Caray, Caray!

Personally, I think that since the Saucy Wenches can sing, they and Maria should form an all-female mariachi band.
 

Urban:

Thanks for this wonderful recap.

That scene with Rodrigo and his Mama was heartbreaking and also the one with Paloma. I really hope that Oscar mans up already.

I have to say that fight was funny between JA and Oscar. They were both so exhausted by the end of it, I'm surprised JA didn't look the worse for wear when he went and talked to Amalia.

I thought the whole Mancia, Susanito and Irasema scene was too funny when Mancia went into her fake I'm sick mode. She reminded me so much of Fred Sanford with "I'm coming Elisabeth", lol. I am glad Susanito stuck with Ira and I really hope they make it.

Poor Maria, although that food looked good, she really wasn't into making it. I agree with you about the Saucy Wenches and Maria, they ought to form a band and go on the road, away from the mayhem.

I can't stand Rueben anymore. His "Maria is mine all mine" is just sick. She will never be his and I hope there is a huge anvil for this putz.

Fernando "Mil Amores" was rather rude to Ana, kissing Roxanna right in front of her. I noticed he was watching her face at first when he was kissing Roxanna. Poor Ana.

Oh, and how is Rueben going to prove that the Jorge Alfredo "he knows" is this white slaver without a picture? In a way I hope JA is long on his way to El Lay before he comes up with something. I didn't like the advances about the trap.
 

Unless he has become completely delusional, Ruben knows he doesn't have proof. All he needs is to make Amalia more paranoid than she already is and she will start guilting Maria better than a Jewish mother in a bad joke.

If his more rational office chum can't make him see reason nobody can. We are stuck with him until the end of the story and knowing the writers Mejia likes to work with, he will get creepier every time we see him.

Unfortunately, he knows where Maria lives. And since he's a lawyer there is probably no possibility of Maria getting a restraining order against him (if there is such a thing in Mexico).


 

“Maria begins singing [Where is the music coming from?]” Guardian angels are always accompanied by their heavenly orchestras, don’t you know. I can’t imagine that she would think that singing on buses would pay the bills. Poor, naïve Maria. I think a lot of time, people just give bus musicians money out of charity or so they’ll stop, they’re so bad.

“The fight continues, with Jorge Alfredo breaking a vase and finally the other chair over Oscar's back.” I thought that I saw a Ken Edwards vase on the floor during that fight that was in mortal peril, which was really distracting me. Like the one that costs $200, here: http://www.tlallidesigns.com/collections/ken-edwards-collection-series-stoneware/Ken-Edwards-Vases

[TN Cliché #12 and f you're taking requests later, por favor, “Rata de dos patas” will do nicely.] *snort*

So no mention this episode of JA going off to LA with Rigo?

I thought Evilra knew about Mirna and her dad, but I guess not much really gets through to her that isn’t all about me, me, me.

So what exactly did that long punch fest between JA and Coloso accomplish? And I guess JA only doesn’t fight anymore if Maria isn’t watching. Otherwise, it’s game on, fight to the death. Except nobody died and nobody was hospitalized or even any worse for the wear. How ridiculous is that.

Did you get a load of the heels Maria did her cocinera shift in? OMG.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, makes me sadder than to see a young person give up on their education. I can’t imagine that JAntos’ will be pleased by that decision.

Many thanks for a wonderful recap, UA!

 

Was it just me or did last night just seem like one big filler episode with not much of anything happening except the usual, a cock fight, Amalia warning and whining, the girls not believing and Mancia going overboard. Could have skipped the whole thing and not missed anything. It all seemed flat to me.

One thing I am noticing in this TN is that some scenes seem to go way longer than necessary to get the point across, they seem like filler to drag things out i.e. last nights fight scene, the fairy tale and clown episodes and God knows anything with that twit Curtis.

One thing did come up which is sure to cause trouble for JAntos. He picks a name out of thin air and lo and behold it also belongs to a white slaver and one the cops have no picture of. How very convenient. If our boy gets busted he will be in real trouble. At least Fernando knows who he really is and can get in touch with Justo.

Rare for a TN we have no body count. I am immediately nominating two of the most annoying mothers E V E R! Amalia and Mancia over protective, interfering and stunting their children' growth. They need to go.
 

UA--I was a bit distracted by the coupling going on over on AV, so I really needed your recap to fill in the blanks (while I was still swooning). Thank you for covering this Mejia mess for us the stalwart few and fewer.

Maria singing on a bus? Give me a break. First she needed a full, rush-hour bus if she wanted to collect decent tips. It was an embarassment to me. Yes, and just where *was* that band that accompanied her?

If she could make money that way, every out-of-work mariachi would be working the buses--or sitting on the sidewalk with a tin cup in front. I am sorry she had to quit school.

Maria earned just enough pesos cooking all day to get a few pieces of chicken neck for soup to take home for dinner. The nice chicken lady gave her a breast piece out of the goodness of her heart. With that she's face to face with the fact that she'll never earn enough doing odd jobs to cover family expenses.

I'm with you, Urban--Maria and the Saucy Wenches (good name for an American rock band) should start their own mariachi group.

Does Coloso even know, since he's been so busy fighting, Maria quit the band? What will he do? What is Concho going to do?

JA and Coloso. We thought we had some teenage behavior over on AV last night, but these two take the cake. For Heavens Sakes, these are GROWN men squabling over what? DNA tests and women? Here I thought endless ROFnotL type of settling scores was a thing of the past, having been supplanted in the 21st C. by knives and guns. Where's your pride, guys?

UA--Ana took Roxana to her own apartment and was none at all pleased to be harboring Mil Amores latest conquest. I thought they had made a pact to bring him down a peg or two, but obvio Roxana is all into Fernando. The look on Ana's face when they were kissing really tugged at my heartstrings.

I actually enjoyed the Mancia-centered scenes tonight. As you noted, UA, all so TN predictable, but Mancia was really performing her crisis for the "old" Susanito. Susano gets it now. He didn't fall for it.

Come to think of it, Rodrigo came off looking better than those two fighting roosters (BTW, where *was* the real rooster--you'd think he would want in on the fight.) Paloma was so sweet and tender with him and never a word of reproach for unmanly tears.

 

...and, sorry, we have been over this before. What is it with Gloria? Has she raised a ninny? Her son is 15. He's old enough to cope with the side-effects of his mother's treatments. She wants to leave him with a "stranger" and go off by herself for the treatments? Most patients need a support network to help them face this.

My ex-husband's mother contracted breast cancer when he was in high school and his younger sister was just starting high school. Back then, the survival rate was dismal. They lived through it together, as a family, even though she didn't survive. My aunt also died of breast cancer, but her children were already older. Devastating and traumatic as a fatal disease, it serves as in-your-face life lessons.

Gloria should be helping Roddy rather than trying to shelter him. Then she hits him with two big news items at once. Oh, dear, oh, dear. So glad he has such "grounded" folks as Jorge Alfredo, Mil Amores, Riggo, Maria, Paloma and Amalia.

Amalia, what can we say about you, dearie. You take so much of your life on faith, but won't take the word of a man who has been more than good and generous with your family and has shown over and over how much he loves Maria, when he asks you to.

It's all a set up, of course, because, guess what, here comes Ruben. What else would strike more fear into a mother than to be told that this man who is wooing her daughter is only interested in enslaving her into the sex trade. Ay de mi. Is there a TN Cliche for listening to and believing in hearsay when there is no proof?

Mostly rant, I know. But this tn is getting soooo verrrry cliche and repetitive. I don't think even JS believes in half the stuff he has to say as JAntos and is embarassed that he has to.
 

Ay, Carolina--I was composing my essay while you were already done and posting. Thinking alike about bands, buses and tips. You are funny, but correct about giving tips to *beggars* on buses, even if they are singing beautifully.
 

DCG, yes, I also thought this episode was very flat and yes, there is a lot of empty fluff and so called comic relief in this TN. I loathe the LA cop clowns. While I truly love Mexico and Mexican culture, much of their humor is not to my taste.

Anita, I was wondering if JAntos even knew that Maria had quit. I don’t remember her telling anyone but her mom, and there are going to be a lot of people with some strong opinions about this. Even Concho didn’t seem to know and was still saying ‘if’ to Evilra.

I agree with you about JS. Ay, Jorge, how could you? I haven’t seen him in previous TNs, but at times he seems to be just phoning it in. At times I think his acting is great, or at least as good as it gets in a novela, but at others I am not so sure. His love scenes with Maria would be a lot more convincing if he looked in her eyes more.

Singing on buses is just one step up from panhandling, at least in my experience in Mexico. It is not the same even as a street musician who can be good and seem to get more tips because people stand around and listen for a while. I suppose they just wanted to do that scene and it did give us one song this episode.

 

I was cracking up laughing when toward the end of the Jorge/Coloso fight Jorge asks Coloso to get him a glass of water and Coloso says 'sure' and stands up to go to his kitchen. it was too funny.

Also, Maria spends all that time cooking and when she serves the soup the corn on cob piece is floating on just liquid... where did all those vegetables go??

I too am getting a bit tired with Rodrigo's constant crying. I want Coloso to react to end that agony.

Ruben and the reports on the various 'Jorge Alfredo Vargas' especially the one with criminal record about a white slaver from LA. ITA about your comments on Ruben... not sure if he is worse than Nil-Brains from AV or not. they are neck and neck... but at least Vicky IS Nil-Brains wife.
 

Carolina, have to agree with..
Singing on buses is just one step up from panhandling, at least in my experience in Mexico.
then again people come up with all kinds of ways to get some food money in Mexico, from making candy and selling at school (Paloma) to working part time as cook on-call basis to going on streets to sell 'serenatas' to passing by drivers as the mariachi guys did.
 

Decie Girl: I had the same opinion of the episodio as total filler.


 

UA: Excellent job with a loser episodio. They're marking time for how much longer? And here are some of my favs of some of your very clever lines.

"Dawn over the rolling waves [so are we now heading to El Lay?] …Reyes Apartment [not yet, I guess]"
LOL!

"[And we're wondering why there isn't a José Cuervo sign where the Tostitos sign is, because that would make much more sense] Good catch!"

"she isn't ready forIron Chef, but looks like she knows the right things to put together"

"Pendejo, how many times does anyone have to tell you that Maria is not a piece of property?" --Okiedok. As of that P.I. scene, post gum shoe leaving, the Pestiferous One has gone over to the dark side and he passes pest, does not get $200, and heads towards definite harassment --IMNSHO ; > ))
 

martaivett, Yes, I admire the ingenuity of so many in Mexico who come up with ways to make a peso and I feel for those living in the poverty that drives it. I certainly don't mean to deride them for that. To their credit, the bus musicians are NOT just panhandling, and to their credit, Mexicans DO give/pay money to people who sing, sell candy and other stuff, wash windshields, guard parked cars, etc. because they have no other way to make money. I have seen again and again that Mexicans will do this even when they don't appear to have a lot of money themselves.

As for Ruben and the flimsy evidence against our Jorge Alfredo, you might think that because he is a lawyer, he would know the difference. He seemed a little too happy to get this data on JA, even though he should have known it didn't mean beans. From the advances, I think we are about to see not only him, but the police fall for it and come after JAntos. Let me guess, he's going to slip away from capture once again.

I'd better go find my beanie. I'm going to be needing it.

 

Ruben definitely knows he doesn't have evidence. He is counting on the naivete of Maria and her mother to buy this despite the lack of a photo and a probably discrepancy on the time of departure from El Lay. He is desperate.

Prediction, not spoiler: Ruben will attempt to rape Maria at some point down the road.

I'm surprised that his office buddy didn't point out that there have always been witnesses to every occasion (that we've seen) when Maria has told him she is not interested in him. Further, that this will mean something when he crosses the line.
 

UA, you could be right about Ruben knowing he has no evidence, but I was trying to fit the police trap we saw in the advances into the picture as well.

It doesn't seem likely that the LA cops are suddenly going to get it together and bust JA tonight. And it also doesn't seem likely that the Mexican police are going to come swarming in like that, guns drawn, unless they are tipped off. So if Ruben, whether he himself believes the evidence, tips off the police and they think it is sufficient reason to arrest him, then what we saw in the advance makes sense.

And I guess to be fair, it would be sufficient reason to bring him in and hold him until they can get a photo from LA. Or they could send a photo to LA, which would be very dangerous for our hero. He wouldn't match the sex slave guy, but they might recognize him as Santos. Didn't we see the male cop clown fingering a photo of Santos recently?

I hope that advance was like to many others so far in QBA, a big bunch of nothing. I know that all the TNs tease with them, but this one has been especially misleading, I think.

If Ruben goes to Maria, she may believe it, but since she was a law student (until yesterday), she might not. Or whether she buys it or not, she may tip off JA. I don't think Amalia is dumb enough to believe it; she was pretty sharp to figure out that JA had too nice of hands to be a mechanic. Just because she senses that something doesn't add up doesn't mean that she'll buy any old load of carp that Ruben comes along with. At least I would hope not.
 

I'm afraid Amelia will believe what ever poop Ruben tosses at her. Deep down no matter what JAntos says she wants to believe the worst about him.

Mari has publicly said she will fight for JA but this bing a novela she probably won't. He has tried to tell her the truth which she should remember but she is under pressure from all side not to believe him.

I'm not sure that Ruben's PI didn't tell him he couldn't get a picture because no one had one or if there just wasn't one with the file. In any event there is definitely a tip of to have that much police presence in the area. When I saw the preview I though someone grabbed JA when he turned from the cops and I'm guessing it is Fernando since no one else knows he fears the police.

Maria singing on the bus sure isn't going to net her much money but it isn't only in Mexico where you see that. I've seen it in Paris dozens of times someone gets on with an insturment or even a tape and sings while everyone gamely tries to avoid making eye contact and then they pass the hat and get off at the next stop. I suspect it is against the law or France being France they need a license. LOL

 

There are musicians on NYC subways as well. They often get exit the car at the next stop and enter another car or wait for the next train without having to pay another fare which obviously eats into any money they collect.

While some of these musicians are good and I will tip the good ones I resent that this happens because it makes me a captive audience to the bad ones. What's even worse is when a bunch of older teens or early 20-something break dancers enter a subway car and take up the entire center, using the rails and poles. This makes it impossible to get up to prepare to disembark if your stop is coming up.
 

Have also seen singers, other musicians sing/play on the NY subways, pass the hat, and move on to the next car.
 

Decie,
I am afraid if you don't like how Amalia is so not supportive of Maria/Jorge here and suspicious of Jorge, you would REALLY HATE Raquel, her counterpart role in LHDM, since Amalia was much more condescending in the 'Elvira' events than Raquel ever was. Both mothers defended their daughter strongly, though. Then again, we never had the 'Jorge comes up with all that money or Jorge has that rare blood type and is willing to give it to the last drop for Isa' in LHDM either.
 

No matter what Amalia says to Maria I don't think she wants her to have a man or a life of her own. In her worldview Maria needs to be the 21st century version of Tita. This is both selfish and monumentally toxic and would only make Maria resent her in the future.

Jorge Alfredo can't win with Amalia no matter what. As things are at the moment he is in the doghouse for hiding the truth, but as soon as she knows he is rich and innocent of any crime, she will hate him for taking Maria away. There is a certain reverse snobbery going on here that is insanely unfair to Maria. A reverse snobbery that will not be extended to Ruben, whom she should be more suspicious of than she is.

I am still betting that Ruben is the white slaver in this tale.
 

I don't think Amalia is that bad. She's looking out for her daughter and I'd be doing the same thing in her position.

I have seen musicians on the subways in NYC and I think also in Boston. I have never seen them on a bus in this country, though, or anywhere nearly as often as in Mexico. It's like a small scale industry there, especially on the second class intercity buses. The snack vendors get on and off when the buses are stopped, but the musicians get on out of the stations and sometimes ride for a long time.

I've noticed that there is a theme developing about the suspicions, distance, and misunderstandings between rich and poor. I see it as more complex than snobbery. I've mentioned before that the sets of working or middle class homes are more realistic than you usually see in TNs. There's been a lot of attention to possessions and the economic status they signify - Isa wanting things her family can't afford, Fernando commenting on Santos' designer footwear to ride the bestia, Santos and Maria not being able to afford cell phones (apparently) and many other examples.

The attitudes have gone both directions, with Ruben and Lourdes being so condescending and Elvirus (heh) thinking it was funny that Maria's family would die of hunger. And on the other side, both Coloso and Amalia were immediately suspicious of JAntos' family sending him so much money. And Rigo being so impressed with the hotel Santos paid for, and on and on. We had Santos fall from high to low, and we'll most certainly see Maria go from low to high if we get the boda at the end as per cliche. Daniela seems to have some sensitivity towards the poverty of her mariachi, but she also could be going from low to high if she ends up marrying him without her family's blessing. Alternatively, he could go from low to high with their blessing. Concho seems to fear that he could end up poor, and maybe he started out that way. With any luck, by the end, we'll see some of the rich baddies end up muertos de hambre. I am liking this theme. It's interesting to me.

I keep thinking that the Monterrey connection is somehow going to be significant. Somehow Santos' family is going to be related to either Coloso's or Gloria's.

 

Gracias, UA! At least the all-female mariachi band seem to be better at setting aside any internal differences in the interest of "all for one and one for all," unlike the guys. (Colosso, I'm looking at you!)