Caray, Caray!

Fatima--I have to correct my comment on Demian Bichir from last night. I was WRONG!!!!!

Dr. Nesme was played by his brother, Odiseo Bichir.

Demian is definitely a cutie and needs NO RUG.
 

Great work, Anita.

I wonder whether Ruben's henchmen will realize that there is more than one screw loose after this one. They can easily turn on him at the end.

Although a crooked lawyer would suffer a very serious Karmageddon in the reclusorio.

As for his appearance at the Mendoza abode, someone has to question why he would take Maria to a doctor for fainting while not going to an ER after a beating. That would give him an opportunity for a police report which would accomplish getting JA out of the way.
 

Hi Anita! Thanks so much for the clarification. I'm still so new to this, but I remember Demian Bichir from his Academy Award nomination as Best Actor last year (I think it was that category)and my mind didn't "see" him as odious Nesme!!

Yessiree, that Demian is a cutie!

Thanks Anita for a super recap!!

Fatima
 

Anita - Muchas gracias. My favorite: "Maria accuses. JA denies. JA accuses. Maria denies. (Well, this goes on and on, so I’ll stop here.)" lol

I haven't been able to watch QBA
for awhile, but caught it last night. I realized how much I missed the music and the colors. But it’s incredible that in últimas semanas Maria still hasn't caught on to what a snake Ruben is.
 

Of course Maria hasn't caught on to what a snake Ruben is even after having been told so by JA and also that he was the kidnapper because alas Maria is an idiot.

Oh my screaming God are we going to have to endure another break up If JAntos takes her back he is a big an idiot as she is. She got her knickers all in a twist when he got into the fight with the Trust Fund brat over a personal insult to her and now she is getting upset because he defends her from being mauled by a creep when she was unconscious. Irasema needs to tell her what she saw because Maria and Amelia would never believe Don Ruben would do such a thing. Gag me with a spoon.

I still remain amazed that Amelia who will admit JAntos is not a womanizer but still goes on about him being a criminal. I guess there would have to be a parade down the Reforma with huge signs and loudspeakers proclaiming JAntos is innocent before she would believe it and probably not even then.

Please writers in these final weeks spare us anymore young love, mean girl antics and appearances by Little Creep. I can't take it any more. Please tell us what is going on with OJ and Justo's quest for justice.

Laughed at the scene of Susanito "playing" the trumpet. Anyone that knows anything about that instrument knows that you hold the air in your cheeks making them swell in order to properly get sound out of the horn. Look at pictures of Dizzy Gillepspie while poor Susuanio face was flat.
 

This is why #iCANT root for JAntos/Maria:

Maria is stupid. And in my opinion does not, did not and never did love Jorge Alfredo

Jantos has told her a million times that Ruben is very dangerous AND the one responsible for his kidnapping. But Maria continues to let Ruben around her. She simply does not believe Jorge Alfredo's warnings about Ruben. Even Amalia gives Ruben the side eye.

Jorge Alfredo, Irasema, etc. have told her a million times that JA has NO interest in Elvira & that Elvira keeps coming after HIM yet she doesn't believe it.

Look how hard she's working to get Susanito out of prison. Yet she hasn't spent 5 minutes trying to help JA with his case, trying to find evidence to help him.

I cannot root for a heroine who claims to love her man but all of her actions say the opposite. I hate to say it but I'm with Wendy in regards to Maria: she's just not good enough for Santos.

I don't even wish Maria on Coloso. I think Coloso at heart is a pretty decent guy and he needs somebody who's going to be into him and not playing games. Maria is all about playing games, then passing it off as innocence & naivete.

Another game player is Ana. Fernando needs to leave her to the drunk Seven Seas and go find somebody else. Where is Roxana, anyway?




 

I still remain amazed that Amelia who will admit JAntos is not a womanizer but still goes on about him being a criminal. I guess there would have to be a parade down the Reforma with huge signs and loudspeakers proclaiming JAntos is innocent before she would believe it and probably not even then.
------------------

But Maria allows this. Maria herself probably thinks JAntos is a criminal deep down. Look at how proactive Maria has been to prove Susanito's innocence.

Now look at how proactive Maria's been to prove Santos' innocence.

She could be looking for the same clues that Justo's looking at but she hasn't lifted one delicate finger to help prove Santos' innocence.

And I cannot take her professions of everlasting love seriously when she dumps Santos every other episode.

It's sad that the only relationship worth rooting for is the one between Rodrigo and Paloma and half of the time Paloma seems determined to stay stuck on stupid. But look at who her family is.
 

Thank you for the recap. Honestly I wouldn't know how to even write these recaps especially when the TN is now in "ultimas semanas" and getting even more ridiculous.

From now on I'm just going to call Jalisquito "Smalls"- as in "You're killing me, Smalls!"

I'll admit I missed the part where Ruben had his lackeys beat him up. He sure knows how to get sympathy from Maria and that's without Elvira doing her part with JA.

It seems to me as if Concho is finally getting cowardly and doing the right thing. We will see IF that means he will get redemption or not but I am still not convinced he can get it,
--TF
 

Anon

Couldn't have said it better about Maria and her complete lack of faith and trust in JAntos. i'm sick of her. Wendy may have the wrong motives for saying she wasn't good enough for Santos but perhaps her heart told her the girl would not be a steadfast mate for her brother. Actions speak louder than words and both JAntos actions in regard to Maria and her family and her actions when it comes to him speak volumes.

Ana is acting like an idiot. She has been in love with Fernando for four years, he told her he loved her but it that good enough for her. NO, she wants the kind of intense love that Maria and JAntos have and Fernando stupidly told her he wasn't sure he could love like that. So of course she is now using, although I'm not sure she really wants to, 7 Seas to show Fernando what he is missing.

The unholy alliance between Rub and Elvirus cannot be a good thing, Two obsessives — it can only end badly and we won't be shedding any tears.
 

My goodness, we need a calming mantra right now. It's just a tn, it's just a tn.

QBA has provoked some heated comments over the weeks. I can't fault the characters. They are just doing what was in someone's imagination.

However, it's the ridiculous lengths (and I use that term purposefully) to which the writers go to string out what would otherwise have been fairly decent storyline and resolution into an exhausting jump-the-shark farce.

Since I never saw the original LHdM, how does this compare? Can we discuss it--up to this point without going beyond the latest bloodletting.

ITA with you, Decie, regarding OJ and Justo. The writers missed a great opportunity to make this a real investigative case and spare us the Misquito from Jalisco, the cancer PSA and the teenage angst. (Although I loved the Quinceanera fiesta and will go back and watch it when I'm feeling like it's all been useless.)

UA--I didn't see the irony until you brought it up about Ruben showing up at the Mendozas after his beating while having solicitously taken Maria to a clinic after fainting. Our dimwitted ladies will probably not question his motives--if they even think about it being odd.

 

I think in his calmer moments Jorge Alfredo will see that Ruben's actions here don't make sense. It looks to me like Ruben's henchmen drew far more blood than JA did. He was ambulatory right after the first beating and refused to go to a doctor or an emergency room.

JA needs an alibi for the time when the henchmen did the real number on Ruben. Possibly he was still with Concho or Fernando, but more likely he was in transit from Fernando's back to the pension.

Elvira will say whatever it takes to break up JA and Maria even if it puts JA behind prison bars. She doesn't really want him; she just doesn't want Maria to have him.

The problem in dealing with Ruben is that he's too slippery. He can easily put a proper face on when it suits him because everyone else is usually too polite to call him out. JA could do it very subtly if he could restrain his temper around this guy, but that has been getting increasingly more difficult.

This whole thing of Ruben "helping" Maria is clearly satisfying two of his own motives: Ruben preventing the truth from coming out and him getting closer to Maria to regain her trust.

From a plot perspective it makes no sense for Maria to allow it. Irasema needs to tell her what she saw.

I do not think Maria is playing games; she is no Elvira. She doesn't know men despite working in a mariachi bar for what must be at least eight years. On some level I think she knows that the musicians are all frat boys who haven't grown up despite paying bills and taxes. That could be why she hasn't had a love life like most young women her age. She has no idea how to communicate properly with a partner.

I would not blame JA one bit if he began questioning her intelligence now over this business with Ruben. The problem is that he needs to emotionally distance himself from her to really break up with her and I don't think he can do that anymore. I'm preparing myself for some self-destructive behavior on his part.
 

Urban

I agree that JA needs an alibi and should also recognize that Ruben's wounds are obviously too fresh. Then again he can't deny that he did give Rub a few good whacks. Maria goes off so fast herself that she will blindly take Ruben's word and let's face it his obvious wounds at face value. It did bother me in the previews that JA appears to go after Rub in the Mendoza house with all of them there and that kind of violence will definitely add more black marks against his name in Amelia Book of JAntos Sins. However if Irasema does mention his mauling of Maria may she will stop fussing over the slick sick bully.

I don't think JAntos can emotionally distance himself from Maria. At this point in his life she is his only lifeline. So he takes her emotional abuse. However the last time she dumped him and then took him back he didn't offer her the ring which I found interesting.

This is probably Rub's last stand with Maria. Once she finds out that he was the mystery voice Irasema heard it will be curtains for him. Now if only Irasema could get herself under control and if Rub repeats some phrase that would trigger her memory the game should change.

Maria's naiveté is annoying at this point and has always been a little hard to take. She has worked around men all of her life and unless she's blind as well as deaf and stupid she should have some clue of how they think and act. Her judgement skills are seriously lacking which doesn't bode well for her ever running the bar.

I think the only reason that Ruben didn't go to the police and denounce JAntos is that Fabnot once warned him that getting involved with the police could turn the spotlight on their own illegal activities. I don't think Rub really cares what happens to JAntos from a legal standpoint he just wants him out of Maria's way.
 

This is probably Rub's last stand with Maria. Once she finds out that he was the mystery voice Irasema heard it will be curtains for him.

I don't think so. Jorge Alfredo, the supposed love of Maria's life, told her Ruben was responsible for his kidnapping and she still comes around him like nothing happened, so I don't think she'd finally toss Ruben in the trash can over what Irasema said.

HOWEVER, if she DOES accept Irasema's word and only becomes wary of Ruben based on what Ira said instead of what JA said, that should tell JA to leave Maria alone b/c she's a silly bird who doesn't trust or believe in him. I really wish this show had another woman that would be a worthy rival of Maria because right now she knows she can screw all over JA and he'll take her back time after time after time.
 

Anon

I agree that this would have been more interesting if she had a worthy rival but that is pretty rare in TN's. I said it would be Rub's last stand because irasema's revelation would tie him to Susanito and Fabnot's shooting and while Maria waffles with JA she is stedfast with her Mariachi boys. It also might be the anvil on her head that wakes her up to the sleaze. We can only live in hope.

What is bugging me at the moment is that no progress seems to be being made in clearing Santos' name. We are spending endless hours on teen angst, a creepy street kid and the trials and tribulations of the frat boys and their ladies. The only good thing is that we have been spared Derecho and Goofy.
 

Derecho and Curtis are the problem of clearing Santos' name: They don't want to listen to the facts. Either they can't stand the idea of being proven wrong, they like the idea of capturing a high-profile wealthy criminal engaged in financial shenanigans, or they're just plain lazy.

I also have to wonder whether the writers know about "Innocent until proven guilty" and don't like conveying that to a possibly unbelieving audience. Or don't want to make political waves over it.
 

Urban

Considering that Mexico operates under the Napoleonic Code of guilty until proven innocent the target audience might find it odd that police actually look for clues to prove someone might be innocent . We look at it through the prism of our system and find the whole shipping Susanito off to the Reclusorio with no investigation or real trial and find it horrifying and unreal. From a Mexican perspective looking at Derecho and Co actually doing some serious investigation would be equal unreal
 

Apparently, the writers don't know about grand juries, either.

(A quick refresher for anyone who needs one:

"A grand jury is a legal body that is empowered to conduct official proceedings to investigate potential criminal conduct and to determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may compel the production of documents and may compel the sworn testimony of witnesses to appear before it. A grand jury is separate from the courts, which do not preside over its functioning.
Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them ..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_jury)

What everyone regarding Santos' legal problems seems to be ignoring is that if there is not enough evidence against him, a grand jury will never allow it to go to trial, so he will not have to go home to clear his name. But given the liberties these writers take with their own legal system, I suppose it's asking a bit much to have them portray our legal system accurately.

 

I guess so.
 

Considering the liberties taken with the medical field in TN's why should we expect the legal system to be portrayed with any degree of accuracy. LOL Talk to any lawyer, cop or doctor and they will give you horror stories about inaccuracies in American shows so I guess we can't hold foreigners to a high standard. All we have to do is suspend disbelief, pour a large glass of wine and sit back and enjoy the absurdity. After all it is just entertainment no matter how involved we let ourselves get.
 

DCG: Exacto!

Anita, thanks for the great recap. Good to have you back.