Caray, Caray!

Good stuff, Jardinera. Waiting for the rest.

Maria has a point about not taking the chance of being arrested. However, she needs to understand that an insult like this has to be dealt with.

Oscar just dropped another rank on my chart for starting the second fight. And Concho needs to understand that since the whole rivalry and jealousy stuff were only a show it has endless potential to get out of control.

Mirna is a sick bitch for what she's up to but her motive is obviously to keep Maria from finding out that she and her family rightfully own half of the bar.
 

Loved the snark re the punks. Also loved the cop who told Political Boy who did he think he was, that he was tired of connected people thinking they are above the law. Their have been several articles in my local paper about exactly that, how Mexicans are fed up with the so called elites ignoring the law and thinking they can get away with anything. Seems social media is playing a big part in it so it was a very timely line in the story.

Poor Trampira, she never gets it and if I had ever talked to my mother like she did i'd have been risking a good slap. Actually felt sorry for the actress in that hideous dress, which she had to keep pulling up to keep one of her girls inside.

Typical Mendoza behavior - Paloma jumps to a conclusion without even looking closely enough at the picture to see that Roddy was a non participant. Also noticed how tepid Amelia's response was to her crying and also how she stood up for him which she never does with JA.

God help us all Justo actually thinks that Whiney can be smart enough to keep her yap shut when dealing with OJ. On the other hand now that she knows he killed Bronzo and it was partly her fault she might use what brains she has. OJ for all his incompetence pretty much has her tagged as a loose lipped nitwit. Should be fun.
 

Decie: I would say the Snotty Punks plot is just as timely up here north of the border as well..... Glad you noted it. Anywho, I actually loved the ending this time and was LMAO. You're right about loving it when I can FF through the puppy love and the songs when having to recap. Last night was just like that, tho' I do love both PM and DG singing. The music, whoever the real musicians are, are a fabulous bunch of talent and probably don't get the credit they deserve.
==========
UA: ITA that the rivalry stuff has potential to get out of hand. I worry for Maria's pregnancy, but also because of the constant fights that put JA in jeopardy of getting caught by the police and sent back to an American Prison.
 

Correction: The rivalry and jealousy isn't just a show.

Actually, I liked Elvira's dress, but I would personally want it in a different color.

She is headed for a nasty Karmageddon based on the avances.


 

Based on the previews Elvirus has definitely turned the corner from just being the typical annoying other woman wannabe into the nasty wait for the anvil witch. I can usually put up with stupid woman who thinks she can break up a couple with planted photos, "overseen" make out sessions and high school stunts. But deliberately trying to cause a woman to have a miscarriage crosses the line into criminal behavior.

Maria would have to fall awfully hard to create a problem with what looks like about a foot and half fall and she did seem to be bracing herself with her hands. Elriva will have to pay for that as well as for stealing the money that got two of the wenches fired.

Poor Ana. She used to work with three other wenches, then two got fired, Lety runs off to Chiapas and now Irasema gets abducted. Guess the business at the bar isn't as good as Concho wants if one poor woman has to do all the waitressing, cocktail work.
 

Thank you, Jardinera! What a fabulous, detailed recap with lots of fun snark and POVs from Viewerville.

Decie Girl, Re. Elvira’s dress – that’s what’s know as a pit tug. Long ago when I used to watch the Bachelor, where there were always lots of women wearing strapless dresses, that was a cue for the drinking game. Last night I found myself reflexively reaching for my wine glass. iSalud! :)

Good point about how sick Mexicans are of the rich and powerful thinking they are above the law. I kept thinking of Santos during that scene, whose family is probably much more rich and powerful than that Rich Kid Punk, but how he could never had flaunt it like that now and maybe never did, even when he could. On top of the matter of the proposition, it sure didn’t seem to set well with him.

I totally thought that Rich Punk Buddy took the police captain outside and paid him a nice little wad of cash to make this whole thing disappear. And everybody there knew it.

“The woman, methinks, is a sucker for all stray dogs and sick puppies.” And losers with dark pasts and drinking problems. Gee, I wonder why she doesn’t have such great experiences with men. Way to pick ‘em, Ana. *eyeroll*

Could the “unnamed person” that the Godfather wants Ruben to stop following also be Maria? After all, it is his obsession with her that Fabnot has complained about so much, and it is her that he is stalking. The problems with JA, while they have gotten serious recently, are only due to Ruben’s obsession with Maria.

“The best thing is for us to stop seeing each other.” Cara de you can’t mean that, right? de JAntos. (Cara de not again! de Viewerville.)” This? Is getting old. Very, very old. Once again, Maria is withholding affection as a form of punishment. NOT COOL.

Coloso seems to love annoying JA as much as he loves pursuing Maria. If JA would just ignore him, it would spoil his fun, I think, and he would mellow out. On top of that, JA really is an idiot to be working in such a public place, let alone indulging in his favorite past time of fisticuffs. He has been all along, but especially now that everyone knows he is a fugitive AND a millionaire (therefore a potential kidnap target) AND has numerous enemies.

For her part, Maria needs to accept some responsibility for the Coloso-JA rivalry and for some of the behavior of BOTH Coloso and Ruben. It is her fault that their interest has become obsession. She let that happen, and if she hadn’t, she and JA wouldn’t have nearly as many problems as they have now.

Elvirus is whacked if she thinks that somehow her ‘humiliation’ by a very drunk JA merits making Maria miscarry. Especially after all the awful things she did to JA&M before her ‘humiliation’.

This is the second time that JA has been in the office and gone saucer eyed when he heard some dirt about the Concho-Mirna-Lourdes situation. I wonder how his knowing this stuff will come into play.

 

Irasema is in real danger with Fabnot grabbing her. She left the letter for Sue and Mancia encouraged her to run so who will be looking for her.

Interestingly enough Maria has a lot of information that could help both Santos and Sue but she is probably too stupid to put it together and speak up. She did tell JA about OJ and Ruben but didn't tell him they were in a failed business dealing together which would tip JA off to how really dangerous Ruben is. Now she also knows that Fabnot threatened Sue and she knows he is an associate of Ruben's. I'd be blabbing but with her who knows.

Ruben is going to have a another hissy fit when Punk Boy tells him what happened at the bar and that the cops didn't drag JAntos off in cuffs. After his talk with the GF I kept waiting for him to have a Sergio Sendel phone abuse fit.

Carolina - I think deep down Maria likes the idea of all these men fighting over her. She also seems to enjoy the power of telling them off, warning them and in JAntos case withholding emotion. She must have learned all those manipulation tricks from her mother.

I know that women are raised not to make scenes to be sensitive to other people's feelings but there comes a point when you need to call a spade a spade. She should have told Coloso ages ago that she didn't have romantic feelings for him and stuck to it. She made a stab last night but what does she do after but accept his flowers on stage. She should have taken them and tossed them into the crowd.

With Ruben she has also tried but has been mealy mouthed about it and worse taken money from him. She did warn him off the other day which has set in play his revenge against her and her family. What will happen to them is her fault not JA's, not Ruben's - hers and in someways also Amelia's.
 

I'm not sure that JA can make anything out of the Concho/Lourdes/Mirna triangle yet because the only secret is something he doesn't know: That Concho stole half the bar from Maria's family.

Of course after this incident he is likely to keep his eyes and ears open from here on and he may be the one to find that evidence and do the Big Reveal.

There is another possible secret: That Concho is Isabel's sperm donor and that her egg donor is somebody before Mirna. I don't recall him getting a blood test back when Isabel was in hospital.

For all that Amalia said she wanted her first nieto to be a boy I doubt she would know how to deal with one. My cousin hoped for a girl during her first pregnancy "because that's what I know" and she had her father all her life.
 

Decie, I wouldn't be so quick to think that Maria is getting off on having three men fight over her. What is obvious to me is that this is not something she is at all equipped to deal with.

The only way she could have stopped Oscar would have been to get another job and not have to work with him. Out of sight, out of mind.

As for Ruben, Concho has to take his share of the responsibility for that for not protecting her from him. He had every power to do that but instead he pimped her out in his own greedy way and there was no way after that for Maria to make it clear that she was beyond his reach.

What was not immediately obvious in the very early episodes is that Ruben is a major sociopath and even more dangerous than his insane (now ex-) wife.
 

Urban

Maybe Maria doesn't really like all the attention but she is awfully weak at deflating it. In a lot of ways it is her own fault with Coloso because she let him keep calling her his until JA appeared on the scene. In someways you can't blame him for thinking he had some claim to her but even the dumbest man should have taken the hint by now.

Ruben's evolution as a psycho has been more subtle than OJ who just goes out guns blazing. Ruben is sneakier. He doesn't want his hands to look dirty. Actually after having had to live with him and have his kids one might even feel sorry for his ex had she not been such beyoch.

You are right on with Concho and Mirna both pimping out Maria. There is no way in any decent place featuring entertainment, that clients should be led to believe that the entertainers are available for anything other than doing their jobs. JNTR is just a step up from Ruben's strip joint.
 

Great point. Now, let's see how JA's mind should be working now:

He knows that

-- Ruben is connected to a strip joint. This is something that no respectable attorney should have anything to do with.

-- there is a connexion between Ruben and Giuliano. He knows that Giuliano tried to kill him at least twice.

-- Giuliano has met Maria in Ruben's office.

He has to wonder what Ruben may have told him about her.

What he needs to know now:

-- Fabian is the man Irasema has feared all this time

-- That there is a connexion between Ruben and Don Braulio.
 

Remind me again who is Don Braulio? Is he the nasty landlord in cahoots with Ruben?
 

Yes. The one who twice tried to extort sex from Amalia in exchange for the back rent owed.
 

Carolina: I kept thinking myself about Santos probably wanting to tell Rich Punk Kid his daddy's influence topped Punk Daddy's influence by 10 to the nth power and really couldn't. I held my breath during that part of the confrontation.

As for illegitimate kids on doorsteps, I wondered if Sonador was possibly Concho's lovechild with Lourdes' best friend or something. Why else would Lourdes keep this information from Mirna and Elvira?

I believe Ruben was referring to a man because he called the person este infeliz which is a derogatory term and he would never speak of Maria in such negative terms, but also este is the masculine form; esta would be a feminine descriptor.

I also tend to think Maria enjoys these two good looking men fighting over her. Who wouldn't? But, now that she's chosen JAntos, she has got to have Mama stop encouraging Coloso. I think Mama's the root of Maria's problems with Col.
 

I think you've got that one. Amalia is definitely part of Maria's problem with Oscar.

If Sonador was Concho's love child I think Lourdes would resent the friend and possibly extend that resentment to Sonador. He doesn't look substantially older than Elvira.

I am more inclined to think he is Lourdes' son and was raised by her friend to cover it up.
 

You sure are good at writing up this stuff, Jardinera. Thank you!

I am trying really hard to like Maria. It's hard; really hard. Because this character really bugs me, I start getting annoyed at the petty little things like the excess collagen in the upper lip (yeah, I know, crazy). This constant indecision (yes, I want to see you or no, I don't want to see you) of hers just drives me to distraction. Am I really supposed to believe that by the end of this story, this chic will have matured into an adult?!

As for Coloso, I'd like to see him gone and out of the picture as of yesterday. He needs to run off with that stupid, smothering Amalia to NEVER be seen again.

Fatima


 

Fatima: No, that's why all bloggers are issued beanies so that they can believe all this stupidity. LOL! As for those upper lips, all I can say is go back to digital, je-je. I don't have HD cuz of the kind of cable I get and the program they have with the HOA here. I guess I am not missing much, huh?
 

Jardinera, NO you are not missing a thing without that HD. Honestly, it is sometimes a curse. I don't really want to see what I am now seeing! LOL!

Beanie, huh? Ok. Will go out and find one. :)

Thanks again, Jardinera. You make me laugh every Sunday!!

Fatima
 

Laughing about the idea of Sonador being Lourdes love child. For some reason on QBA we can't stop trying to come up with some sensible backstory for the characters. I on't think Sonador is anything other that what Lourdes said, the son of a friend. She tried to tell her snot of a daughter the truth but Elrius prefers to believe her mother is the same kind of slut that she is. I also think she liked kind of sticking it to Concho and I loved how Sonador stood up to him.

Been thinking about poor Isa and her family tree. At this point we have at various times thought her father might be Concho, Coloso, Fernando, Santos or even Justo, Ruben got a couple of votes so I'm now adding another one, the rat bastard king - Fabnot. The last fits with the possible scenario of Irasema being the mother. Frankly I think the whole thing is a red herring and we will never know who left the baby on the door step for Smother to find.

Fatima - I'm with you on getting rid of the giant blockhead Coloso. He gives all dumb men a bad name. Talk about NOT being able to take no for an answer. To be fair wishy washy Maria tells him she has no feelings for him then accepts his flowers but he is aided and abetted by Amelia who tells him she wishes Maria loved him, who doesn't sit down and tell him to snap out of it and leave Maria alone. It isn't as if she doesn't know how to do it, she's told JAntos a million times and finally worked up the nerve to tell Don Ruben the same thing.
 

Decie, you are right. Coloso is one giant blockhead. He drives me nuts. In some ways, Maria of the wishy washy brain, is a good pick for him. I think they deserve each other. Coloso, Maria, and Amalia could enjoy their lives together; lives going nowhere fast. It amazes me that Amalia thinks this Bozo should be encouraged wrt going after Maria. What does that really say about Amalia?!

Jantos really deserves better than what he thinks he wants. He needs to remember that he should be careful about his wishes coming true.

Maybe it's just me, but I always feel that the Coloso and Amalia characters are too focused on their "pretty" faces. There is something very "poseur" about both of these jokers. Amalia just looks to plasticized for my tastes anyway.

UA, I know you really like the Coloso guy in real life, but he's just becoming a nuisance on this show. Maybe I will get to see him in something else so I can erase my memory of this actor!

Yikes. I sound like Wendy Whiner!

Fatima
 

Fatima, have you seen him in novelas before? Pablo Montero has been in novelas since 1997. He usually plays someone honorable so he is cast against type here. That's why I'm sure he will wise up later on.

One problem with both Amalia and Oscar is the reverse snobbery. Just what does Amalia think about their future in view of Maria studying law? If that isn't to advance financially and socially what's the point? And if Maria were to marry Oscar how would Maria's law degree and any subsequent work advancement affect him? As things are now I don't think he'd have a good time with this.

I am finding Maria's naivete about men more and more unbelievable in view of her long association with the mariachi frat boys. They may have put their best face on in front of her ten years ago but that's a tough pretense to keep up.
 

UA, no, this is my first introduction to this actor. I know you like him and I know you have pretty darn good taste, so I believe you that we should see a turn around. I'm sure the directing has a lot to do with it and also how this Mejia guy has visualized this character.

I am in TOTAL agreement wrt your comments about Amalia and Maria's so called naivete. Has she worn blinders all this time when it comes to these men?!

Fatima
 

Amalia's attitude is about years of believing that her late husband had been chronically unfaithful. I'm sure Concho had a lot to do with that. JA's discovery stopped her talking about it to herself, but I don't think she's quite absorbed it yet. It would be interesting to know when she first believed him unfaithful; I am guessing that this started before his murder.

Which Concho could have some responsibility for.

I suspect Maria was very sheltered. We don't know whether she went to a gender-segregated school in her youth (at least Paloma doesn't have that disadvantage) but it is not unusual for parents to more intensely shelter a firstborn because they fear screwing up.

On the subject of Amalia and Oscar, they could do their kids an enormous favor by talking to Vanessa's parents. That may or may not do any good, but at least that would call this junior-league temptress out on her crap.
 

Who knows that Vanessa doesn't have her parents horn-swaggled as well. Her posse is probably tied to her with threats, and I don't think most youngsters would otherwise be bothered following along otherwise--but then again, it's a tn and a melodrama which calls for everything to be exaggerated and drawn way out of proportion.

As for El Col, how long does Gloria intend or have to remain out of the parenting picture. Is she having a nervous breakdown as well as a physical recuperation? Eventually she has got to want to return to be a part of her son's life and she will possibly be the one to save El Col from himself. He's got no other female obsession except for Maria and she's not interested.

I'd hate to see Amalia end up with Justo. She is just way too barrio for him, but like father like son..... I guess.

 

You're right about Amalia; that would not be a good thing. Maria has the potential to upgrade herself but Amalia is past that.

I think Gloria will be back soon.

The whole thing with the flowers caught Maria off guard but it also illustrates that she should be prepared for anything now. What is so bad about this is that the real conflict of this non-triangle appeals to the baser nature of their audience. Whoever decided to bring down the curtain on the fight did the right thing.

Maria needs to really put her foot down now. She has to tell Concho -- in front of Oscar -- that she refuses to get on stage with him anymore. This latest stunt would get him fired anywhere else.

BTW, "Mientes", the song used in Paloma's daydream scene was a love theme for the Ximena and Gabriel in CS 09.
 

Jardinera, you bring up a point which I was thinking about yesterday, where is Gloria and why has she been MIA so long?

Especially agree with your comment re Amalia and Justo. Justo does not deserve such an ending. An Amalia/Justo pairing is a mismatch from the word go. It just doesn't work, from my POV.

Fatima
 

I think Gloria is in the final stages of her treatment and will be back soon. I'm amazed that she hasn't phoned her son or even Maria/Amelia to see how he is doing. I'm not even sure she knows that a relationship has developed between Roddy and his dad.

As for an Amelia/Justo pairing - SHUDDER I don't see it. He took her out to dinner and when she went all coy on him told her she was real. I think Gracia was too and that is why he was so devoted to her. In the world he lived in artifice must run rampant so just being able to talk to someone who is straightforward was good for him. Wendy was worried but he assured he had no romantic interest in the woman. In any event Justo has had virtually no time to grieve and the loss of a spouse of many years is very difficult to recover from and I speak from experience on that one.

Urban - you also raise a good point about Maria having the time and probably the inclination to raise herself while Amelia clearly doesn't. It isn't just a matter of her age it is her general attitude. I too wonder how long Concho had been tossing out little barbs about Pedro's faithfulness. I suspect that Amelia is a grudge holder and hasn't completely accepted what JAntos told her. She might not even really believe it because of her distrust of anything about with him.

I know a lot of people think this show is corny but i have to admit i am enjoying it. I don't need a scorecard to figure out which kid belong to which parent, their are only a couple of adulterers (not like AV where it is almost universal), there is great music, to this point a minimum of violence - can't asl for much more.
 

The show would be corny if it were a true musical, i.e., people suddenly bursting into song and dancing in the street. I can't stand that stuff.

The singing here is in a realistic context. The characters are musicians and they perform at their work as part of the story.

To a previous comment about Vanessa's parents, I'm wondering whether they aren't also bullies who encourage this behavior. Elvira certainly would in the unlikely event she ever has children.
 

I think Vanessa is a spoiled brat a lot in the Elrius mode. She has managed to gather a clique of weaker girls and to fool the teacher. She wants Roddy and like both Elvira and Coloso refuses to even imagine that some boy wouldn't want her fine self. The teacher needs to wake up and sit down with Van's parents and tell them what a sneak the girl is and how she is spending more time chasing a boy then focusing on school.Time to pull her out of public school and send her to an all girl's school run by the nuns.


 

Gloria has been completely incommunicado since she left DF months ago. Like she forgot how to use her cell phone or something. It’s ridiculous.

QTH happened to mean girl Vanessa’s false accusation against Roddy? I understand that they are editing out some subplots, but why show us part of it and then just drop it. It’s as if they don’t think anyone is actually watching.

Jardinera, I am sure that your Spanish skills far surpass mine, and if Rub said ‘este infeliz’, I agree that he most certainly was not talking about Maria. It just seems odd to me that the GF would say that he was following (stalking) JAntos when it’s been Maria he’s been doing that to, but I also think it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Fabnot ratted on Rub to the GF and Rub is going to settle the score somehow.

I just rewatched a few episodes, and I need to backtrack from some of my criticism of Maria not being clear with Coloso. She has been. She has told him again and again to back off and that she will never love him. She could have been more forceful and consistent, but the main problem is that he doesn’t respect her. He disregards her wishes and he has forced himself on her, what, at least five times now. Twice on stage, like last night, and at least twice kissing her at her home, and also that time JA intervened in her dressing room. I agree it is time for her to go to Concho and tell him it’s either Coloso or me because I’m not working with that jerk any longer.

While Amalia inexplicably likes Coloso and he appears to be an old family friend, she really hasn’t done anything to encourage him. One time – once - she told him that she wished Maria was in love with him instead of JA. That may have been indiscreet, but it was hardly encouragement since it acknowledged the reality of who Maria really loves. Meanwhile, everyone in the WORLD is telling Coloso that he has no chance with Maria – Fernando, Aventuro, Paloma, Maria herself, and so on, but he won’t listen. That one noncommittal comment from Amalia could not possibly offset all of the others who have discouraged him. Coloso is a total blockhead and he is pursuing Maria for his own egotistical reasons and nothing anybody says to him makes any difference whatsoever.

DCG, interesting theory that Maria gets off on having men fight over her, but I don’t see that in anything she has said or done. She’s really pretty artless and simple-minded and I believe her when she says she can’t tolerate the fighting. I feel exactly the same way. (Producers, please take note.) And I sure don’t see Amalia as someone who manipulates men. It seems to me that the opposite is true … Concho has stolen half the bar from her and misled her about Pedro, Coloso has pulled the wool over her eyes as to his true character, the landlord has tried to take advantage of her sexually twice now. Although her feelings towards JA have been mixed, she has been honest to him about that from the get go. And Justo said she reminded her of Gracia because she was direct (or something like that).

As for Amalia and Justo getting together, like it or not, it does seem that has been foreshadowed. Or at least that they are going to be buddies and allies. Justo wouldn’t be ready for love for some time. As for her being ‘too barrio’ for him, who knows, if the GF actually gets ahold of Justo’s fortune, he may follow Santos’ footsteps and embrace the barrio. We have learned (what I long suspected) that Amaila came from a family with more money than Pedro, but we don’t know how much more. She could actually be from a much higher social class than any of the others. We don’t know - yet. Given her manners, her values, and her ability to spot JA’s true social class right away, I wouldn’t be surprised. However, I doubt we are going to see a wedding or anything that definitive. I think that if they both are still alive at the end, we’ll see them as a couple but nothing more specific, like how Mariano and Miriam were left at the end of AB.

 

Just to clarify, I meant Amalia could be from a higher social class than any of the others in the mariachi crowd, not Santos and Justo.
 

True, we haven't seen Vanessa's accusation followed through, but it wouldn't surprise me if she has a bigger plot behind this. I don't think we're going to see a payoff on this until after the next real crisis.
 

I think Amelia may be from a marginally higher class than the mariachi's but not by much. When Justo invited her to dinner she was very uncomfortable with the idea of eating anything more upgraded than tacos and said so,

The GF isn ot going to get his hands on Justo's money. Junsto is laying a trap for him and told Whiney they have to be very careful. Justo didn't get where he is without knowing how to read people. In the end i can see Justo and Amelia as noting more than frinds who will share common granchildren.

I never meant that Maria consiously enjoys having men fighting over her but that it is deep down and rather flattering for her. Anyone less naive would not find it to be so but she isn't overly worldly. I also don't think Amelia manipulates men but she does emotionally manipulate her children. It is going to be intereting to see what happens tonight when Rub tries to have them thrown on on the street.
 

Decie Girl, ITA about how enjoyable this show is, despite its corniness and all the loose ends and inconsistencies.

We haven't been told anything definite about Amalia's background, but I think her discomfort with going out to dinner with Justo could have been due to how she has been living for the last 25 years or so, not necessarily what she was used to before marrying Pedro. Going out to a restaurant for a cena is a VERY posh thing to do in Mexico, BTW (I think you probably already knew that). Like a lot of middle-aged single moms, it was clear she hadn't been on a date of any sort in a very long time, lol.

I also have a lot of faith in Justo, but still, going up against a mafia godfather is playing with fire for anyone. We know that his intention is to extract $10 million from Justo and he may be able to do that, at least in the short term, before the happy ending that we all know will include Justo still being rich. In any event, Justo has grown much closer to Santos and now respects him much more since the TN began, and I think the two of them will end up being very close and could be living similar lives in DF. It's a possibility, at least.

I can see your point that Amalia has been manipulative towards Maria at times, but I can't think of any instances with the other two girls. *shrug* I don't get all the hostility to Amalia, but that's ok. I think we have to agree to disagree. :)

 

Paloma and Isabel are still minors. Amalia hasn't had to think about their future with regard to boyfriends... until now with Roddy, who isn't pressuring Paloma for sex. If Paloma were a couple of years older Amalia would behave with her exactly as she does with Maria.