Friday, June 07, 2013

Qué Bonito Amor #39 (Mex 58-59.1) Thursday 6/6/13 Que Bonita Protectora es La Virgen

The cops recognize the mariachis from their previous trip to the bar.  They're celebrating the birthday of their lady cop, so Colosso dances with her as they sing Las Mañanitas.  JA seems grumpy and doesn't join in.  Fernando shoves him out the door while they're all distracted, then insists on reciting some poetry for the lady cop before they share her birthday cake.  He simultaneously keeps some of the other cops from looking in the direction of JA…who didn't take off as Fernando suggested.  He swipes JA's "Wanted" flyer from a cop's desk and uses his wiles to keep the party going.

They were apparently released, as Fernando and JA are back at Fernando's place.  JA is pouty, saying he's going to get busted eventually.  JA fills Fernando in on what Bruno told him.  Fernando thinks it's crappy of Bruno to have come all that way just to tell JA to his face what they'd done to him.

Elvira shows up at Colosso's for a booty call.  Oh, no, wait, she wants him to convince Maria to go back to work at the bar.  She doesn't want to have to keep pulling waitress duty.  "I wasn't born to serve!  I was born to be served!"  Hey, no prob, says Colosso, just get down on your knees and beg her forgiveness.  Oh, that's so no going to happen!  Colosso says she looks great in her waitress uniform…and asks her to bring him a tequila.  He gets slapped for it.

Fernando advises JA to sleep on it before he decides what to do.  JA is adamant about wanting to clear his name so he can luuuuurve Maria freely and solve all her financial woes.

Montage of parentified Maria giving Amalia her shot, kissing her sisters good night, getting everyone ready for school in the morning….  They all insist that Maria should get some sleep while Amalia walks the girls to school, and no she won't be cleaning the house--Paloma says she'll do it after school.  They tuck Maria back into bed.

Fernando is surprised to hear from JA that Maria quit school.  JA is furious at himself to think of how he took his money for granted and threw it away on frivolous things.  Rigo comes to visit and pick up JA to take him back to Los Estates.  JA isn't ready.

Maria and Amalia are doing laundry. Amalia insists that Isa isn't any harder on her socks than Maria and Paloma were.  She doesn't like seeing Maria sacrifice so much for the family.  Optimistic, plucky Maria thinks in about a year and a half, they'll have their debts paid off.  The landlord comes banging on the door to remind them that they're supposed to pay some extra money to chip in for fixing the bathrooms.  And also, there's going to be a 10% rent hike.  Amalia starts to freak out, but Maria says she'll fight it with her lawyerly knowledge.

Irasema totally understands Mancia's dislike of her and thinks she's right.  Susano swears he'll bust anyone's face who dares say anything about his wife.  "But what if your mom doesn't accept me?"  He says he'd rather move out than lose her.

Maria serves everyone dinner and Paloma says she'll wash dishes.  Paloma also wants to work, making and selling candies and working at the fonda. Maria worries that if Paloma doesn't finish school first, she won't ever go back.  JA comes to visit and Isa gleefully tells him that Maria estimates they can pay him back in a year and a half.  JA insists they don't owe him anything.

Susanito wonders what else Irasema is worried about, so she breaks it to him about her pimp.  She doesn't want to cause problems for him.  The good news is no one knows where she lives, so Susanito figures they'll be fine, but if the pimp finds her, "He'll find me too."  That's our Susanito, fighting for his luuuuurve.

Amalia is grateful to JA for everything he's done, but she doesn't think he should be obligated to do anything for them.  JA insists they owe him nothing and besides, he has Maria, so he has everything he wants.

Concho comes to the house to pack his clothes.  Elvira whines about how she wasn't raised to work.  Concho informs the ladies their shift starts at 6, when they'll be cleaning bathrooms.  Elvira tries to unpack the suitcase, but Concho insists that he's leaving.

Maria says she's going to work, but JA insists he's going too…at least until Rodrigo comes in, having an anxiety attack about his mom's health.  Paloma and Maria get him to calm down.

Lourdes tries screeching at Concho, cause that's an effective way to get a man not to leave.  Concho promises if they don't show up, he'll dock them a day's pay.  They're going to earn their keep from now on!  "See you later alligators."  Lourdes and Elvira shriek at each other and Lourdes demands that Elvira beg Maria's forgiveness on her knees.

At Gloria's, Gloria agrees to see the doctor, but not there.  She tells Rodrigo that Oscar is just going to have to man up.  She hopes she and Rod will be back together again.  Rod begs her to take him with her, but she says they'd already talked about this.  "You're going to stay with Mr. Vargas while I fix things with your father.  Please don't make things any harder on me."  Paloma is tasked with dealing with Rod.  JA swears they'll look after Rod and refuses to take any money from Gloria.  Maria says he's part of the family now and she'll treat him like her own son.

Mirna gets to host her "Gordis" (Gordo, gordito =fat man) and his big suitcase.  So far, she seems happy about this…until he breaks it to her that he didn't bring food.  He brought groceries, so she can cook for him.  He expects to be treated like a king.  Let's see how long this lasts.

JA tells Rod they're in this together now.  Rod is worried he won't see his mom again.  JA knows he can't say anything to make things better, but he promises what's his is Rod's and he'll look after him.

Curtis is loving the food at the Hotel Opera.  Cops:LA and Cops:DF have breakfast together.  Curtis is shocked to see Bruno and chokes on her breakfast, leading Derecho to Heimlich her.  She enjoys it, but does have the presence of mind (I'm using that term loosely) to take advantage of their closeness to whisper to him that Bruno is at a nearby table.

Gloria and Rod say a tearful goodbye.  JA and Maria want to take Gloria to the airport, but she wants to go alone.  She promises they'll be together again soon.  She makes Rod promise that he'll try to be ok.

Elvira shows the redheaded Mean Girl her wrecked manicure.  She vows she won't apologize to Maria and looks around the club before whispering that her dad made her work…as…a waitress!

JA gets Rod settled in his place, which I thought was Fernando's place earlier.  They seem to have given it a total redesign.  Rod gets the bed, so they change out the sheets.

Redhead Mean Girl gloats about Elvira working.  Elvira says she's going to have to apologize cause she just can't keep working.  But she vows she's only going to make Maria think she's sorry to lull her into a false sense of security…then she can hit her where it really hurts.

Ruben comes over to visit and tries to make nice with Isa, but she's having none of it.  He's surprised to hear that Maria is working…and at a fonda at that.  He gloats that at least she won't be around Vargas.  "He's a criminal!  They're looking for him because he cons lonely women out of money!"  Oh, sure, and didn't he just hit the jackpot with Maria.

JA calls and makes arrangements to meet with Bruno again.  Two sets of cops are following him.  Derecho is convinced Bruno will lead them to Santos.

Elvira goes to the fonda, where Maria is working, and asks to talk to her.  Elvira swears she's not there to fight, but to apologize and ask her to come back to the bar.

OG gets a call from Santos, who says he knows what OG did last summer and he's going to make him pay.  OG warns him he's putting his and his family's lives in danger.  Santos won't be scared off this time.  "Soon, you'll know what I'm capable of."

Isa refuses to believe it and cries that Ruben's lying.  Amalia reassures her none of it is true and sends Isa to her room.

Maria knows Elvira is only asking forgiveness to suit her.  Elvira admits she might be.  She blames Maria for the "humiliation" she suffered…which doesn't sound like it was anything worse than continuing to study after Elvira quit.  She insults Maria for working in some barrio fonda and thinking she's hot shit with her chef hat.  Maria takes the hat off and comes around the corner while Elvira picks up a chair like a lion tamer.

Amalia asks Ruben to forgive Isa.  She understands his concern, but Maria is in the middle of this.  She can't jump to any conclusions. Ruben insists they have to act quickly and turn JA in to the authorities.

JA notices cops pulling up to his rendezvous with Bruno.

Maria tells Elvira to get the hell out and just forget about her coming back to the bar, ever.

JA stands up and he and Bruno both notice the cops.  Bruno sits down at the table JA vacated while JA tries to sneak out the back.

Welcome to The Mariachi Workout.  Step one: wear a lot of black spandex.  Step two: beat the crap out of a punching bag, pretending it's your rival. To get the maximum benefit from this workout, make sure you spend more time complaining about your romantic rival than actually working out.  It's the unreasonable rage that really gets the heart rate up.

JA notices La Virgen back in the kitchen.  Bruno is accosted by the cops and plays it cool.

Ruben is very much not playing it cool as he insists on turning in JA.  He gets an "emergency" call and begs Amalia to turn in JA.

Bruno tells the cops he doesn't know where Santos is.  "If you're sure he's here, then why don't you look for him?"  Derecho, et al, do so.

Amalia tells Ruben she'll think about it.  She knew he was hiding something, but she doesn't want to break Maria's heart.  Well, Ruben would love to break her heart so he can be there to pick up the pieces.

Curtis comes close to JA's hiding place.

Amalia begs Dead!Pedro to help her figure out how to get rid of JA without breaking Maria's heart.

Curtis notices La Virgen, who apparently deflects Curtis on JA's behalf.  The cops give up and go back to Bruno's table.  Once they've gone, JA thanks the Virgen.

Maria fires up the jukebox at the fonda.

Mancia, Prudencia, and Remedios hang out with Amalia.

Maria sings Que Bonito Amor along with the jukebox.  Watch the fingers, babe!

Prudencia doesn't buy what Ruben is selling.  Neither does Remedios.

Maria sings and peels potatoes while little birds circle her head.  I'm just kidding about the birds.  The potatoes are legit.

Derecho thinks JA is protected by some kind of magical force.  Don't mess with La Virgen!

JA comes out of hiding and Bruno asks him if he's ok.  "Other than being betrayed by my friends and forced into being a fugitive, yeah."  It's not even that funny, but I can't stop laughing.  "See what you did?  Thanks a lot, 'friend'!"

Whiny Wendy mopes and won't get out of bed.  She's worried about what unpardonable thing Bruno did.  Altagracia reminds her it's the baby who's important  now.

Maria sings and whips egg whites.  Oh, bullshit!  Add that to the list of things you won't see in my kitchen.  There is nothing about whipping egg whites BY HAND that makes me want to sing.

The older ladies have a giggle about how Prudencia misheard Remedios when she said JA was "chapado al antiguo" (an old fashioned guy).  Prudencia heard "chaparro" (short).

Maria sings and makes chiles rellenos.  She's fondling that chile a little too much for my taste.  While she finishes up the song and moons over a plate of food, her boss comes to take it, presumably to some customer who's been waiting for it.

Prudencia thinks JA reminds her of Pedro in "La Tercera Palabra" (The Third Word).  She thinks JA's face just oozes love for Maria.  Amalia starts to get up, but has a severe pain.

JA tells Bruno they need to get out of there.  He tells Bruno to loose the cops and they'll meet in a place Bruno can't even imagine.  Bruno protests that this is dangerous.  "Not as dangerous as having you as a friend."  Bruno hopes JA can forgive him.  He heads out and hails a taxi as the cops prepare to follow.

Tomorrow: Maria has heard about Ruben's investigation and she's pissed at JA; the cops prepare to raid Ay, Jalisco.

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Comments:
Well, there you have it, peeps. It doesn't feel like the plot was advanced much, just a lot of setup for tomorrow...assuming what we saw in the previews actually happens tomorrow and not at the very tail end of tomorrow's episode, thus pushing it to Monday. Quien sabe.

RL update: still waiting on the video project to be posted online. I just auditioned for a commercial this morning with a tight turnaround, so if I get it, not only will I know by next Thursday, but it will probably also have been filmed by then. And I thought the summer would be slow!
 

All that and crafting chocolates, too? Guao!
Lovely recap for a missed episode. I didn't see it but would have doubtless needed the help on Prudencia's punny hearing even with sp subtitles.

So Curtis pried herself away from Derecho long enough to do some actual police work -- badly.

Could someone re-recap what/where Gloria is doing or headed to at airport? Better medical care than in DF? Was this set up in some other scene/episode I missed earlier?
 

It wasn't made clear. A clinic back in Monterey perhaps? The whole "ok, but not here" thing was a surprise.
 

Great work, Kat.

It sounds like I misheard the reading of the file the other night and I feel like a total idiot.

Amalia is too stupid and/or selfish to argue the issue of whether Jorge Alfredo is a con man who women out of their money. Maria is no target for anything like that and he paid their rent and the bigger part of Isabel's medical bill, for which he has declined repayment. That does not add up to the accusation.

I hate to say this, but Santos needs his parents now. He also needs to not forgive Bruno. Despite that he is learning some valuable stuff right now he didn't deserve to have his life turned inside out. More after caffeine.
 

Yeah, seriously, QTH! He randomly picks one of the criminal "Jorge Alfredo Vargas" and it's probably the least likely crime. Oh noes, he's after Maria's money...you mean the 2 pesos she can barely rub together? And if he's on the run for having conned women out of their money...where the hell is all the money he conned them out of?
 

The money he paid to the hospital for Isabel's treatment?

Not that a con man would do that.

What kind of law does Ruben practice, anyway? From the look of his office he must have wealthy clients so I'm inclined to think he handles property, estate planning, high-profile divorces, corporate law, or something like that. He doesn't look like a criminal defense attorney but... who knows who he knows with that strip joint he doesn't talk about.

I repeat: Almira is a real ninnyhammer for believing even one word of his story.

You had to love Elvira whining about ruining her nails waiting tables. While I think Concho is sleazy in the usual way of things I have to give him chops for making his spoiled females understand what work is.
 

Amelia is a selfish idiot. She wants to keep Maria a child and with her forever. She disgusts me. We've seen a lot of ruthless, smotherers in Novelaland but she takes the cake. JAntos has been nothing but kind to her and her family but she shows no class when she goes on about paying him back when he has told her to forget it. Strange she has all these feelings of a mother about JAntos being something he is not and yet gets no alarm bells ringing about Ruben who is married, whose wife insulted Maria publicly and has no business meddling in Mendoza family affairs. Perhaps he gets a pass because he has money and JAntos is just a poor schmuck in her eyes.

Ruben is s pig. He makes his dramatic announcement in front of an innocent child and doesn't seem the least bit concerned about her hysterical reaction mush less her very truthful you are a liar. Some father he must be. He definitely doesn't strike me as a criminal attorney, more of a corporate type. Perhaps his "office emergency" is finding out that one of his prostitutes has flown the coop.

I too had to take a second look at the apartments. I keep them straight in my mind because Fernando's has that odd shaped window and JAntos' has that talavera half moon plus all the serapes. I will say JAntos' has seemed to be upgraded lately.

I'm at a loss as to where Gloria is going for her treatment. She was seeing a doctor in the DF and I can't believe he would send her back to Monterrey. Maybe she is headed for Sloan Kettering in the US. It looks like just a plot device to leave Rod with JAntos so Coloso will eventually have to man up.

I must say as much as I don't care for Concho who we know is a thief I had to love him telling his sharks their shifts start at 6 punto. I must say I am at a loss as to how Trampira's fingernails and hands got so bad when all she is doing is carrying trays around. Now when she has to clean the bathrooms I can see it and enjoy it. Guess the bases of her hate for Maria stems from their school days when she thought Maria made her look like a fool. Then again Maria told her she studied while obviously Trampira just pranced around trying to be th hot girl in school.
 

That is the only thing that makes any sense to me about any past issues between Maria and Elvira.

Great point about Ruben making those announcements in front of Isabel. Obviously he isn't raising his own children or he sees Isabel as a non-entity or a possible obstacle to his quest to boink Maria. And while she is frequently annoying she is a smart kid and called him out on his lie.

Why the hell isn't the family dog growling at Ruben whenever he crosses the threshhold? Not a very smart novela pet.
 

And when is Ruben finding any time for lawyering in the midst of his relentless pursuit of Maria and his visits to his strip club?! I had the same thought about his mysterious "emergency"...I'm waiting to see "the pimp" have a frantic convo with him about losing their top earner. And if Elvira is ruining her manicure from serving drinks, she must be doing something seriously wrong. Maybe we missed a dishwashing scene, but still...use gloves dummy!
 

Ay, Jalisco, Estoy rajada (if that's a word). I don't know how you do it, Diva, this was a gem.

I'll bet your "candy" is better than Paloma's.

One thing I need to expound upon. Legal training in Mexico. We were unsure at the beginning of QBA what course of study Maria was taking. When it was revealed to be law, I began to wonder.

Being somewhat familiar with the steps to graduate with a J.D. (not me, but friends) in the US, it's 3 years of intensive study and writing and oral scruitiny by professors, course work that can be dull, deadly and fascinating at the same time. You spend 1/3 of your time in the library, reading case law, doing research and taking notes, 1/3 of your time in class, 1/3 of your time meeting with your study group and another 1/3 you didn't have writing, and another 1/3 sleeping, eating and taking care of bodily functions. Well, maybe now that entire law libraries are on line and you can find websites that will write your papers for you, maybe, just maybe it would work in Maria's case.

However, I've never seen her either in a library or much less logged onto a home computer. Oh, and that book she opened up, pining for her classwork? I've never seen a law book quite that thin.

Juárever, telenovela law school is just the ticket to fight greedy landlords. Good luck, Maria, I mean it.
 

I feel sorry for the actors. If we're having such a difficult time with our beanies not being adequate, I can't imagine what they go through as they read their scripts. "Wait, I say what? What's my motivation?" "You're getting paid." "Um, OK, I'll see what I can do to sell it."
 

Thanks so much, Five Footer. Loved the recap! Hope you get the commercial!

“Welcome to The Mariachi Workout … It's the unreasonable rage that really gets the heart rate up.” LOL!

“JA comes out of hiding and Bruno asks him if he's ok. "Other than being betrayed by my friends and forced into being a fugitive, yeah." It's not even that funny, but I can't stop laughing.” Agree! That was the best line of the episode.

I was on the edge of my seat last night, worried that our darling JAntos was going to get nabbed. But since La Virgencita was on the job and it was Curtis looking for him, I knew he’d be okay. I’m not happy that it looks like more of that stress tonight, but seeing Elvira cleaning bathrooms will make up for it. :)

Something else I’ve been wondering. If the three evil orange cousins have been laundering money through Santos’ business for years, who ratted on them? Who else knew what they were doing? Who is their enemy? And why? If Santos is going to persist in talking to Bruno, which I think is a big mistake since clearly Bruno is leading the cops to him, I wish he’d ask him those questions.

Elvira: Apologizing. You’re doing it wrong.

So Ruben actually thinks that someone is going to believe that JAntos is after Maria’s nonexistent money? He really does think poorly of the unwashed masses if he thinks the Mendoza gals would buy that load. I totally enjoyed Amalia’s polite 'yeah, sure' skepticism. There’s no better way to deal with an arrogant toad like Ruben.

The whole "ok, but not here" thing was a surprise - and also nonsensical. I agree with whoever it was that said what kind of mother with cancer would uproot and go to a new city. And now she’s going to dump her precious baby with a near stranger, who lives in a dumpy boarding house with hookers and shower rooms without locks and such (not that she even knows that), and leave to get treatment, but the way she’s been talking, she’s really going to go off die in a corner by herself? Who does that, other than cats? It’s as if she is trying to maximize the trauma for her kid. *cranks beanie up to full power*

If Rod is sleeping in JAntos’ bed, where is JAntos going to sleep? Not that it’s any of my business. Still. Inquiring minds want to know.

BTW, I’ve worked as a cocktail waitress. It’s a heck of a lot more than carrying a tray of drinks around, and it destroys your nails. There’s no time for gloves; in a busy bar, you are moving every second. You do a lot of wiping with wet cloths, changing ashtrays, cleaning, lifting heavy stuff, dealing with garbage (both customers and the other kind). At the end of a shift, you need to scrub from the elbows down.

 

Anita

I was semi-surprised when I head Maria was studying law as well. I though it was some kind of computer class. Then again she did get that job offer at Ruben's law office even if he did finagle it a bit to get her under his control. She certainly didn't seem to be studying law to me unless she had just begun her classes. Oops of course Telenovelaland instant expertise in anything needed to advance the plot.

About Trmpira's nails just had a thought maybe the bar serves that really cheap tequila you used to get that could strip paint off the walls hence her manicure gone to hell.
 

Oh, Diva, you are so right. Or the not saying anything at all in a ridiculous scene (JS grumpy at the police station, JS hiding behind whatever that was in the kitchen, JS having to watch that tortured goodbye between Roddy and Gloria--which, BTW looked creepy with him stroking her hair).

And speaking of SoggyRoddy (to borrow an adjective from AV), I think we are about to award the Victoria Ruffo Best Crying Scenes in all of telenovelandia to Gabriel Navarro (poor kid). If I were Paloma I would stick with the cancelled Quinceañera and go sell candy; he's too big to babysit.

I did get a kick out of JAntos stripping the bed for Roddy, and as he was pulling the sheets off he told Roddy these were his Maria sheets (the embroidered ones she first gave him with her name on them).
 

Five Footer, it really does make you wonder about how the actors must react to the scripts. I just re-watched the episode where JA kisses Maria before she changes her torn blouse. He goes on about how he loves her face, her nose, eyebrows, lips, shoulders, and so on -- while standing about ten feet away from her!? That's the kind of things that is said while embracing someone, not from across the room. I keep noticing that something doesn't work in their love scenes. He doesn't look in her eyes very much or for very long, and they are often physically awkwardly positioned. They seem uncomfortable with each other, though it's gotten just a teensy bit better lately.

Okay, all better now. Rant over. Work awaits. :)

 

Anita, I had to laugh at JS stripping that bed. It didn't look like he'd done that very often.
 

I'm not getting why Roddy needs to stay at Santos' place when it would certainly be easier on him to have Santos stay at the Reyes place. A kid with a hospitalized mother should have as few other disruptions as possible.

Now is the time for both Santos and Fernando to gang up on Oscar to get that DNA test. They should also grill him like a steak over the last conversation he had with Gloria's father. That needs to be compared with what Gloria knows.

We knew Elvirus wasn't going to apologize for real. She was going to do whatever it took to get out of working in the bar and it didn't work.

Concho is taking a big chance by treating Mirna like a wife he's already tired of. She could easily trade him in for a younger guy with a better body while ratting him out over the 20% of the bar he doesn't own.

 

Urban

I too thought Rod moving was dumb. I also though if the Mendoza's get booted from their hovel they could move in to Gloria's digs and take care of him in his own environment. Too logical I guess. Another laugh over the removing the Maria sheets and wondering where they will go now?

Caroline

Apologies to hardworking cocktail waitresses everywhere but the idea of Trampira actually doing all the work was ludicrous. She could barely handle on tray with a single glass.

Been thinking about how the cops were onto Santo's Auto Dealership. Back in the opening minuts they were already staking out the place. Obviously the Crayola Box cousins had somehow called attntion to what they were doing or the police and feds were alreay onto the Godfather. It looked more like money smuggling to me then laundering which is usually done with bank transfers and all kinds of messy shenanigans.
 

No disrespect to actual cocktail waitresses was intended. I only meant to heap my scorn on Elvira, who I doubt was doing a good enough job of waitressing to justify screwing up her nails, and to say that if her nails are her biggest concern, then she might want to take steps to protect them.
 

DCG & 5ft, for my part at least, no offence taken and no need to apologize or explain. I have very thick skin with lots of internet callouses and I know you didn't mean anything bad.

Wait people of all sorts do get maligned all the time on TV and in movies. You'd think from what you see that no customer would ever have a problem waiting for his/her drink, food, fork, whatevs, while the server flirted, fought, solved the world's problems, or went up on stage to do a number with the band. After all, wait peeps never actually have to face consequences if they don't keep customers happy, right? *eye roll* It's so commonplace, I haven't even bothered to mention it as regards to QBA until today.

Carry on!
 

DCG, I have to admit I am pretty unclear on the difference between money smuggling and money laundering, but I agree it looks more like they were sneaking the money into the US than de-criminalizing it. Who knows.

Who started the whole ball rolling for busting the cousins may never even come up. As you pointed out, it happened before the opening minutes. I may be overthinking it, which is never a good idea in QBA-land.
 

I believe that law studies in Mexico are a 4 or 5 year undergrad degree and a lot less rigorous than most of our Law Schools (some are easier than others). I think it's quite common for students to work part time. I know that there's no bar exam, either.

Yes, Maria would need a computer or go to somewhere to use one. Her studies seem to be just window dressing and IRL, she would have to spend a lot more time on them.

So far, from the writers' point of view, her studying law has meant that Ruben could offer her that job and I'm thinking her knowledge could help out Santos at some point down the road.
 

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