedule games Uni and Telemundo play.

In any case, I saw the last 3 shocking minutes, and then went back in my recording and watched the whole thing before going to bed. All I can say is that Aurelio would have a lot less ways and reasons for his enemies to get him, if he kept it in his pants and only slept with his wife/mother of his kids (whom he has never married).

Loved seeing Fernanda Castillo as a badass mafia princess after just seeing her as the free-spirited hippie photographer in Amor Bravio. Loved her all black outfit with studs and an updo to go kill Aurelio.

Those who saw Pablo Escobar, where does this overlap on the timeline? Is this towards the end of Pablo's life? By the looks of the phones, we are in the early 90s or there abouts.
 

EL SEÑOR

Vivi, I had the same thought about Aurelio's keeping his pants zipped. I'm thinking that perhaps they've shown him to be having affairs (well, one so far) as a way of presenting him as a less-than-admirable person in spite of being el protagonista. Novelas about narcotraficantes have been criticized for their supposedly glorifying people who shouldn't be made to seem attractive. I recall such accusations being made when Telemundo showed "La Reina del Sur."
 

El Señor de los Cielos:

Juanita- Actually, it's more than one so far.

We have the mafia princess who is clearly ticked that he fooled her into thinking he loved her, once upon a time. This may or may not have been before he met his "wife", but considering how old his son is, I'd say he and his wife were practically kids themselves when they had him. Mafia princess clearly wanted to be his number one woman and now has no problem taking him out, as a favor to the Colombians, to get even.

Then we have his telenovela actress mistress who was easily bought or initmidated by his enemies into setting a trap for him.

Then there is his sister in law, whom he slept with at some point (given their brief whispered convo) and tossed aside. Now she's ticked enough to try to turn his brother and right hand man against him.

Aurelio has women troubles, for sure. At least his wife seems loyal and devoted. But how long can that last if his lifestyle has brought death to one of her children?
 

EL SEÑOR:

That was a very exciting opening episode! I look forward to Bill C's recap. I think that besides the affair Aurelio had with the actress who was shot, he had one in the past with Monica Robles (Fernanda Castillo, whom I remember from Destilando Amor).

I enjoyed seeing Angelica Celaya as Eugenia, wife of Marco (Gabriel Porras), I loved her in Alguien Te Mira. Hopefully her role here isn't too small.

It was amazing how inaccurate most of the shooting was. Sure, a few people were hit, but in the entire episode, there were hundreds of shots, almost all misses.

And what was Marco thinking when he decided to try to capture Aurelio with only one other cop, knowing that Aurelio had lots of his own guys, and that a rival gang had lots of their guys? And Marco could have actually shot Aurelio. But he had to take him alive. No way would that work.

Vivi, this is the very, very end of Pablo Escobar. Maybe the last day.
 

EL SENOR:

I think the brother is Victor and his wife is Matilde. BTW, everyone had great Mexican (DF?) accents, except Matilde, who to me, still sounded Colombian. I wonder if her character is also supposed to be not from Mexico.
 

El Señor de los Cielos:

Hombre- Thanks for the name of the Mafia Princess, Monica. Yes, those of us who were just watching Amor Bravio had the pleasure of just seeing Fernanda Castillo in a totally different kind of role. Kind of jarring to see her being hippy photographer, warm and loving on Friday, and cold, calculating, murderous b*tch on Monday. Ah! The life of an actor.

Sister-in-law Matilde is a Colombian actress. I saw her in the comedy Vecinos a few years back. Since they weren't hiding her accent, I'm going to assume she's supposed to be Colombian. And if she is, how did she and Victor hook up, I wonder.

 

LA PATRONA:

Vero has applied the pressure to Julio. Let Lucecita have the kid, and I won't turn you in for all your crimes. He agrees, and Lucecita and the kid can leave town. Various characters hear about this, and are amazed it was Veronica who accomplished it.

Julio blames it all on Lagarto, and tells Gaston that Lagarto killed Inocencia. Gaston talks him into saying this on the radio, which he does! Big mistake (for him). Now they have to protect him. But it's not easy, since Lagarto has a high powered long range rifle. Just as Julio figures everything out, and says Prudencia was right, Veronica is Gabriela, boom! He's shot (probably dead). Pati and Irene have now had their sister, their mother and their father all murdered (they don't know all were murders).

Vero is finally just about admitting to Constanza that she still loves Alejandro, after seeing his tearful words at her tomb (convenient she just happened to be there, huh?)

Francisca sees Gaston standing close to Estrella, and of course assumes the worst, kicking him out without letting him get a word in. He was getting close to having Estrella tell him something (so far, she insists she really did see Max beat up Alberto). We know Gaston and Francisca will eventually get together, but not for a while.

Since Valentina is just getting fed intravenously or hospital food, shouldn't she get better? The chances Antonia will actually get blamed for poisoning are pretty slim.

Poncia said I told you so to Antonia, again. One day Antonia's going to get a little tired of this, and I'd fear for Poncia on that day.


 

Cielo

I enjoyed it, typical narco violence.

I was very upset when Aurelio's bro Chacorta, was practicing his shooting & shot the dog, at the instruction of Aurelio.You could see that Chacorta didn't really want to do it. Later Aurelio's hija asked about the dog & he told her it strayed (I think ) & they would get a better one. This puts him at the top of my mierda list.

Monica had a tear remembering her fling with Aurelio, I think quite awhile ago. They are now rival narcos. Robles family & Casillas family.
Monica tried to prevent the shooting of Aurelio's hija. But I'm sure Aurelio will not see it that way.

This is based on Amado Carrillo Fuentes-Juarez Cartel. Wonder why they don't use his real name? I believe they used Pablo Escobar's real name.

I really had a hard time trying to figure out what shooters belonged to who.
 

Cielos:

Variopinta- I believe the kid who was made to shoot the dog is Aurelio's son, not brother. Yes, that, more than the womanizing, showed me what a bad guy Aurelio is. It was particularly upsetting because the dog's name was Muñeco, and he is the same coloring as a cute puppy named Muñeca that was just in Amor Bravio.
 

The character of Matilde is I think Colombian, or at any rate from one of the countries that uses the vos form of address instead of tú. She calls Victor vos.

The only countries that I know of where a significant segment of the population uses this form are Argentina, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador & Guatemala. She definitely doesn't sound Argentinian, Uruguayan, or Guatemalan, and while I don't have the expertise to distinguish with great accuracy between the remaining accents, it seems most likely that they have her playing a Colombian since she is one. Plus there is the strong narco link between Mexico & Colombia.

ITA on the dog-shooting. I'm really detesting this guy on more than one level. Tony Soprano was tender-hearted about animals, heck, even Hitler was. His "amores de mi vida" refrain with Ximena & his daughter seems pretty lacking in emotional conviction, too. And his mom still has to make do with her old transistor radio in the midst of all his big-spending, as she herself pointed out. He didn't even respond to that reproach.

Karamy
 

Pasión Prohibida -

thanks so much AdrianaNoel,
you always fill in so many little things that I have missed,

I hadn't realized that Bruno was trying to finish their work, I thought maybe he was headed home, I'm still not sure if he was the pilot or with others, did they say something like maybe he could now be kidnapped,

I always listen for the "thump" they put in when Nina hits the ground,

quite a crowd in Bruno's room, sounds like Penélope/Bruno had a very passionate love affair, Bianca definitely wants a taste, but hides it well, is Penélope suspecting that something is up, but keeps denying it,

(I keep trying to remember to look, but doesn't Bruno's "blue room" only have a bed, no other furniture, so whenever the ladies are there, it's always onto the bed)

I too was taken aback by Bruno's picture hidden behind her father's in Bianca's locket, how did that get there, she must have done it since the locket was a cherished present from Bruno, but he could have as well,

so Mademoiselle does have a window in her room, for tall people and ladies in heels, I seem to recall being on the garden was one of the selling points for kicking her out of her upstairs room.

poor, poor Bianca, out by the pool, her private suffering place, where she is always alone,

 

Cielo

Vivi,
Was the kid that shot the dog, Chacorta, if so televela world says Hermano menor de Aurelio. Aurelio looks too young to have a son that old.
 

LA PATRONA

Thanks, Hombre, for the mini-cap. Seems that the lobos are having a streak of bad days. And tempers are getting short.

I really enjoyed the little spat between Ricardo and AniMal over Lagarto's firing. Ricardo seems to have grown some new body parts since reuniting with Coni.

Lagarto is a good shot - now I am worried for Ricardo.

It's going to be difficult to say Julio's death was a suicide or a burglary gone bad. And Lagarto should be suspect number one, but he'll probably have an iron-clad alibi with Macario.

Lucia's chemo seems to be working for the time being, but the doc was pretty specific when he said she needed a bone marrow transplant. So I have this ominous feeling that she's going to get very sick again.

I was glad to hear the doc say Valentina has to stay in the hospital a few more days while he tries to figure out what's wrong with her. I hope she goes straight to Vero's when she's discharged.

Wow! Francisca has it bad. And poor Gaston. No lunch for him!

Beth
 

La Patrona -

thanks so much Hombre,

wow, Julio talking on the radio, must have been the booze, and then the realization that Prudencia was speaking the truth, mixed with the earlier talk with Antonia, where she wanted his help, always a one-way street, then the shot...

like to see Lagarto put that gun in his pants,

quite a tragedy for the Montemar family, all killed by the Lobos, but does Irene even care,

Gastón swinging by for his noon meal, always a special treat, but he just barely got a bite before Francisca threw him out the door, (cute couple) so maybe he doesn't have Tigre's blessings as yet?

so Alejandro gave his mom two months notice, as soon as Valentina is well and Lucia is doing ok, he's gone, never a good thing for the good guys to tell the villains their plans.

 

Pasion Prohibida
Thanks as always AdrianaN!
BTW, did you see NovelaMan's comment above, Sun 11:41, that he would recap PP on Thurs?
Trying to catch a break for you...
Agree, note to Yair, very bad timing! and lose your beaten down demeanor.
deb, thanks for your comments. I thought there was a pilot with Bruno. They did say that if the helicopter went down in the jungle, as a "blanco" Bruno could possibly be kidnapped.
Re locket photos, duh, I thought Bianca was imagining Bruno's pic over her dad's.
Don't think Penelope suspects [yet], but she was fanning the fire, wasn't she?
Clara
 

CIELOS:

Variopinta, I think (maybe) that Aurelio's brother, whose given name in the story is Victor, has a nickname of Chacorto. The actor who plays Chacorto, according to Wikipedia (which can be wrong) is Raúl Méndez, who is 37 years old. So I think the son has a different name (not sure what it is). I could be totally wrong on this.

I also thought the one who shot the dog was Aurelio's son.

I'm sure in a few episodes it'll all clear up.
 

I mean Chacorta.
 

SEÑOR

Even though Aurelio looks too young to have a teenage son, he does, according to the cast listed on Telemundo: "Heriberto Casillas (Ruy Senderos) es el hijo mayor de Aurelio y Ximena." The accompanying photo makes it clear that this is the teenage boy who was being taught to shoot by Aurelio.145 dowayon
 

PASIóN PROHIBIDA

AdrianaNoel - thanks for your tireless recaps/comments. I always enjoy them. same to deb, Clara, Beth.

As for this show, I was going to stop watching/commenting. I have nothing nice to say since Bruno chickened out of the getaway. and it's back to the to and fro b/w them. I hope I have the strength to stay away. we'll see.
 

Cielo
Tks Hombre y Juanita for helping me get my character straight.
 

Cielo
What is the meaning of Chacorta or a nickname for what? I've heard Chaco.
 

Pasion Prohibida

Deb, I didn't really get why Bruno left, either. I was sure he left to search the land they were supposed to buy because he couldn't stop thinking about Bianca and he needed an occupation; but then someone, Ariel or Nico, said he was headed home? That doesn't make any sense.
Yes, Bruno only has the bed to sit on when you visit him; but he also has the multidimensional window which has an additional balcony in time of need, so that is a plus.
The picture had to have been put there by Bianca, right? Bruno couldn't have given her the locket with his picture already inserted; I guess he could have added it after, when they got close, but I still think it was Bianca.

Clara, Bruno did take a pilot with him; Bianca didn't imagine the picture, she is not that crazy 'yet'. I do like Nina and Yair together, I hope he cheers up a little, the road to telenovela happiness is never easy, he should keep some of his pouting for something more serious.
Penelope has to suspect something, she knows Bruno very well and she also knows Bianca; it's true that she doesn't live with them, but it's not like B&B are all that discreet for people who have eyes to see (Denise, Flavia, Francisca)
I haven't seen NovelaMan's offer, if he is willing to do Thursdays recaps, then great!! More opinions! Thanks for the heads up!

Shallowgal, I was wondering where you were...I wasn't very surprised with Bruno backing down, so I wasn't to upset either. Actually, it kind of made sense to me, especially after the helicopter went missing and Penelope and Bianca talked about Bruno being an insecure kid deep down and how much he really loves and needs his family (being an orphan and all that). So, for me it makes sense that he would choose his family over Bianca. For her it is easier, since she doesn't have the same bonds with the family, she only cares about Ariel, but can hardly stand to be around him anyway, so...
What I found more bothersome was the fact that even if she knew how she felt about Ariel, Bianca still went back home and now she is playing the happy wife when in reality, she can't even stand to sleep in the same bed as her husband anymore.
Don't give up on watching, telenovelas are crazy and nerve wreaking, some stories and character actions never make sense, you just have to take it all with a grain of salt...Plus, we do enjoy your comments!
 

PASIóN PROHIBIDA

AdrianaNoel - since you put it that way, I may chime in from time to time. nerve wracking is right!! I will say this - Jencarlos is still beautiful to see.
 

Okay, here we go...thank you once again for another fifty-plus-minute premiere episode, Telemundo...

El Señor de los Cielos: A Golan/Globus Production

Sinaloa, Mexico. A helicopter lands in a field, with a group of military vehicles and armed troops waiting nearby as its sole passenger disembarks--a tall man rocking a bulletproof vest over a T-shirt, carrying only a handgun, and standard badass black sunglasses. This is Marco Mejia (Gabriel Porras), rocking the Standard Action Hero look, and barely five seconds after he's on the ground he's yelling at one of the soldiers about being sure that someone named Casillas is "in there"; the soldier replies in the affirmative, saying that there is apparently a "really large shipment" in there as well...wherever there is. Our Standard Action Hero's okay with that, so he asks another soldier--Morales--if the troops are ready...they are? Then vámonos...but he wants Casillas alive, you hear? (Action movie cliches: 1.)

SAH and the troops pile into the vehicles and the convoy pulls out, accompanied by aerial and ground tracking shots (because it's expensive, yo), heading to the outer gate of an unidentified ranch. Everybody disembarks and gets all military, with SAH yelling out directions before he has two soldiers breach the gate and the whole group charges into the courtyard within. There are some armed men inside, but they drop their guns and surrender without a fuss. SAH and the troops rush into a building and through it into an inner courtyard, which is completely empty; SAH isn't happy about this, so he yells for every room in the building to be searched before heading back through...on the bright side, his action hero status is confirmed when he runs into and kills the only guy in the place crazy enough to actually try to shoot him. After that he heads upstairs with some troops and comes across a room containing far too much money, guns and drugs for anybody to have left behind by choice...

And on cue we see a trio of trucks heading down a dirt road, with a voice thanking God that they were warned about the raid in time. Another voice notes that it's the least the snitches they're paying so much money could do for them, and we go inside one of the trucks to see that that voice belongs to one Aurelio Casillas (Rafael Amaya), who looks pretty calm considering that he and his posse just evacuated wherever. The first voice belongs to a clean-cut guy sitting next to him, Chacorta, who's pissed about all the money and merchandise they had to leave behind--most notably 200 kilos of drugs. Aurelio isn't even worried as he orders his driver to take a shortcut to "the ranch."

Back at There a soldier named Luciano catches up to SAH and confirms that the ranch is secure...but, yup, no sign of Casillas. SAH is a bitchy action hero as he tells Luciano to get out of his sight, but then he notices a magazine on a table with a picture of el narco del dia on the cover. SAH shows it to Luciano and notes he was right--Casillas was there after all--and with that photo, "things have changed." I guess Aurelio Casillas was just a shadowy figure with a white cat or something before this. That said, SAH is pissed all over again--someone obviously warned Casillas they were coming, but who? Luciano, who's been quietly searching the stash room, comes across an autographed photo of a pretty brunette and shows it to SAH; SAH has an aha moment, saying their suspicions are confirmed.
 

El Señor de los Cielos (p. 2):

Shortly after that, while supervising the troops loading the drugs and whatnot onto a truck, he's yelling over a cellphone at someone to have two men put on tailing the woman in the picture--one Lucia Salas, TV star--but to keep it quiet, since they have a leak. After that he gets back in the helicopter he showed up in and departs, leaving Luciano in charge and ordering him to search the ranch for any evidence they can use against Aurelio. With his face in the press, SAH says, he'll be cornered...and now the hunt, or rather the war, begins. (Action movie cliches: 2.)

Meanwhile, after more tracking shots Aurelio's convoy pulls up in front of a different ranch. Aurelio orders Chacorta to have their men keep quiet about what just happened, since "you know how Ximena gets when she hears about these things." So Chacorta and the goons head off as a stunning dark-haired woman comes out to greet Aurelio accompanied by a cute little girl; Aurelio is as happy to see mis amores as the girl is to see "papa." The woman, Ximena (Ximena Herrera), gets a smooch in on her man and notes that their daughter Rutila had been waiting for him to get back, so they could go into town together and get some things for an upcoming trip. Aurelio tells Rutila that he has some business to take care of and can't go with her; Ximena wonders if everything is okay with him, and Aurelio is all "Nah, everything's fine--I love you, baby." We're barely eight minutes into this and I'm already distracted by how Rafael Amaya seems to be playing a slightly more polished and over-the-top version of Julian Garcia from Alguien te mira. If they have him have an outright sociopathic moment...

Inside, Chacorta is on the phone with a man named Turco in Mexico City. Turco tells him that he's with "the surgeon," and Chacorta tells him it's crazy that his brother Aurelio has to have plastic surgery--there's got to be another way. Aurelio walks in on this and notes there isn't, holding up a copy of the magazine SAH found at the other ranch--he's exposed now, which also exposes his lady and his kids, so it's not open for debate. Chacorta grumpily agrees, and notes that Turco wants to know which face Aurelio "wants"; Aurelio would prefer his current face, but since that's out he decides on "number 7" and hands Chacorta a picture of a generic extra. Chacorta relays that to Turco, who in turn indicates the same picture on a nearby board to the unidentified doctor. Aurelio notes that in their business the worst thing you can possibly do is attract attention to yourself--look at Pablo Escobar. Everybody knows him, and so he can't even find a decent hiding place.

(A sidebar: Aurelio Casillas is supposed to be based on the real-life drug kingpin Amado Carrillo Fuentes, who temporally was a contemporary of the real Pablo Escobar. I have no idea why Telemundo changed the names to protect the guilty, especially if they're invoking Escobar's name.)

Turco presents the doctor with a generous cash advance and hopes he understands how important this job is to "them," and voosh we go to a cute townhouse elsewhere in Mexico City. Inside SAH is rocking an old-school leather jacket and cuddling with a hot redhead (hi, Angelica Celaya!) when he gets a phone call from a man named Vargas, who is apparently one of the men tailing Lucia Salas; SAH was right about Lucia, since she's involved with las Robles--a cartel of some sort. At the moment Lucia is talking to a man nicknamed Triste, who is one of the chief lieutenants of one Isidro Robles.
 

El Señor de los Cielos (p. 3):

SAH says he'll be there shortly, and Vargas notes that he needs to hurry--if these folks are looking for her, they may be setting up some sort of trap. SAH hangs up and tells his girl he's sorry to bail on her like this again (action movie cliches: 3)...can they get together this weekend? Girl gives him a reluctant si claro and a hug, and tells him to be careful before he heads out.

Rancho Casillas: Aurelio is working on a bottle of booze (over Chacorta's objections due to his upcoming surgery) when he gets a satellite phone call from no less than Pablo Escobar himself. And it's indeed the Andres Parra version of Pablo--via new footage, but from his appearance and the room he's in it places this at the very end of his own show where he was cooped up in a condo in Bogota pacing like crazy (November 1993)--who advises Aurelio that a merchandise shipment he had arranged is arriving at a Mexico City airport that day. Aurelio knows about that, but wonders why Pablo routed it to Mexico City instead of somewhere more secure; Pablo notes it's out of necessity, and that he sent along an extra two tons on top of the agreed shipment because he needs a favor. More accurately a huge favor--can Aurelio get his family out of Colombia to safety in Mexico? Aurelio notes he can, and asks if Pablo's in trouble; the government's got him cornered, Pablo admits, and he needs Aurelio to get on this ASAP. He gets in a quick I'll-call-when-I-can before hanging up, and Chacorta--who'd been checking his watch during the call--notes Pablo's not stupid; as usual, he kept the call under three minutes so the government can't trace it. Aurelio in turn remarks that they're just waiting for the Colombian government to finish Pablo off, and mentions the favor he asked. Chacorta asks if he's going to help Pablo out; "What do you think?" replies Aurelio. It's only a matter of time before Pablo gets nailed...once that happens nobody will be able to stop him. And then both the army and the gringos will know who Aurelio Casillas really is. (Action movie cliches: 5, since he's still wielding the booze.)

Back we go to Mexico City, to the office of the Secretaria Nacional del Intelligencia. Inside, a man--I think this is the Mexican Secretary of the Interior--is telling two other men about how the President wants Aurelio found. One of the other men, a shifty-looking guy, notes that so far Aurelio's been impossible to find; El Secretario wants him found RFN. Aurelio is a threat to national security, this comes from the President--apparently with a nudge from the U.S. government, since ES notes they want Aurelio alive. Shifty Guy looks only slightly shifty at that, but it's enough for me.

Remember That Sociopath Thing?: back to Rancho del Casillas, where we see a cocky-looking young man trying and failing to plink tin cans off a stack of rocks with Aurelio and his posse looking on. Aurelio advises him in the fine art of target shooting by having him take a swig of booze and then focusing on the gun as an extension of his arm, but since it's a novela that does the trick and the kid kills a can. Aurelio is all "That's how you do it, with your eyes and your $!#@!", right before he uses a ball to lure over a dog called Muñeco...which he plays with for a few seconds before throwing the ball for Muñeco to fetch. He then tells the kid to shoot the dog. The kid, Heriberto, notes that Muñeco is Rutila's pet; Aurelio knows, since he got it for her. He'll get her another one. Now shoot! Heriberto does, if reluctantly (and looks a little out of sorts afterwards); Aurelio is happy to see the dog is "deader than dead," and advises Heriberto to tell his sister Rutila nothing and to tell Ximena that he'll be back in two days. At least the dog died offscreen, but damn...
 

El Señor de los Cielos (p. 4):

The next time we see Aurelio he's with Chacorta on a plane headed for Mexico City, having a dream about their playing airplanes as kids and staring out over a vast field when he gets awakened by some turbulence. He tells Chacorta to head straight for the airport where Pablo's shipment will be arriving once they land; he'll be waiting for him later at Lucia Salas's apartment. Chacorta is understandably all "Dude, what? You're going into surgery tomorrow--why do a booty call now?", but Aurelio just tells him to make sure the shipment arrives safe and sound; word is the Robles cartel wants to do business with the Colombians.

On that note we then go to what is apparently the Robles compound/estate, where a walking fashion disaster (a man in a white and black tracksuit, sunglasses, cowboy hat, and Adidas sneakers with no socks) and a henchman are being welcomed in by another guy and a handful of armed goons. The man, one Milton "El Cabo" Jimenez, is there to meet with Isidro Robles and his sister Monica; they end up having drinks around a table with Monica (a glammed-up Fernanda Castillo) and Isidro while El Cabo breaks it down. Pablo Escobar's been rather agalludo (stingy) as of late, keeping all the drug product for himself these past few months...but it's only a matter of time before the Colombian government catches up to him, since they've got him cornered, and then he'll be dead. And El Cabo will take his place, which is what prompted his trip to Mexico; he wants to work with los Robles...on one condition. When Monica asks what that condition is, it's El Cabo's henchman who tells her that Aurelio Casillas must be "taken out of the picture." Monica's not exactly happy to hear Aurelio's name, though El Cabo notes that he can provide them with all the cocaine (once?) promised by Pablo...250 tons. Monica's friend is shocked at that figure, though El Cabo remarks that Pablo was always rather generous. Monica excuses herself to go talk to the guy from earlier, Guadelupe, who had been watching the meeting from a distance; he just got off the phone with the director of the SNI, who advised him of the Presidential insistence that Aurelio be taken alive. Monica bahs at that and notes that Triste is already on it; Guadelupe comments that they can't go fighting the people who protect them, and Monica retorts that the only thing protecting them are the millions in bribes they pay. Aurelio Casillas has to die, especially since he's been talking to the Colombians.

This would be just fine if not for the flashback Monica has immediately after saying that to her and Aurelio getting freaky in a barn, where she tells him she loves him and has never loved anybody like she loves him...and will never love anyone else like that. And back in the present--yup, there's the "I don't care what anyone says--Aurelio Casillas' head is mine" card being played. Oh, Telemundo. You just had to get all Trapped in the Closet up in this bitch.

Elsewhere Aurelio and Chacorta have landed, and Chacorta is telling Aurelio to be careful with Lucia--he gets a bad feeling whenever AC Narco goes to see her. AC pffts at that, since Lucia would never betray him, and we all know where that's going so FF>>>

Isidro, meanwhile, is worrying about what he's going to tell the Secretary of the Interior if their plan succeeds. Monica assures him that the worst they'll get is a tantrum; once AC's corpse turns up, the government will be happy because then they can blame them. Guadelupe, meanwhile, gets a phone call from someone; he informs them that Lucia apparently wasn't lying (when she was talking to Triste earlier?) and that AC is on his way to see her.
 

El Señor de los Cielos (p. 5):

On that note we see SAH and Vargas in a red Jeep Cherokee, staking out the front of an apartment building, as a familiar black Suburban pulls up in front...yup, there's AC going in, followed by a few bodyguards. SAH is all "How many months have we been waiting for this?", and Vargas in turn is all "Yeah, that's what Cartagena said before you--and he never caught AC either." Vargas does wonder if they should call for backup, though, and SAH says no; if they do that, someone will just tip AC off and he'll escape. Besides, he knows the Robles clan wants AC dead for jacking some of their trade routes and "overstepping his bounds," on top of some people in the government who also want him dead...which SAH doesn't want. He wants AC to rot in prison, having lost everything. So no, they can't tell anybody. They'll just wait for AC to come back out. (Action movie cliches: 9.) A little later SAH checks in with Interior,

Upstairs at Lucia's, AC is just kicking back on a couch and looking even more El Cazador than earlier as Lucia puts on some crappy sexytime music (lordy be, I would forgive this show all its trespasses if this was Ray Chang's You Still Love Me!) and something vaguely resembling a striptease before getting hot and heavy. Lucia's hair extensions conveniently help hide topless boobage. Meanwhile, remember those bodyguards AC brought with him...most of whom basically secured the main entrance to Lucia's building? Yeah, they're being taken out one by one by some other guys--just as Triste shows up in another Suburban (Sandoval GMC! Mexico City's number one GMC dealer!) and stops long enough to check in with Guadelupe. He then heads into a building across the street with a henchman and a large case.

Part of this is witnessed by SAH, who contacts El Secretario to advise him of the situation. ES insists SAH call for backup, though when SAH admits they already blew that says he'll send some men himself since the President and the American DEA want AC alive. SAH reiterates that folks on both sides of the law want AC dead, but says he'll arrest AC if he can, and con permiso (beep). Afterwards he admits to Vargas that they might not make it out of this, but he's got to try...because AC has to go to prison for killing his father. (Action movie cliches: 11. This one counts double.)

Back at RC we see an older woman and a servant preserving fruits in jars in a kitchen; the older woman natters on a little before Ximena and Rutila wander in. The woman wonders if AC and Chacorta are back yet, and Ximena says no--"your sons had business in the capital," but had sent word for them to prepare for that unspecified trip. They're looking for a medallion Grandma Casillas gave to Rutila for her baptism...oh, and Rutila can't find her dog. Heriberto wanders in on that note and suggests that the dog is off playing in the hills...or just hid because it doesn't want to go with Rutila. Screw you, punk. Ximena then suggests that Grandma C. come with them (Heriberto chimes in too), which she resists; she's not leaving her homeland, not at her age. She gives Rutila some tejocote fruit in a jar for the trip.

Triste and his henchman, meanwhile, have picked out a spot on an upper floor balcony across from Lucia's building. Triste unpacks the case, which of course has an M16 with a scope in it, and locks and loads. And waits.
 

El Señor de los Cielos (p. 6):

SAH and Vargas's vantage point is obscured by a parked bus, so they get out of the Jeep and head for Lucia's building. At the same time AC is all cleaned up and dressed after his frolicking with Lucia, so he gives her a kiss and leaves the apartment...and Lucia makes a beeline for her phone and calls Triste, telling him AC just left. And on the cue the Robles goons we saw earlier go on alert. But wait--did we hear the door open and close again? Yes, because right after Lucia hangs up she turns around to see AC standing there and looking pissed. Lucia's "Oh, shit" face is spectacularly underwhelming, though it gets better as she shifts into sobbing CYA mode; AC asks her how much he was worth to her, and she sniffles nothing--los Robles had threatened to kill her and her family, she swears. AC is not impressed; the worst part, according to him, is her believing that she's a good actress. She's horrible, and he doesn't believe a word she said--in fact, he already knew she had betrayed him. This was his way of saying goodbye. Lucia wonders if he's going to kill her, and though he says no he's still pulling his gun...while Triste, who had earlier been scanning the street for any sign of AC, picks up on him still in the apartment and hurriedly sets up a shot through the scope...which ends up taking Lucia out. So AC ends diving for cover while Triste opens up on the apartment (there goes some drywall), which alerts SAH and Vargas, while a couple of goons head upstairs to Lucia's.

AC makes it to the kitchen...in slo-mo...and calls Chacorta on his cellphone (which he had shut off earlier, over Chacorta's even earlier objections, so he wouldn't be interrupted while getting his freak on). Chacorta, who was already enroute, is all "Run that red light, let's go!" AC, meanwhile, meets up with the one bodyguard who survived the Robles sneak attacks earlier--he was upstairs--who tells him they're surrounded. AC is surprisingly okay with this--"we were born to die"--and, taking the bodyguard's submachinegun, just goes ahead and charges out onto the staircase where three Robles goons are waiting. He takes out two of them without a scratch while the third one flees; the bodyguard gets hit at least twice, but is still alive and exhorts AC to take care of his family while he "holds them off." You're upstairs, moron--who are you holding off? (Action movie cliches: 13.) AC heads down to the ground floor as Chacorta's Suburban pulls up outside, though that remaining goon manages to get the drop on him; this is naturally the perfect time for SAH to run in, yell "Freeze!" and shoot the goon as he turns to draw on him. And that leads to, yup, our first staredown between AC and SAH at gunpoint...which lasts one commercial break before an errant burst of fire from Triste's rifle (he gets into a brief firefight with an AK-47-wielding Chacorta while trying to make his own escape) distracts SAH just enough to haul ass into the SUV and make his escape. Chacorta, thus, is all "I told you, dammit!" and AC laughs it off--if it's your time to go, he says, nothing can save you.

House Robles: Monica, Isidro and Guadelupe aren't happy to hear that AC escaped. Monica is the one who goes all "No excuses!", though Isidro notes that he only barely escaped and his girlfriend didn't. Guadelupe makes the mistake of saying that if you want things done right you have to do them yourself, which Monica says is the smartest thing he's said in years--and so he has to go after AC. Not so smart now, huh. Guadelupe?
 

El Señor de los Cielos (p. 7):

The next time we see them Guadelupe is sucking down some liquid courage, Monica is all dolled up like a Streets of Fire reject (not that Fernanda Castillo isn't rocking the tight pants and boots, but the poofy updo and the studded leather jacket...oh, lord) and Isidro is openly wondering if Guadelupe really wants to go after AC on his own turf. Guadelupe says that it's going to happen at AC's ranch or not at all, and he and Monica head out after Isidro asks Monica to be careful.

AC, meanwhile, heads back to Rancho Casillas and orders the timetable moved up for his family's trip. He then finds Ximena and tells her about the attack earlier--of course, in his version they were just "handling business"--and that, while he wants her and the kids to leave sooner, their passports haven't arrived yet. Ximena notes they could use the passports they used "last time," but AC says no...they need new ones, and Turco's working on that. AC then heads off to see said kids, though not before Ximena asks him if they're in any danger; no, AC lies, they're not.

SAH goes home, where his girl asks him how the operation went; "mal" pretty much sums it up. Girl suggests that he take a shower, she fix some dinner, and he can then tell her why he's obsessed with AC; SAH hasn't got the time, since he has to change for an urgent meeting with El Secretario. And when Girl asks if one day he'll ever confide in her about it, SAH shakes his head behind her back before heading off to change. (Action movie cliches: 14.)

The subsequent meeting with El Secretario, Shifty Guy (I think he's the director of the SNI) and the unidentified man he was with earlier--a general in the Mexican army--goes about as expected. Pablo Escobar has been in contact with AC, and they were able to seize the shipment that Pablo had sent to Mexico City, but they've been unable to trace the calls due to the three-minute rule...AC must be taken alive, blah blah, AC escaped earlier, yadda yadda. ES notes that the President has appointed a special commissioner to deal with "crimes against health," which in this case means AC--yes, General, it was under the auspice of the Secretary of Defense before. Now, it's under the auspice of one Colonel Jimenez Arroyo...yep, Mejia now answers to him. And, look, there's his picture. Shifty Guy continues to be shifty in silence.

RC: Chacorta, real name Victor, plops down on a bed. He's still pissed about the stuff they lost before, mainly because all that bribe money was apparently for naught. The other occupier of the bed, a woman named Matilde (Sara Corrales), wonders why he's upset ("They betrayed us!")...they're not after him, right? They're after his brother--think about it, or rather be distracted by her climbing and smooching all over him...aaaand there they go.

Afterwards Matilde again suggests that, since the government is only looking for AC, Chacorta could take over the whole shebang. Chacorta's not crazy about that--he'll never betray AC--but Matilde is straight jacking the Standard Villana Playbook: hasn't Chacorta been in his brother's shadow long enough? Or is he afraid to run the show? Chacorta's kind of pissed when she gets to that point, and by now Matilde is doing her best Antonia Guerra impression--of course she's not suggesting he do anything to his brother. It's just that he's going into surgery, and lots of folks don't make it out of surgery...and there she goes kissing on her man, who's at least briefly thoughtful about the whole thing.
 

El Señor de los Cielos (p. 8):

AC, meanwhile, is telling Ximena she's got to go and to trust only Turco. He also tells her to remember that she's the love of his life, the mother of his children; Ximena wonders why they never got married, to which AC's reply is "Life tricked us." But, he promises, once he's had his plastic surgery they will indeed get married--until then he's putting her and the kids in danger. On cue here comes lil' Rutila, who still can't find her dog; AC says he'll buy her a better dog once they get to where they're going. You're a prince, El Cazador. AC then goes to see Mom one more time, and she cuts him off before he can ask her to come with his family again--she's not leaving her home, danger be damned--but she gives him her blessing to go.

One commercial break later Chacorta is overseeing the packing of a stockpile of cash. The plan is to stuff as much of it into a truck and take it to a safe house in Cuernavaca; anything the peons can't fit in the truck, they burn (it's better than los Robles getting it when they inevitably attack the place). AC pops up and notes that the Colombians heard about Pablo's shipment being seized earlier, but at this point he doesn't give a damn--he's just getting his family out of harm's way, forget about Pablo Escobar's.

Outside Rancho Casillas Monica and Guadelupe's truckload of goons pulls up in some trees. Guadelupe orders them to cover the exits while Monica is all "Screw this, AC knows we're coming--attack!" And so they move out.

Inside, AC is asking Heriberto if he can count on him to take care of the womenfolk until he catches up to them. Heriberto does a kind of crappy "Yes, you can!" and AC gives him his chromed 9mm pistol that his grandfather gave him when he was 15...which he'd handed off to that one unlucky bodyguard at Lucia Salas's apartment. I guess it found its own way home. Anyway, when Heriberto openly wonders how Dad can be so unafraid, AC admits that he does get scared--especially now, when things are tough. But he can't go with the family, because he's still got a lot to do; Heriberto replies he'll stay with him, but AC nuh-uhs. He needs him to take care of the family, since it's the most precious thing there is; Heriberto needs to understand that, no matter how many women he has in his life, there will be a special one that he'll spend the rest of his life with. Stay classy, Aurelio Casillas.

Shortly after that AC runs into Matilde, who asks him a parting question: does he regret getting involved with Ximena over her? Does he think Chacorta ever forgave him for sleeping with her? (I probably shouldn't be that surprised by this, but damn show. That's two seemingly vengeful bitches after the same guy!) Chacorta pops up right after this, and Matilde coolly says that she was just saying goodbye to AC before heading out; Chacorta looks kind of skeptical, but lets it go.

Back outside Team Robles is still advancing on the ranch. Guadelupe and an antsy Monica are still by the trucks; Monica says they should be hearing stuff going on by now, and Guadelupe advises her to have patience. Instead she has another flashback to that barn boink with AC, where she tells him "Don't you understand that nobody will ever love you like I do?" AC's cheerful response is/was "Not in this lifetime," and back in the present Monica wipes away a couple of tears. "Not in this lifetime" indeed, according to her, because bitch gonna die.
 

El Señor de los Cielos (p. 9):

Guadelupe's attack plan (it might have been the idea ofa henchman named Loco) is simple: a couple of goons sneak up to the ranch's outer wall and onto its walkway, silently take out a couple of guards, and then open the main gate for the rest of the group. This goes without a hitch, which means the attack force breaches the grounds right when AC and Ximena are bonding over a sleeping Rutila in the den and some plinky guitar music, on how AC has to catch up to them so he can walk his little girl down the aisle on her wedding day, dance with her...how can they miss moments like that?

The only reason you don't hear that anvil landing was because there goes a bullet through a door right behind Ximena as the attack begins in earnest.

AC gets Ximena to turn out the lights so they can beat a retreat with Rutila, random slo-mo and all, getting in a kill enroute. They run into Chacorta, Matilde, Heriberto and some henchmen and get the bad news: their guys are putting up resistance, but it likely won't hold out and they need an escape plan. Chacorta suggests a tunnel (of course there's a tunnel) so they can get to AC's planes, and he leads the family folk out while AC and goons make a brief stand in slo-mo to slow down some attackers. (Slo-mo, a couple of quasi-gun-POV shots during earlier gunfights...I kind of hate you right now, episode director.)

The whole group eventually makes it into the tunnel, which apparently leads outside the main grounds, and they haul ass for some trees and a conveniently parked backhoe while being plinked at by both the Robles thugs on the grounds and Monica, Guadelupe, and a couple of their goons that came back to the trucks. For what is supposedly the most expensive novela ever made--the rumored budget is somewhere around $20M USD--the gunfights are kind of lame. Ahem...Chacorta ends up leading the ladies plus Heriberto and Rutila in a mad dash under fire to a safer position while AC and company lay down cover fire, but then Rutila freaks and runs back towards her dad. Which leads to AC running to grab her, in slo-mo...and Guadelupe drawing down on him, in slo-mo...and Monica calling out about el niña! and grabbing his gun hand just as he fires, in slo-mo. And down they go--great, this is in realtime--with Ximena screaming for her daughter and AC noticing a huge blood stain on his shirt. And a matching stain on Rutila's pajamas. And she goes limp in his arms.

And I already want to smack the writers...
 

El Señor de los Cielos:

LOL! Great job Bill. Thank you. Loved you pointing out all the action movie cliches. The fallout from the little one getting shot may determine if I continue watching this tn each day. But it really did get off to an exciting start. It's hard to see how Aurelio's going to get out of this mess.
 

LOS CIELOS-

So I've never watched a narconovela before. Do we ever get a character that we sympathizer with or care about, or will we want to see everyone killed and in prison by the end? So far, only the little girl, the dog, and maybe the actress would be worthy of concern and they're all dead already.

I'm still giving this a chance because it's this or QBA, and as good as Jorge Salinas is, I can't watch him pretend to be young. (Why should he? Aren't men allowed to age?) Plus I don't want to mess with getting a new antenna, so drug dealers it is! Maybe Monica is worth rooting for? She didn't want the girl killed and she did used to be Vivi. Team Los Robles!

Kelly

ps. Thanks for the recap. I got the gist but lordy they talk fast!
 

Cielos
Tk you, tk you, tk you, what a thorough recap. You cleared up a bunch for me.
 

CIELOS:

Great recap, Bill!

Kelly, you can root for Marco (Gabriel Porras), SAH, the good guy! And there may be various other good guys (although some of the cops are usually corrupt).
 

Nice one, Bill - with Golan Globus and a STREETS OF FIRE reference. Those Israeli cousins - G&G - were just on my mind because of a recent release of their 1989 masterpiece ALIEN IN LA - starring SI swimsuit model Kathy Ireland - in the latest MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER box set.

I didn't like the first episode of El Señor very much. I'll give it a week, but to me it seems a major step backwards in the treatment of this type of material after ESCOBAR made narco-novelas a bit more respectable by at least attempting to adhere to some semblance of historical reality (even as names and some events were altered for drama) - and more crucially, always exhibited respect and sympathy for the victims of these criminals.

I have the sneaking suspicion Telemundo changed the name of their central character so they could stray as far from reality as they want, so they could wallow in the sex and violence with impunity.
I believed almost every scene in ESCOBAR, I didn't buy a second of EL SENOR (but that's only after one episode).

It's fair enough to do a straight on fiction about drug traffickers, of course, but I have some qualms about then attaching those violent indulgences to historical figures like Amado Carrillo Fuentes and Escobar, as if to give credence to nonsense.
 

SEÑOR

Muchísimas gracias, Bill, for this immensely helpful and entertaining recap. I don't know how often you'll be able and willing to do this, but please know that your efforts are greatly appreciated!
 

SENOR

Hombre- Haha. I'm so used to the cops in shows being pointless boobs that it didn't occur to me that they might be worth pulling for. Team Cops!

Kelly
 

PASION PROHIBIDA

I'm still watching, but I haven't been able to check in on recaps and comments very often... then when I'm finally able to get to it, I have all these comments to make several days after the fact because I'm so behind schedule, and by then everyone's moved on :)

I do have to say this: Nina still annoys the crap out of me. She's not quite as screechy as she was a while back, but she's still over-animated, overbearing, and silly. That comment deb made about waiting for the "thump" when Nina passes out totally made me laugh! I'm totally team Camila :D

Yair?? Sheesh, he needs to man up.

Chemistry between B and B, still hot, hot, hot!

I sooo miss Made In Cartagena! I really thought the finale would be a lot darker, but I was glad it wasn't... I'm still a sucker for a happy ending!

AnotherAmy
 

PASION PROHIBIDA

I almost forgot! Does anyone else find it hilarious that Bruno has a picture of himself beside his bed?? I didn't notice this until recently.

AnotherAmy
 

Pasion Prohibida - Tuesday

Bruno is alive and well, they had to land in the 'selva' to avoid the storm; he manages to get in touch with Bianca, who is overjoyed that he is well; after she talks to him, she goes and tells everybody else that he is fine, they are all happy, especialy Bianca who doesn't have the power to hold back, anymore.
Bruno finally calls Ariel, too; he is very happy, too, but then, when Bianca calls to tell him about Bruno, he puts her in a conference call and finds out Bruno called Bianca before him!!! Well, tio, I didn't have a signal, Bruno explains.

So it turns out Bruno did want to go back home, the helicopter was supposed to take him to Cancun and from there, a plane to Miami. When he arrives home, he gets the king treatment from everybody, including Bianca, who hugs him in front of the family. Eliana wants to get married and reject the NY offer (so much for being smart for about 10 seconds); but now Bruno backs down.When asked why he had the stupid impulse to leave during a storm, he says he missed Eliana, love makes us do crazy things.

They are all in the living room and while the family is fawning over him, Bruno keeps throwing Bianca these glances; they are both secretly happy to be together again (and with all the mess they were in before he left, it is still a joy to see them). Having a close encounter with death obviously made Bianca change her mind about Bruno, at least for a day.

In the meantime at home with Nico, Penelope finally starts to put two and two together about B&B; especially after Nico tells her Bruno was talking on the phone before he left and he is sure he has another woman, Penelope starts remembering different scenes and I think she will start to watch them, too. But I don't think Penelope is the one to be concerned about right now.

When everyone is finally asleep Bruno goes to bed (after sending Eliana home - how this girl doesn't see the writing on the wall is mind boggling, even the servants realize Bruno doesn't care one bit about his fiancee). He finds Bianca in his room (duh!!!), they start to kiss and enjoy their reunion.

Nina can't sleep, so she goes to Bruno's bedroom; thanks God she knocks, because B&B are in full make out session. Bianca hides behind the curtains, Bruno gets out of the room and quickly gets rid of Nina and then he goes back in the room; and then comes the part I enjoyed the most about this episode: they were almost caught, but they couldn't care less, they pick up from where they left of with the kissing, this time up against the window.

Yair is in the garden, upset because earlier in the night Nina said the kiss they shared only proved them both they are just friends who share a brotherly love (when that scene happened I sooo wanted Yair to chase her up the stairs and give her a good un-brotherly smooch, but this being Yair, he just pouted again). He looks up to Bruno's window and sees some shadows behind the curtain, so he just assumes it must be Nina!!!!

So Nina decided she likes Bruno better, after all, Yair thinks she has something going on with Bruno (and what will he do with this information!!!), Penelope is one more person on B&B's trail (but who isn't at this point?) and now that B&B are sort of together again; are we approching the consumation of their relationship?

 

El Señor de los Cielos:
Thank you dear Bill C. for the great recap you have started for this Novela
honestly I just didn't like the Term"SAH"(Standard Action Hero) you have used for Marco Mejia(GP) , I think it isn't fair you determine such a thing from only one episode(on the other hand , GP has talents upper than standard levels so he can do this character differently during the Novela) with all my respecting , but can you please change the Term for this character to MM or anything else insted of SAH , anyway he is my favorite(Actor-Character) and I think that reading this term seems rather annoying!! , a world of thanks ,....

 

Pasión Prohibida -

thanks so much AdrianaNoel,
(and loved reading everyone's comments yesterday)

and so it's three cheers for Bruno, who was stupid,
(not too dissimilar to an earlier time Ariel brought him home, but he was just drunk then)
and once more Nicolas, who does all of the work, is just a guy in the background,

and Ariel is really laying on the Hijo stuff,
but I don't think Bruno is feeling the guilt, he just wants to see Bianca,

hmm, so Bruno called Bianca first,
and Bianca waits in his room,
and Nina knocks, is this a first,
and what does Yair see, of course he can see only Nina everywhere,
(I wish I had some habanero sauce to squirt in Yair's mouth everytime it gets stuck open)

and wow, Ariel and Eliana are so out of their romance loops that I am starting to see Bianca and Bruno together as the only possible outcome, how did that happen?

 

CIELOS:

If we keep having this many shootouts every day, production is going to run out of bullets! Once again we have both Marco and Vargas on the one hand, and the Robles gang (Guadelupe and henchmen, I think Monica stayed home this time with Isidro), on the other hand, BOTH attacking Aurelio. This time Aurelio was going to get a face change. But we know that can't happen, how could they deprive the female audience of his handsome face? :)

The end result was a little different, due to the getaway ambulance turning over, Chacorta fleeing, and Aurelio (in a sedated fog) being arrested. But we know he won't stay in jail too long, right?

We got to see how evil Matilde (yes, her character is from Colombia) is, as she chided Ximena, your guy has all those affairs, mine (Chacorta) does too, but I get even! (She almost told Ximena she had slept with Aurelio, but stopped). Good girl Ximena said she has lots of lovers: Aurelio the fighter, Aurelio the lover, Aurelio the father...

BTW, didn't we think little Rutila was killed? Nope, she's fine, and Aurelio has some minor flesh wound. So much for that slow motion drama.

Marco trusts the new commander Jimenez Arroyo. But we definitely see the high up guy with the mustache (name?) is bad, as he's on the phone with Mónica.

I've seen the actor who plays Isidro in a bunch of novelas before, he's good at playing a tough guy, since he's very big and menacing. Has more gray hair than the last time I saw him, though.

That guy Cabo, another Colombian, with long, icky sideburns, also looks as if he'll be a fun character to watch.
 

Pasion Prohibida
AdrianaNoel, you nailed it again!
Eliana is so delusional, even told Penelope Bruno was a mujeriego, infiel, and some third bad thing, but Bruno had calmed down since with her. Ha! I think I saw a preview with Bruno marrying Eliana, [well it was the back of her head].
Guessing B&B consummation is soon, maybe last night?, and they decide they need to use Eliana further as cover.
AnotherAmy, welcome back, I think of you often since you helped me out with the "dime" lyric.
Yeah Nina can be annoying, but she had my favorite LOL line last night, after Bruno got back safe: "La familia vuelve a la normalidad." Yeah, right.
Interesting momene for her to decide to knock for a change.
Bruno's bedside pic, so appropriate. Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for that.
right deb, B&B gaining steam.
shallowgal, please hang in!
Clara

 

LA PATRONA:

Julio is indeed dead, and Vero's TV picture of her victims' gallery now has a cute "X" over his face. 4 down, 8 to go. She's not really doing it, must be divine justice.

The new commissioner to investigate things and help out Ricardo (I think his name is Rodrigo?) has arrived, and seems so far to be strong and good, helping to fight the bad guys. Hope Antonia doesn't find some weak point on him.

Antonia's troubles increase, as she needs a really strong tranquilizer from Poncia now (and threatens Poncia if she doesn't stop rubbing it in).

So everybody knows Lagarto is the number one suspect in Julio's murder. They go to Macario's and despite the fact that Gonzalez says to Macario, what do you think I am, an imbecile? He IS, and Lagarto may be able to escape.

But Gertrudis! Looks as if she was trying to cross the border, only to get dumped in nowhere as always happens, and now raped! Poor one eye.
 

PASIóN PROHIBIDA

Nice recap, AdrianaNoel. Thanks again.

I think Bruno said he tried Ariel first but couldn't connect, hence the first call to Bianca. yeah right.

AnotherAmy - the picture on Bruno's side table is of himself and Nina... I've hated that from the start! and now that i'm thinking about it, is that a precursor for the near future?

That Nina was over the top with all her hugging and kissing... really irksome!

Yair looks like an overgrown teenager. in my eyes, he has no redeeming qualities. eck.

Doesn't Bruno's room have a lock? why isn't it ever locked? or why doesn't he automatically lock it when he sees Bianca in there?





 

CIELOS

I'm unlikely to be able to contribute much to the recaps, and I'm most grateful to Bill C. and Hombre for their help. However, since there may be people even less familiar with Spanish than I am, I thought I'd mention that when, in Monday's episode, Aurelio says to his brother "if it's your time to go, he says, nothing can save you," what he says in Spanish is a Spanish dicho that puzzled me a year or so ago when I heard it for the first time. The dicho is "Cuando te toca aunque te quites, cuando no te toca aunque te pongas" [roughly, if it's your turn, you can't avoid it, and if it's not your turn, you can't make it happen]. I've come upon this saying several times, and I'm calling attention it here just in case others found it puzzling.
 

El Señor de los Cielos -

thank you so much Bill C., for your most wonderful recaps!
I do get the action as Aurelio goes from one shootout to another, is this a daily thing for him,
but I'm really missing a lot of the story here and your detailed recaps really get me up to speed,
thanks again,

love your comments as well Hombre,
so why didn't someone throw Matilde out of the plane on the way to Houston,
is there anything good about this girl?

I mostly remember Guillermo Quintanilla (Isidro Robles, Mónica's brother) from "Sin Senos no hay Paraíso", so why is Mónica doing all of the dirty work while he just hangs out?

I didn't really get if Chacorta was planning on offing his brother, was waffling, or they were just teasing us.

I always have lots of questions after watching this one,

I like from the intro where Carmen Villalobos really slugs a guy hard in the face.

 

Oops. I copied and pasted Bill C's wording without removing the "he said" in the middle. I should have pasted "-if it's your time to go,...nothing can save you." [I also hope it's clear that I think Bill C's version of what Aurelio said is very good--I just wanted to call attention to the Spanish dicho.]
 

CIELOS:

Deb, I agree about Matilde. I forgot she offered to have sex with El Turco (tall handsome guy) if he turned Ximena in to Interpol!
 

La Patrona -

thanks Hombre,

I don't know if David is catching on or not, wasn't it Gastón that connected the dots for him, but I liked that he was testing the waters by saying he would eat Antonia's sweets,
but then why didn't he grab some to give to the doctor,

and he surely doesn't like Antonia messing with his girlfriend,
but then again he seems to have that Alejandro thing where he resists her up to a point and then heads off in another direction, allowing her to have her way,

I wasn't too big on letting la Tuerta go because she will just get set up somewhere else, but it seems her Karma is on the case, (where is Lucas), and there always seems to be a couple of bad guys on the trip to America,

interesting that Antonia called the hit on Julio, Lagarto really stepped into that one, and Macario was more helpful than he should have been, he seems to like thwarting the good guys,

it seemed like the wrong time for Ricardo to say he is on board with the sexoligist, but we all know what it took for him to make that move, he really does love Patti so so much...

oh yea, Alejandro, always so intense at getting to the bottom of things,

remember when he took the job at La Chamuca, he was hot on the trail of discovering real ownership of the mine, when as always, Ricardo needed proof, so he was going to look in the safe at home, where incidentally Antonia also keeps the proof she has against Poncia, well I guess he got busy with something else,

I think at least a part of every important piece of information in this story has flown right by this guy at one point or another, it's amazing!

hmm, seems to me like Alejandro's true motive in life is recreating a passion he once shared with a girl called Gabriela,
but, he is so good at almost being there for everyone else.

 

Cielos:

Missed the show last night, but I'm glad to hear the little one didn't die. Thanks Hombre for the overview of the episode.

Juanita- Thanks for highlighting that saying. I've heard it a few times and it's a good one.

La Patrona:

I am more than a week behind watching my recordings, but I'm glad to hear that the lobos continue to take each other out of the game.
 

Pasion Prohibida

AnotherAmy, you should make your comments whenever you get the chance, debate is always good and with so many morally wrong things happening in this TN, there is never a shortage of opinions.

Deb, you would think that spending a night in the 'selva' with wild animals might affect Bruno in some way, but NO! They barely even mentioned how reckless he was, it was more about the reasons he left and oh, how happy was Eliana that Bruno risked his life for her. Geez, she is such an idiot and Ariel is a close number two. How can these two remain so clueless when outsiders like Denise or Penelope are starting to see things for what they are? Eliana, at least feels that something is wrong with Bruno (he doesn't want sex, she told him he is spending to much time with Bianca), but whenever she gets one neuron working, about a hundred other crash and she ends up being his puppet one more time. But how is it that Ariel doesn't feel that something is off with Bianca? They are still having sex, but she is obviously not enjoying it at all. Bruno and Eliana were barely more than a fling when Bruno decided to get over Bianca by getting engaged (he could have chosen anyone, including 'mi abuelita' if Eliana wasn't around), but Bianca and Ariel had a real relationship.
As you said, Deb, it's starting to look like B&B are the sane ones in this picture.

Shallowgal, Bruno definitely needs to lock his room from now on. And so does everybody else since midnight visits are the norm.

Clara, I was gagging all through Eliana&Penelope's talk about Bruno. Penelope really knows him very well, that is obvious whenever she talks about him, but Eliana is such an idiot...she changed him..LOOOOOL
I don't think B&B did more than just kiss, the love making has to be a little more special than this, right?



 

EL SEÑOR DE LOS CIELOS

Wow! I'm really hoping they'll slow down the balaceras and have some more character development. And, yes, Hombre, they surely are rotten marksmen!

Thanks all for the recaps. I've been MIA for a couple of days, and just caught up reading all the great comments. Thanks, Bill C, for the full recap of the first episode.

Yep, Mathilde is definitely Colombian.

Aurelio's accent is interesting to me. Apparently the character is meant to be from Sinaloa, a hotbed of cartel activity. The accent is clipped, almost stereotypical Mexican. I saw Humberto Zurita discussing the accent he used in La Reina del Sur and it sounded similar to me. Zurita said it was a Northern Mexico accent. And, obviously, Rafael Amaya doesn't speak like Aurelio in real life, as those of us who watched Alguien te Mira can attest.

I find it interesting that this production, a co-production with the Colombian network Caracol, is re-cyling several characters from their novelas. Obviously, Pablo Escobar, who is shown at the end of his reign, trying to get his family out of Colombia. But they are also showing a character from El Cartel and El Cartel II. This character is El Cabo whose name in this novela, as well as the earlier two, is actually Milton Jiménez. He was a truly vile individual in those novelas. In this novela, he's shown as conspiring with Los Robles against Aurelio. But they might have hinted last night that he was on the fence about which Mexican cartel to team up with. El Cabo is always about self-interest.
 

LA PATRONA

Thanks, Hombre, for the summary. It's much appreciated!

The new investigator from DF - I always get suspicious when someone swaggers into an office and is supposed to "help". AniMal had just said he'd called a friend in DF to derail Ricardo's investigation, so I'm thinking maybe this new guy is dirty. The musketeers have been on a roll for a few weeks now, so it might be time for some new challenges.

Deb - "Alejandro, always so intense at getting to the bottom of things".... I loved all your comments about our almost hero.

I think David really has taken Gaston and Cecilia's comments about Antonia seriously. He looked very suspicious of Antonia's sweets and was quick to grab the package so Valentina would not eat them. And Antonia, of course, was just as quick to remove the food from the room.

I couldn't tell if Gaston really doesn't get that Francisca is angry with him. He did act like he didn't know what Max meant when Max asked him if Fran is mad at him. But he could just be avoiding the discussion - he's really good at that.

I think I've been giving Antonia too much credit for her evil analytical skills - or maybe she was just off her game last night. She was trying unsuccessfully to figure out who has been causing all the recent trouble for the lobos. Even Julio had figured out that things started to go bad for the lobos after Vero and company arrived in town.

Poor Gert! Robbed and raped. Karma's a b!tch!

And have two months passed since Ale said he would be leaving SPdO? Last night Ale asked Antonia for his money so he can leave town. Maybe I lost something in the translation.

Beth
 

LA PATRONA

I was so delighted to see that the new commissioner that Ricardo summoned is Diego Soldano, who played Dante in Amor Bravío. Up to this point, there wasn't a single male actor in this one that was my bag. Although I recognize that Lucho & Alejandro are good-looking, neither does anything for me. And this is the only novela I'm following now that AB ended. None of those that started this week on any network, including reruns, are my thing, and most especially not Qué Bonito Amor!

Karamy

 

LOS CIELOS

I've already dropped this one, midway through last night's episode. I just don't care, and I dislike most of them, including Ximena, who I imagine is supposed to be a sympathetic character. I guess Mejía is all right but he doesn't seem real to me.

They ought to have fleshed out the characters a bit BEFORE beginning with the interminable gunfights, so that it actually matters to the viewer who lives or dies.

Actually though, they've already succeeded in making me detest Aurelio to the point that I was hoping that the Robles would manage to take him out last night. Of course I know that won't happen any time soon, and therefore realized that there's no point in me watching this one.

Karamy


 

LA PATRONA

Beth, I had the impression that the call Aníbal made to the DF was connected to his previously mentioned plan to start a smear campaign against Ricardo, and not an attempt to derail the investigation from the inside. Plus the avances showed the new commissioner getting quite tough with Antonia.

Karamy
 

El Señor de los Cielos: martes

Yeah, we were really looking forward to this refrito--Aurelio, Chacorta, and company fleeing from Rancho Casillas and the resulting gunfight all over again, including what looked like Rutila being shot. At least Telemundo went for the fakeout, since it turns out Rutila simply fainted; AC indeed took a bullet from Guadelupe's gun. Guadelupe, for his part, yells at Monica for spoiling his shot; Monica fires back that her fight is with AC, not his children, as Chacorta pops up to cover AC as he runs to cover with Rutila instead of shuffling, limping, or just plain passing out from blood loss.

(Should I...yeah. Action movie cliches: 18. The wound and fakeout both count double.)

After that AC's posse goes ahead and make a mad dash towards the airstrip under fire while one henchman stays behind to cover them--and gets a bullet in the leg for his trouble. Monica and Guadelupe hop in a truck with some goons to pursue them, though Guadelupe orders one guy to go grab the wounded henchman for interrogation later. AC, meanwhile, gets Matilde and Ximena and his kids loaded onto a plane as another henchman pops up with the news that they weren't able to get Grandma Casillas out of the ranch--she still didn't want to leave. Chacorta, interestingly, is the one who goes all "How could you leave my mother behind?" and punches the guy. AC sends the family off in the plane, and he and Chacorta head back to the ranch...and about fifteen seconds later Monica and Guadelupe show up, just in time to shoot ineffectually at the departing plane. (19.) But Monica sees AC and Chacorta running off into the night, which makes no sense--why would they go back to the ranch?

Back at Rancho Casillas Grandma C., whose real name is Alba (Lisa Owen), is chillin' in the now darkened kitchen with a photo album, still tinkering with that damn transistor radio, when she hears a gunshot. "It must be them, Heriberto," she says to the album before downing a shot of tequila; she then grabs a nearby shotgun and chambers a round--well, here she is! (Lisa Owen with shotgun >>> Aracely Arambula with shotgun.) She then walks out and pops off a round at two advancing figures, who of course turn out to be AC and Chacorta; her initial blast of "Didn't I say I wasn't leaving?" only lasts until she sees that AC is bleeding, and they hustle her off. (21.)

Outside Monica and Guadelupe have returned and are gathering the troops for a second run into the ranch to nail AC and Chacorta--they know they were headed back there, Guadelupe shouts, so now they can't escape--wait, who just yelled vámonos? Oh, hell, here come AC and company in a speeding Chevy Silverado right through the gate with AC firing two rifles from the bed; they take out a poor ancient Chevy pickup los Robles came in on their way out. (Production screwup--AC starts out with an AK-47 and an M16, but midway through this bit he has two M16s before going back to the one AK. Action movie cliches: 28, and that one's a quintuple!)

Mexico City: Marco is talking to his girl, Eugenia, about his meeting being "terrible" before admitting that he had also been thinking about what she said to him earlier...about his being obsessed with AC. Eugenia notes that she understands--if a criminal had killed her father, she'd hate him like crazy too. That's why he has to keep her separate from his work, Marco says in full Standard Action Hero mode...why he has to protect her from what he does, what he is. Eugenia states it's more than that; he's not just protecting her, he's putting up walls and shutting her out, and that's not okay. Wasn't she a reporter when they first met? He knows she understands the risks she runs.

Yeah, objects SAH, but even if she is brave--and he knows she is--he couldn't ever forgive himself if anything happened to her because of him.
 

El Señor de los Cielos: martes (p. 2)

Eugenia goes for the block when she plays the trust card; she hopes one day he'll let her into "that safe you've got in your heart," and maybe then they'll be a real couple, but until then she'll just be there waiting...supporting him...and loving him. She wins the round when SAH softens just a smidgen and gives her a hug and a gracias. (Action movie cliches: 30.)

A little later SAH mentions to Eugenia the whole thing with Jimenez Arroyo being appointed as the new drug czar, confirming in the process that Shifty Guy is indeed the director of the SNI and that the general we've seen twice now is named Castro. Eugenia suggests that she could investigate Arroyo for him; SAH is good with that, though he admits he did his own checking just to make sure he wasn't dirty--so far, he's clean. But at this point he doesn't want to talk shop any more--he just wants his girl, and she's fine with that.

And this is the first episode with a credit sequence, so we at least have a sense of likely focus: Rafael Amaya, Ximena Herrera, Robinson Diaz (El Cabo the fashion disaster), Raul Mendez (Chacorta) and Gabriel Porras, then everybody else.

Sic Transit Bitch (condensed): Matilde, Ximena, and a sleeping Heriberto and Rutila are at altitude in the plane. Matilde is sipping a drink and complaining about how they could be going to Colombia, where Pablo Escobar could protect them, but no--they're headed for Houston. Houston! (To be fair Houston is often regarded as a pit, but still.) Ximena notes that Pablo's currently the one who needs protection, not that Matilde would realize that since she doesn't read the papers, and that Turco ("the Turk") has everything ready for them in Houston. Matilde laughs that off--she'd rather be protected by a proper capo or so on, not a mere henchman like Turco--before realizing something: hey, she and Ximena could be widows right now. After twenty years, they could finally be on the same level instead of Ximena being la primer dama and Matilde being the bitchy other one...which would still be incorrect since Matilde would have to stop being a bitch, but of course Ximena can't say that...

Matilde continues to needle Ximena by asking her to talk about AC's mistresses; Ximena goes for the block when she asks about all of Chacorta's. Matilde is all "Clever girl, but nah--we've got an agreement: a lover for a lover"; Ximena on the other hand has had to deal with her man's dalliances with models, actresses, queens (WTH?) and even politicians' wives. Surely Ximena hasn't really never "dabbled" in all this time! Ximena matter-of-factly declares that she's had plenty of lovers...there's the passionate one, the one who makes her laugh, the sweet one, the powerful one...and they're all named Aurelio Casillas, her husband. Matilde basically goes "You keep using that word...it doesn't mean what you think it means" since last she knew Ximena and AC never got married. In this country, that makes Ximena the lover--or rather the mistress. Ximena bahs at that--call her lover or even concubine, but in the end she's still the woman AC lives with, the mother of his children, and his partner until death. As much as I want Matilde to get sucked through a window a la Goldfinger I'm more pissed that Ximena is to some degree sympathetic by default here (see also Patricia from Escobar). Matilde winds up by saying that she wishes she could tell Ximena one thing that would wipe the smile off her face...and there's the flashback to AC getting it on with her, complete with kissing his way up her naked thigh and side. Dammit, woman, you're making me hungry for chicken and schadenfreude! But Matilde keeps mum, even when Ximena suggests that she did indeed sleep with AC (at least she knows her man); the doubt she's planted in Ximena's mind makes her all tingly.
 

La Patrona

Well now that a tn that I love, Amor Bravio, has ended, I can get caught up on a tn I like, La Patrona. Doesn't look like Cielos or QBA will be filling the hole left by AB anyway, although I will continue to read the recaps on both and watch them when I can. I'll give Cielos a few more episodes to develop the characters before I make a decision on it.
 

El Señor de los Cielos: martes (p. 3)

The next day they're finally in Houston, apparently at a swanky hotel, and Turco is giving Ximena and Matilde new fake passports and ID in addition to informing them which bank accounts they'll be using. Matilde is more interested in the name on her passport, Estela Hedwich...head witch...sold! And when Ximena takes off to deal with her kids Mrs. Head Witch approaches Turco (his name is Ali) and blatantly asks: do you like me? What would you be willing to do for me? Turco's got a little dignity, since his answer is "If you weren't married to Victor...many things"; not that that fazes Matilde, who goes full villana when she suggests that Turco could turn Ximena and the kids in to Interpol. If he does that, he can spend one night with her...okay, even by Novelandia rules that's one of the most batshit crazy deals I've ever heard.

Which is why, later, Turco gets a sympathy pass when he rejects Matilde's proposal. If AC is dead, he tells her, he's working for Ximena now and he won't mess that up. Matilde's response is about as expected: "Nobody ever says no to me." I guess she's sexual napalm or something for Chacorta.

Back in Mexico City that same day, Monica and Isidro and Guadelupe are having breakfast on the grounds at House Robles. Isidro is all "Why can't we just kill AC, particularly now when he's on the ropes?" and Guadelupe notes that they're trying to locate him. Monica comments that they have faith in Guadelupe's "talent," but they have to wrap this up once and for all so they can seal the deal with the Colombians.

On cue we go to dat ass...ahem...to a woman snoozing in a hotel bedroom. El Cabo wombles in in a bathrobe looking like Ron Jeremy and gives her a peck on the posterior to wake her up, though it takes a few light smacks to get her up and out of the room as his henchman pops in. Said henchman is all "Weren't we supposed to be gone by now?"; obviously Cabo was delayed by dat ass, but he groggily says he'll get in gear. Henchman then wonders out of the blue why Cabo wants to do business with los Robles...wouldn't it be better to work with AC? Okay, who bribed this guy?

Over at the SNI SAH, General Castro, Shifty Guy--whose last name is revealed to be Huerta--and El Secretario are having a morning meeting. They still don't have any concrete information on Escobar, though Huerta notes that they know "special groups" (presumably Los Pepes) are now looking for him in Colombia; it's just a matter of time now. Castro bahs at that--Escobar down there, AC up here...how is SAH going to find him now, especially since he seemingly let him slip through his fingers before? SAH grumbles that he'd have some ideas if he was allowed to "work freely," and at least they kept AC from being killed by Team Robles--who aren't the only ones who want him dead. Jimenez Arroyo himself walks in on the tail end of that, declaring that they can't allow AC's death...but, he admits, if los Robles captured any of AC's men they would have ways of getting them to talk. Uncivilized, but effective, ways. So Arroyo's plan is simple: los Robles is already under surveillance, so following them will lead to AC.
 

El Señor de los Cielos: martes (p. 4)

And on that cue...hey, it's that one AC henchman who was shot in the leg last night. Guadelupe has apparently been tenderizing his face with his fists in a warehouse for a while, with Monica and some goons in attendance, since it now looks like flank steak--he claims he's not into torturing "colleagues" (about five seconds after saying he wants to kill the guy), and asks him to talk. And the punching bag manages to get out that AC is going to have surgery to change his face; Guadelupe initially doesn't believe him, but when he reiterates it--AC's doing it to avoid recognition--it apparently sinks in. Monica later refers to the magazine cover with AC's face on it, and Guadelupe and some guys head out presumably to intercept him.

SAH and Vargas are keeping an eye on House Robles from their Jeep Cherokee at the time, so after SAH mentions that Colonel Arroyo seems to be a decent guy who's after the same goal as him--AC behind bars, preferably American bars--they see Guadelupe's team heading out. Naturally they follow them.

Meanwhile, AC and Chacorta and friends are holed up in some sort of rather snazzy safe house. AC himself is rocking a small bandage on his side and on the phone to Pablo, apparently explaining that the seizure of the shipment Pablo sent wasn't his fault. Pablo is all "Forget it, you've got to get my family out of Colombia," and AC notes that it'll be hard since los Robles just attacked his family last night...but he'll still give him a hand (and the lie detector goes bzzt). Pablo gets in a "move it!" before hanging up, and Chacorta wonders if Pablo thinks they betrayed him. AC says he can think whatever he wants--he's "more dead than alive" now--but seeing how Pablo can't even go outside with all his wealth and power, no, AC doesn't want to end up like that. And that's why he has to change his face.

Shortly after that Chacorta meets with the unnamed doctor at his office, inside what is apparently a large clinic or a small hospital, after a flashback to Matilde telling him that people don't make it out of surgery. He informs the doctor that they're in his hands...but, since they paid him well for this, he'll dance to their tune--even if the dance is a quebradita--and his life is on the line, yadda yadda. This is followed by Chacorta apparently visiting some guy named Martin--if he appeared in the first episode I completely missed him--and threatening the hell out of him for changing his mind about something which is never explained. (Was he responsible for Pablo's shipment being seized? I got nothin'.)

We next see AC himself telling the doc to forgive Chacorta--he's nervous--before asking him to do his best work turning him into face number 7. Chacorta comes in on the tail end of this and informs AC that the news is apparently reporting they're both dead--AC at Lucia Salas' apartment, Chacorta when his ranch was burned down...AC pffts at that. They're reporting gossip on orders from the government, figuring it'll become true one way or another. Chacorta then asks him a weighty question: after everything that's happened or about to, including the surgery...was it all worth it, worth all the blood? AC's answer is also a question: what would Chacorta prefer, to break his back for mere pesos and dealing with people who make you feel small? Not him, not even if he was born again.
 

El Señor de los Cielos: martes (p. 5)

Hard Boiled on $1.93: so Guadelupe's team shows up at the clinic, which is curiously empty, and most of them head upstairs while a couple watch the ground floor and rear entrance. At the same time elsewhere in the building an unconscious AC is being wheeled around on a gurney by Chacorta, some goons, and a couple of nurses; they finally bring him into an operating room.

SAH, Vargas, and a couple of extras show up shortly after Guadelupe's crew does. Noticing that Team Robles is on the scene SAH checks in with Arroyo, who explains that both Huerta and the Secretary of Defense had advised to wait...wait for AC to get whacked, of course. Arroyo's not down with that, though, so he goes ahead and orders SAH to move in and capture AC. That makes SAH's day, though since Huerta eavesdropped on Arroyo's end of the conversation he's really not happy. So he officially gets his evil on by getting on the phone and calling Monica, advising her that this time they have to get AC--both the new anti-drug commissioner and the President want him alive, and that would be bad for "all of us."

Chacorta and a groggy, drugged-up AC have a vaguely tender "I trust you, bro...I love you, sangre de mi sangre" moment in the operating room. Chacorta looking kind of skittish during the whole thing telegraphs the next thing he does, which is threaten the doctor outside the operating room with a gun. AC's going to be asleep for a long time, he growls; if he needs more anesthesia the doc will give it to him, period. Gee, thanks, Mrs. Hedwich.

Back outside Vargas tells SAH that if his father had had as much support as he does he might still be alive today. SAH thanks him for supporting both him and Dad, and he and his posse set off for the clinic.

AC is being put under anesthesia at this point, and as he drifts off (while counting backwards in classic distorted TV-movie style) he has a series of flashbacks to, in order, he and Ximena and a baby (I'm guessing Rutila on general principle); the near-miss with Rutila outside the ranch; Chacorta shooting an unidentified man in the head; the barn boink with Monica; some sort of party with him, a beardless Pablo, some drugs and at least half a dozen women; and finally him and Chacorta, first as kids and then adults apparently carrying large blocks of some sort. AC then tries to get up for some reason, but obviously doesn't even make it off the gurney.

This is where a lookout posted earlier by Chacorta gets taken out by Guadelupe. He deserved a kill after running around and checking multiple empty rooms. At the same time SAH, Vargas, and an extra sneak into the clinic and, avoiding some goons, make it up to the third floor and get the jump on three more--but only take out one (by SAH, naturally) while the other two pin them down with superior fire. This comes off substantially better than the last couple of gunfights on this show, though we're still a ways off from Walker, Texas Ranger.

Monica and Isidro briefly talk about this...no, there's been no word yet from Guadelupe...oh, forget it. FF>>

Guadelupe and his escorts hear that dustup, but stick to their goal--they have to find AC. So they make a beeline for the operating room on the floor they're on, which indeed has some nurses and a man on a gurney...and Guadelupe puts three rounds into the man's chest. That "mission accomplished" feeling lasts an entire commercial break before Guadelupe checks the guy--his eyes were covered and he had an anesthesia mask on, after all. And Guadelupe freaks when he realizes that, no, it's not AC. (Vaya con Dios, Martincito. Action movie cliches: 31.)
 

EL SEÑOR DE LOS CIELOS

Ok. After not quite two episodes -- the only way this is going to be even remotely interesting to me is if this is the end, they all get arrested or killed and then we flash back to the beginning, before everyone got so rotten.

And even then ...
 

El Señor de los Cielos: martes (p. 6)

SAH sends Vargas off to call for backup (and Vargas gets a kill of his own), but when Guadelupe and his escorts charge in on their position SAH and his remaining sidekick Luciano beat a hasty retreat. This coincides with AC being hustled down the rear exterior stairway by Chacorta and some goons, and while I'm trying to figure out the logic (Martin must have been a red herring, and sacrificing the lookouts was apparently their early warning system) they're creeping up on a parked ambulance and seeing one of the guards Guadelupe left there. Yeah, he's dead shortly after that...but his two friends get some payback by taking out one of Chacorta's men. But Chacorta, the remaining henchman, and AC all make their getaway in the ambulance with Guadelupe's men in pursuit--and, a minute or so later, SAH in his Jeep trying to catch up to them.

Up in Houston Ximena is telling a bored Rutila that she can't go outside for a walk--it's too soon, and Turco is trying to find them a nice cabin in the woods...just like Snow White. Rutila wonders if that's because someone is trying to kill them. Ximena is suitably impactada, but that doesn't really save this from FF>>>

So we get an actual chase scene, complete with Chacorta firing out the passenger window of the ambulance before ducking into the back and yelling "Aurelio!" while holding his gun to AC's head...and nothing else. AC, meanwhile, has a still-doped-up flashback to him and Chacorta as kids with a man--presumably their father--pleading with one Don Cleto for a job. And Don Cleto (look, it's Tigre from La Patrona!) tells him that sure, he can move weed for him...but it's a road with no end for him, for his children, and for their children. Damn, man. We at least get AC mumbling mis hijos! out of this, which is probably the most interesting thing in the chase up until the driver fails on a turn and tips the ambulance over. AC all but falls out of the back, but is still all buzzed out; Chacorta manages to climb out and finally take out Guadelupe's men, but he still can't bring himself to actually shoot AC. Point his gun at him, sure--though when SAH finally shows up on the scene, Chacorta finally gives up and runs for it with a parting perdóname. And SAH ends up standing triumphant over AC, proclaiming that at last he's got him...
 

EL SEÑOR

Thanks, Bill. Your recaps are a riot.

NovelaMaven, I'm pretty sure that IS where we're going. That they're going back in time to show how Aurelio became the head of a cartel. I'm pretty fed up with the gun battles also.

When they were doing the promos on this novela, they showed Rafael Amaya working some kind of crops, wiping the sweat from his brow. So I'm expecting a lot of back story soon.
 

CIELOS

Bill C., MANY THANKS for another terrific recap. I wish I weren't so dependent on them, but I'm thankful to be dependent rather than totally confused.

So far, these recaps are far and away the best thing about this telenovela. I'm surprised and disappointed. The only other narcotraficante novela I've seen is "La Reina del Sur." I realize that it's not fair to expect "El Señor" to be another "Reina," but I had hoped the difference in quality wouldn't be so dramatic. Indeed, thus far "El Señor" is considerably worse than any other telenovela I've seen on Telemundo. But since I do want to watch a novela from the start, and the trailers for "Qué Bonita Amor" were, um, unimpressive, I guess I'll stay with "El Señor." And it may get better. ¡Ojalá!
 

CIELOS

I know that some people are unable to get Telemundo on their televisions. I just thought I'd point out that Telemundo puts up the full episodes on their website the day after the episode is shown on TV. Moreover, the web version includes the possibility of English or Spanish subtitles. There's a little CC box at the bottom right of the episode screen, to the left of the information symbol. Clicking on that box will let you pick subtitles.
 

El Señor

Thanks, Bill, for posting that about Don Cleto, shown in the flashback to Aurelio's childhood. I thought I recognized the actor, and it was driving me crazy.

It is Tigre Suárez from La Patrona, brought back from the dead and converted from a noble miner to an evil narco!
 

CIELOS

So for those of you who also watched Pablo Escobar, did that character sound the same as the one in this show? Kind of like a bear, if it could suddenly talk after waking up from a long hibernation.

I think I'm more interested in the accents than the story for now. Not so much the bear one, but this Sinaloan/northern Mexico clipped accent. I hear Tijuana accents and it's not quite the same.

It's something else to think about when a bunch of people are getting shot. Wonder if they have to recycle the extras.

Kelly
 

PASION PROHIBIDA WEDNESDAY

When you think everything is a mess already, someting even worse happens and things get even messier...

After seeing something in Bruno's room and immediately asumming it is Nina kissing her cousin, Yair wakes up with a bad temper; he screams at Celeste and Camila, fights with Salo etc. He has a first confrontation with Bruno, but he doesn't say much, he is just upset that Bruno would ask him to bring his car. He treats Nina badly, too, but she kind of deserves it for leading him on, I guess.

Bianca is at the gym, Penelope asked to see her, so they can talk; Flavia is also there, so Penelope decides they can talk after the workout. And they spend the entire episode doing pushups and drinking orange juice (oh,the rich!)

Bruno goes to the office, he gives a press conference, where he is asked why he left that night. Of course he doesn't talk about the actual reason (Bianca), but later, after Nico tells Ariel he was talking with a woman on the phone and the uncle confronts him, Bruno has to lie: no, he is not seeing any other woman except for Eliana.

At the gym, Bianca receives a call from Bruno; he is worried that Nina might suspect they were together in his room the other night; also, his uncle asked him if he had another women. Bianca can't really talk with Penelope looking at her like a vulture, she makes up some excuse about Bruno needing her to buy Nina a present.

After he leaves the office Bruno goes home and gets into it with Yair again; this time Yair blurts out that he saw 'them' kissing; Bruno is scared silly, calls Bianca, tells her Yair knows about them. She is pretty shaken, too, but Penelope is still around (more and more suspicious with all these calls) so she tries to cover.

Eventually Bruno and Yair get into a full blown fight, Yair demands to know how could Bruno take advantage of 'her' innocence (Bruno's face is priceless here, Bianca-innocent?), what would Ariel say...Finally, just as Bruno is about to p!ss himself, Yair mentions Nina. Realizing the confusion, Bruno says they were only hugging - Yair doesn't buy it, but somehow decides not to tell Ariel anything.
Relieved their secret is safe, Bruno sends Bianca a text, telling her about Yair's confusion. But they are everyday closer to being discovered, so maybe he should spend a few days with Eliana.

Still upset, Yair leaves the house, has a walk and kind of decides to join the Navy....another one who wants to leave the house hahhaha....

The news about Yair's mistake comes just in time for Bianca to relax enough for the next assault on their 'poorly kept' secret - Penelope tells her Nico heard Bruno speak with a woman in Merida, a woman that was not Eliana; could it be Bianca, by any chance???

And you would think that Yair almost catching them and Penelope asking Bianca upfront about her relationship with Bruno were the biggest close calls for B&B.

But, NO, because when they were planning to escape together, take a chance on love, ride the waves of passion and whatnot, Bianca actually took money from the joined account - so Ariel finds the information stating that his wife withdrew 100.000 Dollars from their account and put it back 2 days later...So much for managing to live without Ariel's money...Bianca was planning to fund their escape with it!!! That is so gross and despicable, all the rest pales in comparison.


 

CIELOS:

I know Bill will probably do a full recap, but here are just a few things that caught my eye:

Aurelio's in jail, and Chacorta goes to visit his Mommy. He tries to justify that he didn't really "abandon" her favorite son, he acted so Aurelio is still alive. Right. Don Cleto's there, too, but doesn't seem too enthusiastic about Chacorta running things.

And how's Chacorta's lovely bride Matilde doing? Well, in Houston, she picks up a random guy in a bar, has sex with him, and when it's over, she just wants to borrow his (brick-sized, this is the 90's) cellphone. When she returns to where Ximena was, they have their usual spat. But guess what? With Aurelio and jail and Chacorta sort of missing, Ximena is now the Patrona! And she cuts off Matilde's money. Hah!

With both Huerta, the head of intelligence, and that General, both seemingly corrupt, what are the chances that Aurelio will really have to stay in prison? Marco wants him transferred to the US, but that's a pipe dream for now.

But jail isn't enough for those Robles. Monica goes to Aurelio's cell for a "conjugal" visit, wants him to go away with her, but no, he loves Ximena more. Drat! Guadalupe plans to 1)have Aurelio killed in prison by some big animal guy, and 2) have his family killed in a car bomb in Houston. At the end of the show, both were JUST about to happen (love those cliffhangers)!


 

LA PATRONA:

Our new guy Rodrigo, special commissioner, looks very promising, standing up to Antonia when she's harassing Valentina in the jail. He's supposedly "incorruptible". He's been interviewing everyone, and this being your typical crazy novela, he can hardly believe all the intertwining relationships that we've come to expect in a show like this. At the end of the episode, he goes to interview Veronica, and damn, doesn't she look JUST LIKE that Gabriela Suarez in the picture they gave him!

Ricardo has his first meeting with Ines the sexologist. So far it's just talk, and is going well. I'm predicting Ines tries to teach Ricky some "special exercises", involving HER.

Antonia couldn't convince Alejandro to stay. Vero couldn't convince him to stay. But he has to, anyway, since Rodrigo needs him for the investigation!

Clueless Gaston finally realizes Francisca is jealous. But no, he tells Vero, I couldn't go for Fran, Tigre was my buddy. Vero tells him Tigre would approve.

Anibal tries to have Ricardo removed by going to some higher ups. But they won't give him the time of day.

Lagarto sets fire to Macario's stables or ranch. Macario knows who did it, and tells Gonzalez. So, says Gonzales, are you two accomplices?

Pretty much everyone is standing up to Antonia these days, including Poncia, Alejandro, Valentina, David, Ricardo, Anibal, even Cecelia. What's a patrona to do?!
 

Pasión Prohibida -

thanks so much AdrianaNoel,
I think you covered this one very nicely,

anchors aweigh for Yair,
and what about that cough,

interesting the ladies (Flavia, Penelope, Francisca) chatting about Bruno's marriage, with tea, as if they should be the ones that decide, and Denis, of the lower class, asking if she could join them,

and isn't the Bruno/Bianca alliance becoming quite detestable, should we say,
always with the lies and deceptions,

Nicolas stating the simple facts about Bruno's phonecall, and Bruno implying he is an idiot,
Bruno swearing to Ariel, there is no other woman,
when Yair first gets snotty, Bruno calls him an employee, do what you are told,
Bianca making up a story about shopping for Nina, trying to hide her phone conversations with Bruno,

and oh the "looks" from everyone in this episode,

Penelope with her intense searching look,
Bianca with her "hey, I'm innocent look"
and when there eyes meet, the "everything is fine" smile,

but when Penelope asked Bianca if she was the "other" woman,
the look on Bianca's face, wow,
Bianca, so smug, always thinks she is so smart, she really didn't see that one coming at all, did she.

 

La Patrona -

thanks so much Hombre,

this new commissioner seems too good to be true, and with all the power to back him up, but he seems to be zeroing on Veronica's band, rather than the Lobos, this could really backfire,

I don't know about this sexologist thingy,
pretty nice setup for just one patient,
and she really couldn't undo one more button on her blouse,
and still be decent,

is Alejandro even looking for a donor for Lucia,
or was that too tough for him and he has moved on,
but he is always ready to wrap his arms around Gabriela,
and forget about everything else,

so Valentina escapes the hospital,
but now she is home in Antonia's clutches,
what did the doc tell Antonia about her poisoning, and did David overhear,

and Macario's fire,
bad guys blaming bad guys never seems to get very good results,
(he seems to be forgetting the part where money talks),
and Lucas is always so unhelpful,
so Lagarto is still in town,

and la Tuerta is suntanning on an oceanless beach in the middle of nowhere.

 

El Señor de los Cielos -

thanks for the comments Hombre,

good bye Pablo,
again,

so "Aurelio's in jail",
is that a toaster oven, a tv, refrigerator, and a pretty lady with a bottle of wine,

and his mom, with the pump shotgun, love it,
so beverly hillbillies,
is it time to overload the truck and head for LA,

mrs. Matilde must be pretty good with the recreational sex,
because she isn't much when it comes to being human,
did she tip the Robles,

good to see Heriberto getting his gun ready,
he is taking his job as man of the house seriously,
but will it help,

and what is the Robles philosophy,
if it moves, kill it?

but not to worry,
sheriff Mejía is in town.

 

This comment has been removed by the author.
 

LA PATRONA:

Thanks Hombre. I finally caught up on the episodes last night.

Nice to see Dante from Amor Bravio show up looking equally sexy and exactly the same (down to his rosary necklace), as Rodrigo the investigator. Ay papi!

Deb- ITA that his investigation seems to be pointing more towards Gabi/Vero and her posse, than Antonia and her gang. Unbelievable, but true. This could be very bad for them.

I had some respect for the doctor treating Valentina, until he released her back into the home where she was fed prior to admittance, AFTER he confirms she was poisoned. QTH!!!

I have given up on Ale being anything but cute and ineffective. Most useless galan, ever!


 

LA PATRONA

Thanks, Hombre, for taking up the slack on the mini-caps. I hope to do one tonight. It's been a tough week for me.

Vivi, we must have the same taste in telenovela males. I had not seen the Rodrigo actor before, but zowie. What a cutie!

I absolutely LOVED it that Lagarto burned down Macario's hacienda. He was so puffed up with pride in what he got from his ill-gotten gains. And the peons that he abused didn't lift a finger to help him put out the fire!

Hmmmm. Maybe I'm naïve but I believe the sex therapist doesn't have her eye on Ricardo and is only doing non-contact sex therapy.

Vivi, you are so right that it's unbelievable that Valentina is back in the house of horrors. I thought David did overhear the doctor talk about poisoning.

Plus, David certainly tested Guerra by threatening to eat the muffins, or whatever they were, in the hospital. And, if he were suspicious and didn't want Val to eat them because of what Max said, surely he connected the dots when Guerra wouldn't let HIM eat them!
 

LA PATRONA

hello everyone. not really watching this, but I just happened to skim through recap/comments, and apparently there's new eye-candy. So I guess I'll check it out again.

I stopped watching cuz like you Vivi in DC, Ale is not the galan of my fantasies; he's gotta have more than just physical beauty.
 

Cielos

Thanks very much, Hombre, for your helpful summary. I'm hoping that the avances were playing with us again, as they did when it looked as if Aurelio's daughter was shot. But this time, it looks pretty grim, at least as far as Aurelio's family is concerned. The odds didn't look to be in Aurelio's favor, either, but surely he's not going to get killed off so soon.
 

PP

Not sure if AdrianaNoel will want me to recap the capitulos on thursdays. I will need an answer.....
 

LA PATRONA

Thanks again, Hombre for the mini-cap. Overall, not a good night for the lobos. I did love that Lagarto stuck it to Macario where it hurts the most.

Karamy - it looks like you were right about the call Aníbal made to the DF. I thought Anibal did not want to smear Ricardo because it would reflect badly on A's presidential campaign. But, he and Antonia are getting increasingly more impatient with Ricardo's threats to investigate.

We didn't hear what the doc told Antonia about the poison he suspects Val had ingested, but I'm pretty sure David did hear. It looked like he was close enough to them to catch everything they said.

And Cecilia and David keeping the bed warm while Val snuck out to visit Max in jail - is this going to be the requisite unplanned TN pregnancy?

I hope that wasn't the end of One-Eye - dried up and lost in the desert. Maybe the border patrol will snag her....

I so enjoyed watching Antonia's frustration in dealing with the adolescent lovers, and both David and Val telling her to not talk bad to their novios.

Beth
 

LA PATRONA

Thanks again, Hombre for the mini-cap. Overall, not a good night for the lobos. I did love that Lagarto stuck it to Macario where it hurts the most.

Karamy - it looks like you were right about the call Aníbal made to the DF. I thought Anibal did not want to smear Ricardo because it would reflect badly on A's presidential campaign. But, he and Antonia are getting increasingly more impatient with Ricardo's threats to investigate.

We didn't hear what the doc told Antonia about the poison he suspects Val had ingested, but I'm pretty sure David did hear. It looked like he was close enough to them to catch everything they said.

And Cecilia and David keeping the bed warm while Val snuck out to visit Max in jail - is this going to be the requisite unplanned TN pregnancy?

I hope that wasn't the end of One-Eye - dried up and lost in the desert. Maybe the border patrol will snag her....

I so enjoyed watching Antonia's frustration in dealing with the adolescent lovers, and both David and Val telling her to not talk bad to their novios.

Beth
 

Sorry about the double post. I'm having a real problem with robot man today!

Beth
 

LA PATRONA:

Beth- If I were Valentina, one reason I would want to leave that hospital room is bacause David and Ceci had just done the deed in my bed. Eeeeeww! I saw no condoms in sight, and I doubt David came prepared. Tsk, tsk...
 

La Patrona:

It seems with the amount of gasoline being sloshed onto the walls & everywhere by Lizard, wouldn't they have been able to smell this long before the fire started? It looked as though they were right near the gas-soaked walls carrying on a discussion, oblivious to what was coming.

Kathleen

PS. I've so enjoyed reading all the recaps and comments on this blog! Finally got caught up to the current episode so that I could comment on these shows.

 

Like the White Rabbit, I'm late, I'm late...

El Señor de los Cielos: miércoles, or

Narcoducken

Aurelio Casillas has been captured by Marco Mejia, mainly since everybody who could stop him is dead. Except for Chacorta, who's still running to safety--albeit with a brief pause to go "Bro, you always did what you wanted!"--and Guadelupe, who pulls up down the street with Triste and one goon just as a heavily armed police unit shows up. Guadelupe has no problem with taking them on to kill AC, except that Triste notes they're basically on their own; they lost too many men in the attack on the clinic in the last episode. So, instead, they bail and Guadelupe reports the news to Monica and Isidro by phone; Monica isn't entirely unhappy about that.

At about the same time the news of AC's arrest makes it back to the SNI, and Huerta is the one who reports it to General Castro. Huerta is bitching about how Arroyo is playing the hero, and wants to talk to Mejia; Castro shows his evil colors by talking him down--Marco answers to Arroyo now, and everybody's being watched. They need to be patient and careful when they deal with him.

So AC is unceremoniously stuffed into a police van and carted off by Marco (after he delivers the Standard Action Hero line about how he'll pay for all the bad things he's done, of course--Gabriel Porras rocking the late 80s/early 90s hard-boiled cop thing in Spanish might be the best thing about these early episodes, apart from perhaps Fernanda Castillo's leg porn) and company, and that's where he flashes back to Chacorta saying he'll take care of him at the clinic and drawing down on him by the ambulance. AC then is all druggy "How could you betray me, hermano?" and SAH is even more standard than usual as he retorts that AC's alive and headed to his final home where he'll pay, blah blah blah.

Hell Hath No Fury, Part 1: In Houston Turco breaks the news to Ximena and Matilde--apparently Chacorta himself called him after making a successful escape. Ximena wonders why Chacorta escaped and AC didn't, which is Matilde's cue to go all "What are you implying, bitch? My husband's not a traitor!" (Technically true, but still.) Ximena tells her that wasn't what she meant and to watch herself, which naturally just gives Matilde cause to call Ximena a bitch, and we don't even get a slap out of it before Turco breaks it all up.

Turco notes that thanks to this Chacorta's in more danger than AC is; Ximena thus is all "We shouldn't fight about this." Matilde naturally is all "Screw that, I know what you're thinking--just give me some money and I'm gone, because I can't stand to be near this broad"; Ximena notes that the money won't do her any good as long as her husband is in jail, and Matilde once again retorts that they're not married. Ximena bahs at Matilde holding on to her frustrations even now; Matilde whines about what she left behind in Colombia to follow Chacorta, and Ximena is all "Girl, please, don't even try to pretend to be a lady." Matilde in turn reminds her that she knows where Ximena and AC came from, and almost tells Ximena that she slept with AC--but, no, she's "always supported" him and his brother Victor. Everything they do is for AC, and Ximena should be grateful.
 

El Señor de los Cielos: miércoles (p. 2)

Ximena finally goes the hell with it--no more money for Matilde. Way to antagonize the woman holding the purse strings, Matilde--and Turco confirms the purse string bit to her face, since it was on AC's say-so. And so Matilde breaks out the dreaded te vas a arrepentir ("You'll regret this") before heading out. That night we next see Matilde having drinks in the hotel bar with some random guy, bitching about Ximena the bitch and how she's going to just take care of number one; the guy inevitably asks if they can go have dinner somewhere more comfortable, and there goes the Head Witch again: "You know what I need? I need you to do something for me..."

Matilde ends up banging the guy--apparently in a stairwell--in exchange for having her new friend make a call for her on his cellphone and telling whomever it is exactly what she whispers into his ear. She then makes it back to her and Ximena's hotel room, waking Ximena up in the process, and grabs a suitcase and bolts--she's not staying with her any more, she won't be ordered around, bitchity bitch bitch. Unfortunately, the door does not hit her in the ass on the way out.

SAH and Vargas meanwhile take AC to prison, which looks like a U.S. Army boot camp with barbed wire (and suddenly the comments about AC not being given preferential treatment make sense), and check him in. AC briefly resists due to a flashback to his telling Chacorta that, if he ever gets caught by the fuzz, not to let them take him--Chacorta needs to take him out, or else AC'll think he betrayed him. Okaaaay.

Guadelupe and Monica meet with Huerta at the warehouse they were interrogating that one AC henchman in; Guadelupe is all "WTF, man! You sent cops after our men--after me?" We'll just FF through this, since the real point of it other than reinforcing that Guadelupe's manic is for Huerta to inform them about Marco Mejia, his Army and DEA connections, and the supposedly temporary authority change over the anti-drug crusade. Huerta reminds me of Julio Montemar from La Patrona, complete with the desire to see him get shot.

SAH, meanwhile, goes to see a sobered-up AC in the prison infirmary. SAH wonders if AC feels any remorse for the things he's done, the people he's killed; AC laughs that off, since SAH is part of it. Does a cop have any dignity if he's bribed? SAH is pleasantly surprised by AC's moralist quip, though he goes straight from that to the obligatory "Do you know how many people have died because of the drugs you sold?" bit. AC in turn wonders how many people die from guns, from hunger and poverty, and bahs--dude hasn't been to confession since he was twelve, and he's not going to start confessing now.

That's SAH's cue to hold a scalpel to AC's throat--the dead don't talk to anybody, he growls, but AC already knew that from way back when he started in the business. When he did things his bosses wouldn't do, like deal with a DEA agent who had infiltrated the organization of one Gato Montero...an agent named Eduardo Cartagena, who they tortured for information before killing (and so we get an extended version of the flashback from the previous episode, which I had wrong--it was actually AC that shot him in the head). Yup, Eduardo Cartagena was his father. AC basically dares SAH to go ahead and kill him, but SAH pulls the scalpel away--oh, he's tempted, but he won't do it. He wants to see AC in prison, with no privileges and no family and not even a shadow of what he was...and on that note he bails.
 

El Señor de los Cielos: miércoles (p. 3)

We next see AC in a studio apartment with a TV, toaster oven, radio, and refrigerator talking to the landlord...er, wait, it's a prison cell and that's the warden. How the hell did they get all that into his cell that fast? The warden is telling AC that he's all set for perks as long as he conforms to the prison's schedules and such; AC's fine with that, as long as the warden keeps SAH away from him. The warden notes that'd be hard, since SAH is apparently handling AC's case himself, and by extension he has to keep his distance from AC to protect both of them.

A bit later we see SAH getting an attaboy from Arroyo for bringing AC in, which includes Arroyo officially naming him his deputy. SAH notes that he'd prefer staying in the field, since getting AC doesn't mean they destroyed his organization and Chacorta's still out there; Arroyo comments that Chacorta's not smart enough to run the cartel, and when SAH retorts that now's the time to go after him and finish the cartel off says that he's got people working on it. SAH goes all Luke Skywalker "But AC has to pay by being extradited--by spending his life in a prison where he won't be killed and will paaaaaaay!", and Arroyo actually pulls off a halfway decent Obi-Wan as he urges SAH to not let his hate for AC destroy him; they'll have more people to go after, and he needs to have that same motivation for them.

Medellin, Colombia: Pablo is the last one to find out about AC's arrest via a henchman...yeah, he really needed this now, though he openly wonders if AC lost his mind trying to have surgery done. If hypocrisy was a thing, a smart bomb would have destroyed the building he was in immediately after saying that. Anyway, Pablo wants AC broken out of prison ASAP since he's the only one who can help get his family out of Colombia, though the henchman notes that it could be a problem since things are weird with Pablo in hiding--folks are jockeying for power, most notably "Cadena's people" (the second link to El Cartel, it appears, since there was a Pepe Cadena in that show). Apparently they've been talking to El Cabo and someone named Marquez, who might be the guy we've seen Cabo with. Pablo orders the henchman to find someone in the prison where AC is who can help them.

Back in Mexico City Cabo and Marquez talk shop over dinner brought in by a ridiculously hot extra, which is pretty much "If los Robles keep mum we'll go ahead and deal with AC...he'll come to us if Pablo goes down anyway." They agree to play both sides against the middle before Marquez gets a phone call from "Don Oscar" (Cadena?), who apparently just found out where Pablo is holed up. That means Cabo probably should look for AC to strike a deal with him.

Houston: Ximena's tucking Rutila into bed with a song when Rutila asks if what she overheard her Tia Matilde saying earlier about Dad not being Mom's husband was true. Ximena says it is, but says that he's much more than that...is it important to Rutila? Yup, Rutila chirps, because she wants them to have a fairy-tale wedding--whoa, watch that anvil, people!--and Ximena happily tells her that her dad promised that they would one day. Even without seeing the promos for the back half of this week's episodes, that just...damn.

Over at House Robles los Robles are having a powwow about AC. Isidro figures they absolutely have to take AC out now to make the Colombians happy...do they have any guys in that prison? Guadelupe notes they have three guys, including a rather infamous one nicknamed Mandy who has never left survivors (oh, and there's some footage of the big man now beating up some redshirt) and would be more than happy to do the deed. Isidro tells him to make it happen immediately. Monica stays quiet throughout the whole thing, but she's still rocking the uncertainty...and that leads to...
 

El Señor de los Cielos: miércoles (p. 4)

Hell Hath No Fury, Part 2: Monica makes a night trip to the prison and offers the warden a bribe to see AC. He's not exactly crazy about the idea, since the anti-drug guys are in charge of him, so Monica makes a second offer: a bullet with his name on it. Either way, AC is hers tonight...

AC brooding about why Chacorta left him is thus interrupted by Monica, who breaks out a bottle of champagne--she was saving it for celebrating his death, but instead offers to toast to his not changing his face. AC wonders if she's there to do what her idiot brothers couldn't and finish him off, and Monica is all broody "There was a time when we loved each other, when we would have given our lives for each other?" For that matter, does he remember "the longest night in history": the night she turned 27, when he took her in the first jet he bought on an around-the-world flight following the moon and making love (and this faintly music video-esque flashback to the event is punctuated by music right out of Decisiones and the thought that the upholstery's going to be a bitch to clean)...well, tonight it's her turn to give him the longest night in history.

It's a thin liiiiiine between love and hate... Don't lie. You were thinking it.

AC and Monica only make it to the necking stage, though, before Monica reveals that her brothers are planning to kill him--they don't even know she came to see him--but they can get away and escape, right now. She's got everything ready. AC somewhat reluctantly admits he can't--he can't leave his children or Ximena--and Monica is all "You're no good to them dead!" AC then blows it all to hell when he says the one thing worse than "We can still be friends": why would she want a man who can't love her as much as he loves Ximena?

Ximena frosts over quicker than Alaska...see those tears? This is the last time she cries over him, she declares--even including his funeral--and she heads for home. When she gets there Isidro, after wondering where she was ("a brother doesn't ask his sister those kinds of questions") gives her a name: Margaret Robinson. That's Ximena Casillas' alias, courtesy of an unidentified informant who called earlier, and she's in Houston. Monica remembers what AC told her earlier, though Isidro notes somewhat unobservantly that killing Ximena is pointless now--Mandy's going to kill AC tomorrow. But Ximena should hold on to the information, just in case...and she agrees, complete with ominous thousand-yard stare past the camera.

Chacorta finally makes it to a gorgeous cabin in Sinaloa, where Alba (still with shotgun) is waiting for him. He gives her the Cliffs Notes version of what happened, and we probably all saw this cliche coming--Alba is all "You abandoned your brother? You should have died defending him!" Chacorta then sarcastically wonders who'd watch her little Aurelio then, and that gets him a slap--but, he swears, AC's in a safe place because of him. What does "safe" mean in your world, Victor Casillas?

After that Chacorta retrieves a stash of cash from the house's fireplace--his plan is to buy/hire some men to bust AC out of prison. Don Cleto pops up at this point, apparently on Alba's request, and notes that even though he really wants AC free--he's his daughter's husband, after all (you keep using that word...)--it'd be too risky to try to do it now. Chacorta bahs at that, saying it's his call--hell, Pablo would help him do it, he owes them--and, when Cleto notes that a full-on attack would be suicide, claims that getting into their business twenty years ago was also suicide...and he's still alive. He asks Cleto and Alba to do one thing--trust him.
 

El Señor de los Cielos: miércoles (p. 5)

The next day rises on Mexico City, and SAH is having breakfast with Eugenia and telling her how important it is for AC to be extradited before he gets killed--the cartel lords who are working with the government would make them look like idiots. Eugenia suggests that perhaps the real cartel lords are in the U.S....does he believe the bad guys are only on their side of the Rio Bravo? No, SAH's not that naive; he knows that the U.S. Secretary of Defense could shut down all drug traffic if he really wanted to, that if not for the people in New York and Los Angeles consuming so much of the product, there wouldn't really be a drug trade. Subtle, show, subtle. Anyway, it's all about AC being stuck in an American prison, with no privileges or pull, as opposed to being taken out--and I think we've heard this before... FF>>

In Houston Turco is escorting Matilde, Rutila, Heriberto, and the henchman that's been with them since they left Mexico out of their hotel room. He found them a nice cabin. Ximena notes at this point that Matilde bailed. Outside, in the parking lot, we see some guy who looks like Joel McHale getting out of an SUV and heading over to a station wagon...and planting something on its undercarriage...as we go back to Monica at House Robles, where Triste pops up long enough to tell her that everything's ready in Houston. And Monica looks at a picture of AC, saying that if he wouldn't leave Ximena...well, he won't be dying alone. At least she didn't stab it with a letter opener, though she does say before that that there can't be room for two women in AC's heart.

(And, in my best announcer voice: "El Señor de los Cielos. We have more crazy bitches in three episodes than most novelas do all month.")

The end of the episode crosscuts between three things--Anselmo, Ximena and family getting into the station wagon (Christ, there's the slo-mo as he turns the key in the ignition) with Evil Joel McHale watching from his car; a quasi-refrito of the final attack on and killing of Pablo in Medellin from Escobar, which is largely clip footage; and AC working out in the yard in prison with Mandy and a couple of guys monitoring him before pinning him down for an encounter in a fenced-in walkway. And look, they've got some shanks they want to introduce him to...
 

Cielos - miércoles

Another great recap, Bill C. I love your tongue-in-cheek commentary, such as "We next see AC in a studio apartment with a TV, toaster oven, radio, and refrigerator talking to the landlord..." and "AC then blows it all to hell when he says the one thing worse than "We can still be friends."

One small correction. At one point (p.4) you say "Ximena frosts over quicker than Alaska," but I think you mean Monica, not Ximena.

Again, MANY thanks!! These recaps make a huge difference for me.


 

LA PATRONA – JUEVES - Part 1

Our muy guapo commissioner Rodrigo Balmaceda is interviewing Vero and remarks upon her likeness to a photo of Gabriela Suárez. She hints to him that Guerra and the deceased Alberto Espino were “close”. Lucho and Gastón are watching the reality TV. Lucho says the wedding will have to be postponed because this Balmaceda is known as la mano de hierro (old iron hand). This guy sentenced Lucho to jail as a teenager and knows him well.

Guerra brings Valentina some soup on a tray in her bedroom. David reaches over and gulps down a couple of spoonfuls, much to Guerra’s disgust.

La Tuerta comes to at night in the desert and hears wolves howling. [I WISH there were wolves in the desert - whether it's the Sonoran Desert or the Mojave! We have exactly ONE in California.] She also hallucinates images of Constanza and Gabriela.

Lagarto approaches Aníbal for help. When the answer is no, he says he’ll spill his guts if captured.

Rod comes to interview Guerra and is treated extremely rudely. She tells him she’s La Patrona of the whole town.

Valentina asks David why he’s tasting her food; does he suspect poison. David denies it. [Why?]

We are treated to an excellent cat and mouse scene with Antonia and Rod. He lists all the unsolved crimes in town. He asks her why it appears she hated Gabriela Suárez and is told it’s because she blew up the mine and her son.

Lucho puts a serious move on Vero, but she says she has a headache! Later Lucho and Gastón have dueling monologues where Lucho complains about no lovin’ and Gastón complains about Francisca’s treatment. They say in unison that they wish they could understand that woman.

Ricardo kind of surprises me by telling Constanza he’s seeing a sex therapist. TMI, maybe? Connie is still upset about Patti’s infidelity, but Ricardo tells her Patti makes him happy.

Alejandro is suspicious about how much time Ricardo is spending at La Fortaleza. Then he asks him if he thinks Vero loves Lucho.

David has sneaked into La Fortaleza and into Cecilia’s bed, but the guards have told Vero and she catches them half nude in bed together.
 

LA PATRONA – JUEVES - Part 2

My man Rod! He tells Antonia that destiny seems to serve her well. Isn’t it a coincidence that the mine explosion got rid of Gabriela Suárez for her? She furiously tells him she’s not answering any more questions. He warns her that’s obstruction of justice. And when she still won’t cooperate, he handcuffs her, and orders her to come along to jail. When she refuses, she gets slung over his shoulder like a sack of taters. Irene, Valentina, and Poncia are just loving it!

Vero tells David and Cecilia that she doesn’t blame them for being in love. But she tells them they need to behave responsibly about sex or they could ruin their relationship.

Patti rubs lotion on her cellulite free legs, while Lagarto peeks in the window at her.

Ricardo and Alejandro agree that a night in jail is what Antonia deserves. Aníbal shows up and is told by Rod that his influence is in the congress, not in the town jail. When Aníbal asks to see her, he’s told it’s past visiting hours!

Patti brings Ricardito to meet his grandmother. This is not a good move. Constanza gives the kid a camera and spends some time with him. But later he wants to take a picture of Aníbal and says who gave him the camera!

Antonia wakes up in jail and is told by her next-door cell neighbor that the mattresses have fleas and the pillows have crabs!

Rod again makes my heart go pitty-pat when he questions Estrella the bribed hooker who accused Max of murder. He scares her good with his questions. If she saw someone being beaten like that, why didn’t she call for help? Was it because she was an accomplice to the murder? Max is brought in and says he never saw her before.

Rod talks with Max and tells him that his instincts tell him Max is innocent. He mentions Gabriela Suárez and Max says his sister never killed anyone. They are the type of people who stand up for their rights but are incapable of murder.

Aníbal has no luck getting the leader of his political party to take his call. He wants Rod removed from SPDO. Antonia wants to bribe the guy, but Aníbal says he’s known for being incorruptible.
 

PASION PROHIBIDA

NOVELAMAN, please go right ahead with the recap,I can't wait to read it, I don't think I've seen you comment until now.
I didn't see your first post, but when someone let me know I did say it was a great idea, I guess you missed it, just like I missed yours.
Sorry for the delayed answer, we are on different time zones...



 

LA PATRONA

Thanks Novelera for the great recap. This episode had me laughing out loud so many times. And I can tell you're enjoying Righteous Rod!

Highlights for me:

- David throwing himself across the bed to slurp Valentina's soup, I guess we know now that he knows what Antonia is up to.

- Ale asking Ricardo if Vero is going to marry Lucho because of him! Is there no end to this guy's conceit?

- Vero catching David and Cecilia in bed. Poor Vero missed out on so many years of mothering David, and now she has her hands full with two frisky teenagers in heat.

- Rodrigo hauling Antonia off to the hoosegow, cuffs and all. And Poncia finally having a good laugh at Antonia's expense.

- Antonia's bed head. Wouldn't it be great if she gets lice? I don't think she'll catch the crabs.

- Ricardito's uh-oh moment with Grandpa and the camera - Coni's not going to think that's funny.

- And of course Antonia trying to come up with the perfect bribe for Rod.

AniMal said that he would be leaving the next morning for the DF; can that have anything to do with Lagarto hanging around outside the casa?

And Gert's still wandering in the desert with the lobos howling. Where are the writers are going with this?

Beth
 

Telemundo -

if anyone is interested, the wiki pages of all three shows are posting the daily ratings,
as the number of U.S. viewers,

for 17 April,
Pasión Prohibida - 1,171,000
La Patrona - 1,847,000
El Señor de los Cielos - 1,971,000
 

LA PATRONA:

Thanks so much Novelera. I loved this episode, and Rod was the main reason. Ay Papi! I had a huge laugh when he slung Antonia over his strong manly shoulders and hauled her off to jail. Laughed even harded when Ale and Ric said she deserved to be there and didn't protest.

Rod can't be bought or blackmailed. I bet Antonia tries to make him her lover. I wouldn't blame her at all...
 

CIELOS

Bill - thank you so much for the very detailed write ups you've been doing. I'm enjoying this TN. I'm one of those people who can actually remember when Pablo and Amodo died so it will be interesting to see which way the writers take the story. Loved your 'Hell Hath No Fury' references.

Thanks again - Beth
 

CIELOS:

Thanks, Bill, excellent recap. I'm going to comment just a little about last night's episode.

Oh, those sneaky writers! Aurelio gets attacked by 4 tough guys, including "Mandy", but they make the usual bad guy mistake of coming at him one at a time, and he defeats them all. So he's put in solitary, and Marco feels that's a bit of mistreatment. But no matter, tomorrow he gets extradited to the U.S.!

And Rutila forgot her doll, so she, Hegiberto and Ximena all exit the car. The driver turns the key and gets blown to bits. But the family is safe! Except the murderer's view was blocked by a bus, and he thinks they're dead. Also Turco thinks so, as they found Ximena's license plate in the wreckage. Word gets back to Marco that Aurelio's family is dead, and he tells Aurelio. Later, Turco finds out they're alive (after Hegiberto hit the assassin over the head with his gun).

I think Matilde somehow tipped off Monica as to where the family was. And Chacorta suspects this, so Mati's in deed doo doo with him. And Monica is sort of sad they're all killed, even though she did it, and her brother Isidro gets mad at her for acting on her own, when he's the real boss. All this may change when it comes out the family isn't dead.

So we have the corrupt head of intelligence, Huerta, the corrupt general, the corrupt head of the prison, who's NOT corrupt? The new guy, Jimenez Arroyo? Well, turns out his men find Chacorta and kidnap him to a secret location. And then his men also pretend to be the ones extraditing Aurelio, but really take him to Jimenez's jungle camp! Marco arrives with the DEA to oversee the extradition, but is told by corrupt prison head that DEA already took him! (Wrong). So Jimenez is not really on Aurelio's side, what's he want to do, torture him? This is getting interesting.
 

LA PATRONA:

Great recap, Novelera, thank you!

I think Poncia is supposed to be a stand in for us viewers. She just observes, gets happy when we're happy, doesn't really interfere too much in anything (she had to warn Cecelia early on, but we'd have done that, too).

David probably doesn't want to upset Valentina but admitting he suspected Antonia of poisoning. Good guys typically try to protect their loved ones from the truth in these shows.

That secret told to little Ricardito about his abuela sure didn't last long! Constanza told the kid she gave him the same present she gave his Dad years ago. And to me, it looked liked an instamatic camera, which looks as if it was FROM years ago. What happened to digital? Does the kid know that with those old cameras you have to WAIT to see the picture?

When Vero told David to be responsible, he remarked she sound just like his mother used to.

How did Lagarto happen to be outside Pati's window just when she was rubbing lotion in? That guy really gets around. But the fact that he keep threatening everyone, may mean he could be the next to go. Unless Gertrudis just runs out of steam in the desert, and crows get her OTHER eye (sorry about that!).


 

Cielo

Who is the one that put the bomb in the SUV?

Ximena's purse with all the dinero blew up with the SUV.

Who is the tall nice looking man that found Ximena y hijos & how did he happen to be there, did she call him? Monica was trying to entice him in the previous episode.

So many of these bad guys look alike, I can't get them straight.
 

La Patrona -

thanks so much novelera !!!

and good comments Hombre,
I think Lagarto was around to see Patti because he is keeping a close eye on Anibal, er was,

I'm starting to see traits in David that remind me of so much of Alejandro,
like why doesn't he get a sample of the food to be tested?
or at least tell Valentina what he suspects?
(and why is Valentina always in bed, can't she at least go eat the same meal as everyone else)

and how about David sneaking in to see Cecilia,
he had his pants off before he made it to her bedside to say hi,

but almost tearful, that when Veronica was scolding him,
he could only remember his mother,
(also interesting watching Gabriela being Veronica and choking back her emotions)

ah yes, "the hand of iron",
Gertrudis would make short work of this guy,
with her injection therapy,
but I guess she is busy hallucinating,

loved seeing Patti meeting Constanza, I really like both of these characters.

 

LA PATRONA

"David probably doesn't want to upset Valentina by admitting he suspected Antonia of poisoning. Good guys typically try to protect their loved ones from the truth in these shows."

Which is frustrating and counter-intuitive here, as always. Doesn't the little twerp get it that if she knew what was happening she could protect herself? Oh yeah, but since he's her macho self-appointed protector, she doesn't need to know... he'll keep her safe. Riighht. Meanwhile she finishes the soup.

Karamy
 

PASION PROHIBIDA pt1

Penelope asks Bianca if Bruno has another woman. Penolope then asks if Bianca is that woman. Bianca is pissed that Penelope would think such a thing and leaves (but not before telling her off). She then calls Bruno and tells him what happened. When he asks where Penelope got the idea, Bianca says probably from Nico. “That idiot” says Bruno. Bianca thinks this is getting too dangerous. First Deniz, then Yair and now Penelope. Bruno says that is why he is staying with Eliana for a while. But that wont change what they feel. They need to meet up somewhere to make a decision. Penolope walks to the gym and Bianca leaves.

Nina says goobye to Paula and heads for the Rover but there is another chauffeur. The chauffeur says that Yair is busy. Santi thinks Yair has a girlfriend but Nina doesn’t think so since he seemed mad in the morning. She decides to call him. Yair signs up for the navy. He thinks he is set but the recruiter says he will have to pass a physical test first. His phone rings but he doesn’t pick up. Nina wonders why he wont answer.

Bruno is at the river waiting for Bianca. When she arrives she asks for the fisherman. He says no. She thinks the place is magical. She cant believe that Yair saw them kissing, but Bruno says that Yair thinks he was kissing Nina. Bianca fears that Yair will tell Ariel but Bruno doubts it. Bianca says their feelings are strong and cant be controlled.
Ariel arrives home for Deniz to tell him Nina was crying. Apparently she got bad grades. Ariel says even if he doesn’t have the best grades she is still a great student. Turns out Nina fooled her dad (Deniz went along with it). She got good grades. When Ariel asks Santi for Bianca, he says that she went somewhere.

Bianca says that she and Bruno are drawn like magnets, but destiny and danger will never let them live togheter. Bruno asks what does she want. She wants them to remember last nights kiss one last time. She will stay as Ariels wife and Bruno will marry Eliana. Bruno gets a small kiss.

Its night nighttime and the servants are preparing dinner. Cami asks why Yair hasn’t arrived. And Salo thinks Bruno will tell Ariel about the argument he had with yair. Nina invites the servants to the graduation but Yair wont be able to go. He is joining the Navy.

Nina is crying in her room. Deniz and Santi are with her. Nina cant believe that Yair is leaving them. Deniz tells her she cant expect him to live with them forever. Santi says that Bruno will also leave once he gets married (he gets a cold glare from Deniz). Santi hugs Nina and says he will never leave her. Nina is glad Deniz wont leave the family.

 

PASION PROHIBIDA pt2

Bruno has prepared dinner (with candles and wine)and a love nest for Eliana in her apt. Eliana says that she rejected her contract to stay with Bruno. Bruno cant believe she did that. They agreed that they would get married after Eliana came back from NY. She says that she chose him over work. He says she shouldnt have done that. She thinks he doesn’t want to get married. He says that’s not the problem. Then she thinks he cheated on her (the reason he tried to make a romantic dinner). Whe he says he didn’t cheat she demands to know why he doesnt want to get married.

Bianca is in her room. When Ariel asks where she was. Bianca says she went to the gym and then hung out with her friends from the foundation. Ariel reviewed the bank account and there was 100Gs extracted from the bank. Bianca says she was going to give Nina a gift but returned the money once Ariel would give her a car (A Viper? GT500?). Ariel says that the money was extracted shortly after Bianca wanted a divorce. He thinks she wanted to leave him. She acts shocked and Ariel apologizes.

Cami, Tere, and Celeste cant believe that Yair is leaving them. Salo asks for help and Katia volunteers. She says Yair leaving isn’t a big deal. Cami says that no one asked for Kats opinion. Kat says they should should all stop being servants and make something out of theirselves. Salo prefers to work alone. Kat says that’s not a problem and then taunts Cami about Yair getting girls in every port he is stationed in. Celeste and Tere stop Cami from getting beat up like last time.

Deniz walks past Cami (who is fuming) and goes to Yairs room. Deni asks if yair is joining the navy because of the argument with Bruno. She know he saw something in Brunos balcony. She wants to know what he saw.

Yair tells Deniz he saw Bruno kissing Nina. Deniz says that maybe they were just hugging. When he confronted Bruno he denied it. Deniz thinks maybe he saw wrong, but Yair says he knows what he saw.
He asks deniz to keep it a secret.
Bruno and Eliana had their dinner, but Eliana is still upset about Brunos reaction when she said she ended her contract for him. They get in an argument which ends with Bruno saying he doesn’t want to marry her and leaves Elis apt.

At the Piamonte living room, Nina, Ariel, Santi, and Bianca are discussing Yair plans to leave the house, when Flavia lets the cat out of the bag (Bruno and Yairs argument). Ariel asks Tere to bring Yair.

Deniz says she will talk to Nina about what Yair saw but he doesn’t want problems with Nina. Deniz will say that she saw them. Tere walks in and says that Ariel is looking for Yair. Yair tells her to tell Ariel that he went to sleep early but Tere wont lie. Deniz says she will take care of it. As Tere leaves, Deniz says avoding a conversation with Ariel is useless. Yair wonders if he should tell Ariel what he saw.

Deniz tells Ariel that Yair went to bed early and that he would talk to Ariel in the morning. Bruno shows up and asks why he got in an argument with Yair. Bruno says its nit a big deal and glares at Deniz. She says she didn’t say anything. Flavia didn’t know it was a secret! Ariel says there are no secrets in the Piamonte mansion. When asked why he isn’t with Eliana Bruno says he had another argument with her and that the wedding of off. Yair overhears this.

 

CIELOS:

Variopinta:

The guy who put the bomb in the SUV was just a henchman working for Monica Robles. Monica was mad that Aurelio rejected her, saying he loved Ximena more, so she wanted to eliminate her competition.

You're right, she had no money, so she had to give her $10,000 ring to the owner of an inn for one night's lodging.

The nice looking tall man is El Turco (the Turk), who works for Aurelio and actually was helping her in Houston. He didn't know about the bomb, and thought she was dead. But he (and the would be assassin) both traced Ximena by following the taxi she took, to the inn, where Ximena's son got the best of the assassin, and everything's now okay.
 

PASION PROHIBIDA pt3

As Nina is playing the piano, Bruno reminices in his balcony about the kiss he had with Bianca. He gets a text message “Darling Im so sorry. I love you. Eliana”.

Yair is at the hall listening to the Piano.

Flavia asks if Bianca is she will join the Piamontes piano recital. Bianca says she is sleepy. Falvia tells Bianca not to console Bruno. But Bianca says that his arguments with Eliana happen everyday. They joke about how Eliana tries to speed up the wedding while Bruno tries to delay it. Flavia says that the wedding is good for everyone.

Yair is in the kitchen listening to music when Cami walks in on him. She says she will miss him and always be waiting for him (Salo is spying on them). She tries and fails to kiss Yair.

Nina is done playing the Piano and the Piamontes say goodnight to each other. Deniz follows Nina to her room. Nina asks why Yair wants to join the marines. Deniz says its just a decision that Yair made. Then deniz asks Nina about kissing Bruno on the balcony. Nina says that never happened. In fact she went to Brunos room to talk to him but he wouldn’t let her in! Bianca walks in and asks if shes interrupting.

Nina says there are things she still needs for her graduation but Deniz helped her. But there are many things that Bianca could still help her with. Bianca leaves. Nina asks if Deniz and Bianca still have problems. Bianca tries to open Brunos room but its locked. Deniz walks in on her and Bianca atcs af if her leg itches before saying goodnight to Bianca. Deniz says goodnight to Ariel and figures out that Bruno kissed Bianca.
Ariel walks in on Bruno boxing. He still cant understand why Yair would leave. He thinks its because of Brunos argument. Bruno says that they argue a lot. That’s no reason for him to leave. Ariel says even so, Yair is hiding something and they need to find out what.

Deniz goes to Yairs room (he has an old picture of him and Nina as kids, and a love card) and tells him that she spoke to Nina. When Yair asks if Nina denied it, Deniz asks if he is 100% sure that he saw Bruno with Nina.....
 

El Señor de los Cielos -

thanks ever so much Bill C. for all of the time you put into your most detailed recaps, they're great!

I guess Matilde flew back to Mexico, and nobody threw her out of that plane either,

I'm still confused as to what Chacorta's intentions were with Aurelio's face change, but am I wrong if I go with that flashback Bill C. mentioned, that I also saw, where it looks like he made a pact with Aurelio to not let the police take him alive, and that his betrayal is that he did not kill Aurelio, and I also got the idea he left the ambulance crash because he didn't have any more bullets,

great quickie outline and comments Hombre,
this has been a tough story, is there a story, for me to follow without the summaries,
I didn't have a clue who snatched the brothers,
I was thinking guerrillas, like in Colombia,

kind of odd that Marco introduced the DEA agents to all,
but they let someone else pick up Aurelio,
fooled me,

odd that in maximum security Aurelio had a guy in the cell next to him, where at his plush cell earlier, no one was around,

which takes us to Ximena,
odd that all three got out of the car to go get her doll,
(good narco habits I guess)
odd that the bomber went to their new apartment in a taxi but took only Ximena back to his own car,
odd that Turco found them just as quick,
as well as the interpol police, who then arrested her,
(can they arrest people, I thought they had to go through the U.S. authorities),

Aurelio, thinking his family is dead, this could really change things,

 

LA PATRONA

The hooker said pulgas in the mattress and piojos in the pillow. I should have translated that as fleas and head lice. Crab lice would not likely be on the pillow!

Thanks for the great comments, Beth, deb, and Hombre. Funny line about Gertrudis' other eye. I DID feel sorry for her, however, when those rotten guys stole her water and money and raped her. To me that scene was uncalled for. I know she's supposed to suffer, but wandering in the desert is enough for me.

It often seems to me that telenovela writers are obsessed with rape. Nearly all villains rape or attempt rape. We saw Gertrudis' get raped, and Lagarto apparently thinking about it with Patti after long ago killing Inocencia during an attempt. And, he's apparently such a stud, according to Prudencia and Luz. Why does he need to rape women? Gah!
 

Cielos
Tks Hombre

Oh, that's El Turco.

The Inn Keeper offered Ximena $500 for her $10,000 ring.

Whose side should you be on, the govt is corrupt. But I'm still P.Oed about the dog. Hopefully Marco is not a crook.
 

CIELOS

Enjoyed your comments, Hombre.

I was stunned seeing our incorruptible new head of narco whatever in Mexico in some remote place wearing camo. What? Guess we'll find out soon what his game is.

Mathilde is so contemptible that I can hardly watch her scenes. If she gave up Ximena to the Robles, I missed it. She did sneak out and have sex with some guy in Houston and wanted him to do something in return, but I couldn't figure out what she was up to.

Chacorta made it clear that only Ximena, El Turco, and Mathilde herself knew where they were staying, so it surely looks like she helped Los Robles with the hit.

I enjoyed the scene with Marco Mejía telling his wife that he felt pity for Aurelio. He didn't like the miserable cell he was in, and certainly felt pity about his family.

I hope we'll get to see more of Angélica Celaya than dutiful wife to Mejía. She usually plays feisty women. I've liked her since she was the bandit sister in Los Plateados.
 

LA PATRONA

I abhor rape and other forms of victimization of women in tns. it automatically turns me off watching the entire tn, hence, I haven't been into this one except from time to time.

I enjoy reading all your funny, smart comments though.
 

CIELOS

Deb - right, so many oddities last night. I had the definite impression that Turco may have had prior knowledge about the arrest of Ximena. And did the shorter man who arrested her look like someone else we've seen earlier in the story?

Matilde did make a call to let the Robles know where Ximena was.

Also, the harsh stare Chacorta gave Aurelio at the jungle HQ seemed to be telegraphing some message I couldn't quite figure out.

So many nuances in this story. And since I've never watched a narconovela before, I'm slow picking up on the language and behaviors.

Beth
 

Pasión Prohibida -

thanks so much NovelaMan!

I couldn't believe Ariel stood up in front of everyone and said "there are no secrets in the Piamonte mansion", wow, and didn't Deniz try to explain to him once that everyone has secrets, I'm wondering if this story will take us to the point that we have no sympathy at all for the people around Bruno/Bianca,

when Bruno announced that the wedding was off, I missed Nina's reaction, was it "yes", and I guess this opens the door for Santi to follow his crush,

such a sensitive topic, Nina making out with Bruno, and Deniz treading softly, sorting out the facts, and then Bianca walks right into the middle of it, "Interrupting?", wow, what a moment, alarm bells are ringing in Deniz's head,

haha! Bruno locked his door, and Deniz walking up on Bianca as she is trying to force her way in, Bianca and Bruno are just not evil people and aren't very good at hiding anything, so funny,

not to worry, Ariel will get to the bottom of this.

 

Cielos - jueves

Many thanks, Hombre, for your helpful account of what happened. I confess that I'm still very confused.

For example, I have no idea who it is that took Aurelio out of the prison and brought him somewhere in a helicopter. I was assuming it was arranged by Chacorta, since in an earlier episode he said something about using the money he had to buy an army to extract Aurelio from the prison. But the very cold look Chacorta gave Aurelio when Aurelio get out of the helicopter made me think I had that wrong.

Who is the guy in army fatigues who holds a gun to Aurelio's head and says he [the guy with the gun] is the one will decide when, where, and how someone dies? At first, I thought he was the supposedly honest guy who is now Mejia's superior, but I decided he didn't really look like him.

Did the phone call Mathilde made on her sex partner's cell phone tip off Interpol as to Ximena's whereabouts? Earlier, Mathilde was trying to get Turco to turn Ximena in to Interpol. Or was the phone call simply to the Robles? If the latter, how did Interpol get into the act so fast?

I'm having a hard time figuring out who all the players are and whose side(s) they're on. I'm also not sure about Chacorta's intentions vis a vis Aurelio. And, like deb, I'm puzzled about why a supposedly maximum security cell included a cell mate for Aurelio.
 

Pasion Prohibida

NovelaMan,thank you for the great and very thorough recap, I always manage to forget some details, but you covered it nicely!
I hope you'll do it again, Thursdays and whenever you feel like it.
I've never seen you comment before, so I'm happy that you decided to jump right in!

When Yair told Deniz what he'd seen, I was sure she would get to the bottom of things. And, OMG, she went straight to Bianca, especially after she was talking to Nina and Nina said point blank that she didn't even go into Bruno's room and Bianca chose that exact moment to show up (after never showing any kind of interest in Nina).

What is it about the entire house that they don't agree with Yair's decision to leave? He is young and strong, is he supposed to be Nina's driver his entire life? Although I'm more and more sure that something is seriously wrong with him, health wise.
I get that Nina has some abandonment issues since her mother died, but does she really expect all of them to leave together in the house like one big happy family for ever and ever?

How many times have B&B said goodbye so far? I don't think they even know it anymore, they are to busy keeping up with the 'how dare you' act whenever someone confronts one of them. Right now I think just about everybody suspects them, except Ariel.

With all this talk about Nina's graduation, I'm starting to think that something major happens then.

Yey for Bruno dumping Eliana, but I'm sure he will go back to her when he needs a beard again.
 

This comment has been removed by the author.
 

Pasion Prohibida

Deb, B&B are the worst at keeping this a secret. Bianca is in his room ALL the time, when thy talk about this or that with the family, they always react strongly when one of them is involved - they are not cut out for this sneaking around stuff... When Deniz caught her at Bruno's door, she should have just knocked, made up an excuse for needing to see Bruno. And how rude of him to close the door (insert sarcasm)

Yes, that was Nina's reaction. Funny how Nina shows all her emotions all the time, ad nauseam and Bianca has to keep it all bottled up.
What she should do is leave Ariel just like that, I'm sure he would give her enough money. Forget about Bruno, he will come after her sooner or later, but she needs to distance herself from a marriage that is obviously not making her happy.
She had this chance when Bruno backed down, but instead of leaving anyway, she went back for the good life. So she kind of deserves what she gets now.
 

Cielos
I have used Monicas name when I meant Mathilde.

Are those cops that took Ximena, the wives usually don't know anything.

I thought I understood that Aurelio thinks Charcorta betrayed him.

 

PP


Deb Nina and Santi made a bet and and it seems Nina won. The bet was that bruno wouldnt get married and of course Nina was happy to hear that.
 

Pasión Prohibida -

ahha, thanks NovelaMan,
I wasn't getting all of that, but yes that clicks now,
of course Nina was hoping that he doesn't marry, for her own reasons as well.

 

CIELOS:

I DO think the guy who had Aurelio brought in the helicopter and also had Chacorta brought to the same place was in fact Marco's superior, Jiménez, whom we thought was good. Not totally sure, but we'll find out tonight, probably.

As for Aurelio/Chacorta, I think Chacorta keeps being egged on by his wife Matilde to take over, and he half wants to. Aurelio feels that Chacorta abandoned him when Aurelio was drugged out and arrested. So these two have a little tension going on.

Don't know how Interpol got Ximena and how they can hold her (I guess she's some kind of accomplice, as she helped Aurelio escape, sort of).

I'm rooting for Eugénia, Marco's wife. I think she's a journalist, and don't they always say, the power of the pen is mightier than the power of the sword?
 

PP

AdrianaNoel

Ive decided to recap Thursdays and Fridays so you dont get stressed out.

 

Pasion Prohibida

NovelaMan, that means it's your turn again! Can't wait!
 

LA PATRONA:

I also would have been totally satisfied with Tuerca's current fate, minus the rape. I stopped watching the show during the episodes when Gabi was framed, locked up, and tortured. And I couldn't believe my eyes when I read here that she was also raped in the manicomio-- as if it weren't enough that she had already been raped years before. Talk about overkill!

Last night when Largarto was watching Pati I got very afraid that we'd have yet another rape. Blech!
 

Cielos

Yes, Hombre, they do say that the pen is mightier than the sword, but is it mightier than a machine gun? :-)
 

El Señor de los Cielos: jueves

So Mandy the hired killer and two of his associates have Aurelio pinned down in a fenced-in prison walkway. Four episodes into the show. The conclusion for this is so utterly foregone it defies belief, complete with the mega-cliche of the goons taking AC on one by one, so I'm just going to say that James Kirk tears his shirt off, defeats the Gorn and his friends, and immediately asks to see the warden when the guards finally show up. His chat with the warden, thus, goes something like this:

AC: "What the hell? First Monica, now a murder attempt? If anything happens to me--"
Warden: "Dude, don't even--your threats don't work now. You're already here!"
[AC pouts]

Meanwhile, in Houston, Evil Joel McHale is still watching the station wagon he sabotaged...oh, wait, his point of view is blocked by a Winnebago. Uh oh. Inside the wagon Anselmo the henchman is still putting the key in the ignition and everybody's just chillin' in slo-mo just as he turns--what's that? The show is faking us out again because Rutila forgot her doll? Aw, fuuuu...yeah, there go Ximena and Rutila and Heriberto back towards the hotel (and Ximena left her purse in the car), and now Evil Joel McHale can see the wagon again, and Anselmo's just going to bring the wagon around. *boom* No, he isn't. To her credit, Ximena's smart enough to just grab the kids and get the hell away from there.

Over at House Robles Isidro, Guadelupe and a distant Monica are talking about how they can't let the Colombians get the biggest share of the pie if they hook up with them, since los Robles are taking the biggest risk. Guadelupe wonders what los Casillas will do when they find out, and Isidro notes it likely won't be an issue since AC should be dead by now. Monica gets a call from Triste, who in turn had gotten a mission-accomplished call from Evil Joel a couple of scenes back; she doesn't tell her brothers who it was, of course, but she agrees with them that AC is done for. Him and his family. And that finally gets a "hmmm..." look out of Isidro.

Said family at this point is trying to beat a retreat back through the hotel lobby, when Evil Joel--presumably trying to make his own escape--sees them. Heriberto, who's still packing Dad's gun, briefly suggests they stay before Ximena drags him and Rutila out and eventually into a cab to make their escape.

El Cabo, elsewhere, is having a drink and a good laugh at news footage of Pablo Escobar's death. Marquez reiterates that, with Pablo dead and AC in jail, now's the time to seal the deal with los Robles. At the same time Arroyo and Marco are in Arroyo's office watching the same footage; Marco is glad they grabbed AC when they did, and mentions a report he apparently worked up that shows that both the DEA and they can now connect the Colombians to "the Northern and Pacific cartels." Arroyo said he already read the report when he was appointed drug czar and wonders what Marco's point is; Marco, dog with a bone that he is, insists that they must extradite AC now. With Pablo dead, AC's cartel will only get stronger--everybody knows the cartel bigwigs still run things from behind bars, after all. Arroyo is still creepily insisting that Marco is making it personal ("Personal or not, I swore to deal with this scourge!") when he gets a call from the prison warden informing him of the attempt on AC's life. He suggests that AC be moved immediately to a maximum security prison, since he can't guarantee his safety. Arroyo notes he'll be moved within hours for extradition before hanging up and telling Marco about the attempt; back at the prison, when the warden tells him that he'll be extradited, AC bahs. He'll bet him he won't be extradited. The warden bahs in turn--he's not a betting man--and has some guards take AC somewhere "safe."
 

El Señor de los Cielos: jueves (p. 2)

Shortly after that we next see Arroyo in a Cadillac headed for who knows where, on the phone with an unknown party. He tells whomever about how SAH had already started the extradition process, so at this point what's left to do is to find Victor--Chacorta--as soon as possible.

HR: Cabo and Marquez show up for a quick chat with los Robles before they return to Colombia; Pablo's dead, so they need to get back and start getting things together. Isidro claims that los Robles now control all the major trade routes for their product, including the ones AC had before he was killed--which he knows at that point is a lie, since Triste shows up with a note that confirms Aurelio sigue vivo. Cabo notes that they're going to need proof that AC's dead--their boss doesn't want to get wrapped up in somebody else's beef again, since he just went through one with Pablo. Monica and Isidro reiterate that there's no problem, that they've got AC's territory; Marquez notes they'll still need to know he's dead, but they're content enough for the moment as they depart. And that's when Isidro tells Monica and Guadelupe that AC's still alive. "How is he so hard to kill?" He's the protagonist, man.

Sinaloa: Chacorta is meeting with a couple of henchmen at the Prettiest Safe House Ever, apparently about getting a force together for busting AC out of prison. One of the henchman, a guy in a raspberry beret, notes that it'd take a month to set this up, and Chacorta's not happy to hear that--but he's planning on asking the Colombians for help. Whomever helps him out is going to be rich. Raspberry Beret confirms that he'll find the guys somewhere, and then asks if Chacorta heard that Pablo's dead ("Que?")--they heard it on the radio on the way in--before heading off. And at the same time...tighten your beanies...here comes Matilde bouncing up the front steps and into her man's arms. He's understandably wondering what she's doing there. I'm understandably wondering how the hell she got from Houston to Sinaloa, assuming she left in the middle of the night.

So Matilde and Chacorta have happy-to-see-you sex, and afterwards...yeah, here comes the bitching at Ximena about her "taking things out on everybody" and cutting her off. Chacorta tells her she should have had Turco call him to clear that up, and suggests that she should return to the States for her and their safety--didn't she hear about Pablo? Matilde is a little surprised about that before shifting back into Lady Macbeth mode: hey, with Pablo dead and AC in jail he's the boss. And she should be by his side. And they cuddle for a bit, though when she inevitably goes back to her "Imagine the possibilities now that you're in charge" spiel Chacorta informs her that he's going to break AC out. They don't really get to talk about that before Chacorta gets a call from a panicky Turco, who informs him of the apparent death of Ximena and company; he relays that to Matilde, who looks more surprised than anything else, before going to the inevitable: he wants whomever sold them out. Bad. Turco, in turn, is all "But who besides me, the Mute (Anselmo) and Matilde knew where they were?" Chacorta definitely ain't happy to hear that...but, when Turco wonders if he's heard from Matilde--last he knew she was off to the airport after her fight with Ximena--he lies and says he hadn't.
 

El Señor de los Cielos: jueves (p. 3)

After he hangs up Chacorta immediately goes all "What did you do, woman?" to Matilde, who's expectedly defiant...does he really think she's a thug who could kill them? Nooo, Chacorta admits, but she could have dropped a dime to los Robles. Matilde tries to spin that Turco had more to gain from Ximena's death than she did since he ultimately held the purse strings, but Chacorta sees right the hell through that. He knows what she's capable of, and she needs to tell the truth before his brother finds out. Matilde must be related to Antonia Guerra, since she just can't stop herself from going all "Hah! AC's old news--come on, be a man and take this opportunity to--no, I didn't mean this opportunity to point your gun at my head!" That gets interrupted by Alba, though, and Chacorta decides to take that opportunity to give Mom the news...

SAH checks in with the warden at the prison, with some paperwork and a couple of DEA agents in tow; they'll be picking up AC first thing in the morning for extradition. SAH wonders why AC's not in his studio apartment/cell, and the warden notes that it wasn't safe...it turns out the safe place they stuck AC was what appears to be a group of old-school jail cells partially exposed to the outside, where AC is just plopped down on a blanket. The resulting chat between AC and SAH is mostly the same old "You're going to America to pay for your sins!" and "Ho ho ho...oh, you're serious" shit, and the only halfway decent bit is where AC notes he's not like Pablo Escobar--and he'll be out of prison by tomorrow. After SAH and company leave AC does the caged-animal pace for a minute while another guy in the next cell over notes that there's no way out.

HR: Isidro pops in on a skittish Monica, who's watching a news broadcast on the exploded station wagon...how it contained a passport possibly belonging to Aurelio Casillas' wife and how the bombing could be connected to Pablo's death. Even Isidro can't miss this pitch--she had that car blown up, didn't she? She killed a woman and two children why? Monica claims she did it to prove to their new Colombian friends and their enemies who's in charge, but Isidro's still pissed that she acted on her own, since he's got the final say on everything. So now, he growls, they have to find Chacorta before he finds out who ordered the hit and "responds to her great idea." And he storms out. Monica pouts, sort of.

Ximena and the kids, it appears, ended up at a Quality Inn or some such...so as night falls on Houston we see the manager telling Heriberto that his credit card was declined and that they'll need money or they'll have to leave their room. The show gets bilingual for a minute as Heriberto and then Ximena offer a watch and then Ximena's not-wedding ring to the guy in English for one night in the room and some cash (and Ximena Herrera speaking accented English is remarkably sexy--hey, shut up!). Ximena ends up getting a $500 offer for her $10,000 ring. Ouch.

Back at the original hotel a taxi pulls up--hey, it's the taxi that Ximena and kids fled in. And there's Evil Joel McHale putting a gun to the poor driver's head, saying he wants to go where the Mexican lady went, okay?

After a bit of I-gotta-think Ximena hits upon a good idea: she runs out and buys some hair color. They're going to change their looks for a little while, she explains to Rutila, before there's a knock at the door...it's okay, Heriberto ordered some pizza because Rutila was hungry. No, actually, it's a soprano voice calling out "Room service!"--no, they're both wrong, it's Evil Joel McHale! He grabs Ximena over the mouth and brandishes his gun; she needs to stay quiet or he'll kill her kids. She does, and out the door they go.
 

El Señor de los Cielos: jueves (p. 4)

Mexico City: SAH and the DEA agents are with the Secretary of the Interior, who's signing off on the extradition agreement. The DEA guys take it and bail, but El Secretario asks SAH to wait--did he know about the car bombing in Houston? They found these passports found inside it (look, pictures).

SAH heads home after that and tells Eugenia about the apparent deaths of Ximena and company. Eugenia wonders if he really has to be the one to tell AC about this; SAH would rather not, but ES asked him to. Eugenia figures it's true that el que a hierro mata, a hierro muere (if you live by the sword you shall die by the sword), and SAH notes that he actually feels sorry for AC--he doesn't wish that sort of thing on anybody, even him. Eugenia sweetly remarks that the fact that he feels bad about what he's going to tell AC--who definitely wouldn't feel the same way--makes her love him all the more.

He's a complicated man, but no one understands him but his woman...

AC, at the moment, is having a pleasant dream where he's just necking with Ximena next to a babbling brook and telling her he wants to be with her for the rest of his life...before Ximena abruptly vanishes. That wakes him right up and makes him start pacing again. So he's still awake when SAH shows up to tell him there was a car bombing in Houston and his family was apparently inside. AC naturally thinks SAH is lying, though when SAH says he thought it was better to hear it from him than from another inmate he goes all "Damn you and your games! You won't break me with this attempt at revenge for your gringo father!" SAH is all cool "I'm really sorry," and then heads out like a boss with AC yelling after him to tell him it's not true.

We take a quick detour to House Robles where Monica is lying on a couch crying over a picture of AC--girl, you couldn't even keep your word for one day?--and wondering why he had to make things harder. Isidro pokes his head in just long enough to see this. FF>

AC calmed down after SAH left, though his cell neighbor is still trying to talk him down from pacing a moat in his cell--he can't get out, remember? AC bahs--he'll break out, even if he has to tear the place apart, because (and voosh go the flashbacks to him and Ximena and his kids) if something really did happen to his family, he's going to kill the traitors.

And back to Houston, where Evil Joel is still hustling Ximena to his car. Ximena wonders how much he's being paid for taking her out ($100,000) and offers to beat it, but he's not having it--but he does have a bump on his head when Heriberto pops up and knocks him out with Dad's gun. And that happens right before Turco shows up out of nowhere--he apparently asked around with the taxi drivers until he found the same damn one Ximena and Evil Joel used. Annoyingly, though, he can't get in touch with Chacorta to give him the news--and Matilde is "missing."

Sinaloa: Chacorta is packed for his trip back to Mexico for AC, though he plans to take "them" (Alba and Matilde?) to Don Cleto's so they'll be safe. Alba's not crazy about leaving the house (and it's so pretty I can't blame her), let alone losing him after Ximena and her grandchildren, though Chacorta insists he'll be fine--besides, they have to retaliate against los Robles or they'll take them down one by one.
 

El Señor de los Cielos: jueves (p. 5)

So Chacorta heads out with Matilde in tow, and Matilde is still going on about how there are a thousand other ways to avenge Ximena's death and how breaking AC out of jail won't be a cakewalk and whatnot...wait, what's that noise? It's a helicopter, accompanied by a truck, accompanied by a phalanx of black-clad troops running up on them with rifles...okay, by novela standards that's kind of awesome stealth there. Chacorta insists they leave Matilde alone and just take him, when Alba pops up with that damn shotgun and fires a warning shot that inexplicably does not get her ass shot twenty times before he yells for her to put the gun down--which is moot when one of the soldiers zips up next to her and just yanks the gun out of her hands. They do leave the womenfolk alone, though, and spirit Chacorta away. After they're gone Alba runs back in and tries to call Cleto, but he's out; Matilde wonders why they're still there--are they waiting for los Robles to kill them? Alba astutely notes that if those guys had been Robles' men (and they never identified themselves in any way), they'd already be dead. So, Matilde wonders, who were they?

We find out the next morning, when a masked Chacorta is brought into some unidentified building by two soldiers...to meet Colonel Arroyo, who's chowing down on breakfast in full field uniform. Arroyo asks his guys if they know why Victor Casillas is called Chacorta--because he has a mecho corta (short fuse). Chacorta goes straight to "What do you want?" "Unfinished business" is Arroyo's reply.

Houston: Ximena trying to get Heriberto to surrender Dad's gun (but he's got to protect them now!) is interrupted by Turco, who still can't get a hold of anybody to tell them they're alive. Not to mention that AC is being extradited that day. And then her day really goes to hell when two guys in suits show up, asking for her by name, and flash some badges. They're Interpol, and she's under arrest.

And over at the prison the warden shows up at AC's cell with a group of black-clad guys; it's extradition time, the warden says, and he can't get away. So AC gets escorted through the yard (offering one of his guards a million dollars to just loosen his handcuffs) and onto a helicopter, where a familiar black mask is put on him...SAH and the DEA agents show up, naturally, right after the helicopter leaves. And SAH's absolutely livid when he hears that the warden just let him go on "the helicopter they sent."

Said helicopter lands in a field, and AC is escorted to a nearby building's yard. Chacorta, Arroyo and his troops are waiting there...and as AC is unmasked and uncuffed he asks Chacorta why he betrayed him...
 

LA PATRONA

Vivi, Gabriela narrowly avoided being raped(gracias a Dios)in the manicomio. Gertrudis essentially arranged for her to be raped, but she managed to knock her attacker unconcious.

Maybe that's why the writers threw rape into the mix of Gertrudis' punishments. I'm every bit as down on rape as the next gal, but I don't really object to rape scenes in shows or films that are also very violent in other ways, with a lot of murders, etc. As long as they don't eroticise the scenes, and the rapists are clearly shown in a villainous light.

Karamy
 

LA PATRONA:

Karamy- Thanks. I feel a lot better now knowing that Gabi managed to escape that rape attempt.

ITA with you about not objecting to rape in shows if it's not eroticized, and if it serves a purpose to the development of the story. I prefer it to be implied and not shown at all, actually.
 

Cielos
Bill C
Wonderful recap
I think if we get this much activity, we deserve a side bar.

I was so surprised that Aurelio was getting plastic surgery so soon.

Did Chacorta really betray Aurelio?
 

Cielos

Many thanks once again, Bill C, for the invaluable details of the plot, the delightful snark, and some helpful Spanish phrases. I'm still pretty confused, but now I realize I'd probably be confused even if I had understood every word. We're supposed to be confused (light bulb flashes briefly over my head).

Well, the good thing is that I guess I'm learning lots of new words and phrases, e.g.:
dar papaya
dar el pitazo
dar piso
pelarse
sacar la garra
tronaron al vato

And then, of course, there are a bunch I can't figure out, such as "la berraca gana" and "se calentó el parche."

The bad thing is that I'm unlikely to have an opportunity to use most of these words in a normal conversation. ;-)

 

CIELOS:

Great job, Bill! Thanks for explaining Chacorta's name.

Juanita, we learned in Pablo Escobar that berraca means great or terrible or amazing, so maybe la berraca gana means "touch guy wins".

As for se calentó el parche, calento is to heat up, el parche is the gang, or the band of guys, maybe it means things are getting hot for our group. Just a guess.
 

Hombre, muchas gracias for your help with the Spanish phrases. I'm glad to know about "berraca" and "parche." I had come up empty on "berraca," and the only meaning I knew for "parche" was "patch," like a patch one might wear over an eye. After reading your comment, I tried googling "la berraca gana" and found a number of examples, but they didn't help. One thing I did notice was that some examples had some form of "dar" right before the phrase (e.g., "Y si me da la berraca gana de amarte, ¿qué?" So I'm still not sure I understand the expression, but now I'm further along than I was.
 

Juanita:

"Y si me da la berraca gana de amarte" = And if I damn well feel like loving you

Sometimes you see "la bendita gana"

Those of us who watched "pablo escobar" are Berraco Experts since in that show it appeared in almost every utterance.
 

NovelaMaven, got it! ¡Muchísimas gracias! (And hi!)