Caray, Caray!

Gracias, Paquita.

I knew that Justo investigating El Padrino would be dangerous. I'd like to think that El Padrino will keep his word to leave Maria alone, but knowing how this tale has been going I have my doubts.

At least Giuliano has been captured, but that doesn't exclude the possibility of him still being able to do damage to Santos and Maria from wherever he will be.

We can also expect Derecho and Curtis to screw up again.

If they're marrying each other, when are they going to call each other by their first names? We don't even know his.
 

I wasn't going to comment on Ruben because I already predicted he would do this, but I realized this does deserve a comment:

This scene played out exactly as it should have. While I was hoping that Oscar would beat the crap out of him this was better because seeing him flee at the sight of Amalia and Wendy demonstrates his cowardice. He was projecting all along when he accused Santos of cowardice last week (and however many times before).

However, there is still time for another attempt and more dirty tricks from Elvirus. These two will be some brand of poison together.
 

Thanks for this recap, too.

At least some comedy with the duo running into each other while Concho had an infarcto...somebody please cut off that pony tail.

Couldn't tell if Concho was crying or his eyes were just blood shot from all the problems he has with his awesome family.

Maria just had to poke the bear with del Olmo. She should have know his obsession would have turned violent by now.

Thought Amelia was going for another coma for sure.

Poor Wendy is tired of Never land and is ready to head home.
 

Paquita--Thank you for the recap. You reminded me of some things I had already forgotten.

One thing we both forgot, but which might (or probably isn't) be significant is Coloso at the outdoor restaurant with Paloma and Roddy (BTW, the moment they opened their mouths and didn't put food in, I muted the sound).

The server looked like Maria and Coloso did a double take. Finally she turned into herself, but still a Maria look-alike. He looked at her for a long time. Hmmmm. By the look on his face, is it possible that El Coloso will be happy with anyone other than the real Maria?

He did joke around that if His Chiquita had married him, he would be Paloma's father-in-law AND brother-in-law. I wonder if he's really resigned to not having Maria.

What can we say about Orange Julius? From what I could see, we need to change his name to Copper Julius.

Funny how the LA prison system uses the cross-hatched "7." Both Santos and Michael have latin sevens sewen on their prison garb. (Also noticed that Jorge S. the man has had a very bad sunburn on his face, particularly his nose and forehead for the last several episodes. Couldn't have been from his time in the woods with Maria.)

I really feared for Maria with Ruben. Men who reach that level of obsession, anger, frenzy can find superhuman strength.

Coloso was out with the kids and the horses, so he wouldn't be able to save her. Maria delayed the attack (all women should learn her technique and follow it up by running from the house), but if it hadn't been for Wendy wanting to come home right away, Ruben would have raped her. Was this really part of Ruben and Elvirus' plan?

Golawah--this is priceless: "Poor Wendy is tired of Never land and is ready to head home."

We recappers and commenters are running out of steam, so the clever turns of phrases are getting fewer and fewer. Thank you for your contributions.

The episode certainly picked up the pace and things were happening on all fronts. With the apparition of El Padrino, it almost seemed like a whole different telenovela. I wish.

 

Great comments all and many made me laugh.

I also had the same thought that the waitress may end up as Coloso new love but her having a resemblance to Maria makes it a bit creepy.

Wendy is giving it the old college try but I remember having the same reaction the first time we went shopping in a market in Mexico. It was big, loud, crowded and while not dirty not pristine like American markets and the butcher shop area ugh that was hard to take up to the time we left. On the other hand had Wendy not gone into brat mode Maria may well have been raped. Wendy also needs to learn that Mexico is considered North American.

So slick OJ has to slip in under a border fence and gets into a face off with the vatos. Seems appropriate. Dumb and Extremly Dumber are sure to screw up and lose him like they did Santos.

Elvirus and that bandage she is wearing as a dress — it must be glued on her fake boobs. An alliance with Ruben is not a good thing but he is nuts and she is stupid so I can't see them having much success in their vengeance plan. Interesting how Ruben went right along with the no interference when Maria gets what she has coming. I guess he is so desperate for a hiding place he'll give Elvrius lip service but won't live up to it in the end.

Many points to Susanito for letting Concho have it. The man has tried constantly to put him down but Sue is not the ignorant wimp Concho would like to think he is. I still can't get it out of my mind that the other night when talking to Lourdes Concho referred to his son as that frigging maggot (in English of course). Not feeling a lot of pity for the fool having the predictable heart attack. Every novela has to have at least one. Don't care for the payasos but their thinking he had been exercising hence lying on the floor was funny.

And who is filming Wendy?

 

I'm glad for this recap. The satellite AND internet cut off because of heavy rains.
 

If we see Elvirus as stupid I'm sure Ruben does, too.

For Ruben to plan to rape Maria he would have had to stake out the apartment and wait for Amalia and Wendy to leave. I'm not sure how far the market is from the apartment, but considering where we are in the story I knew someone would get there in time. That still doesn't account for him knowing that Maria could get home first.

Elvirus would be on board with this plan, if it was one. However, I am not sure Ruben trusts her yet.
 

Paquita - Thanks a bunch.

I had to watch this episode to see Maria finally give Ruben what he deserves.

Too bad Santos is in a prison cell. But at least he's far away from the teddy bear back in his old apartment.
 

It was weird that Ruben sneaked into the apartment and waited for Maria. For all he knew she could have been out all day and how would he ever explain to Amelia what he was dong lurking in her house. I agree he must have watched Amelia leave . I'm not sure he went to the place intending to rape Maria. I think he thought he could sweet talk her but she for one wasn't having any of his BS and when she it him he went over the edge. I'm pretty sure he thinks Elvirus is a fool but he'll use her as long as he can. She is an idiot for trusting him but she has no allies left.

Too true how Amelia even managed to make the whole thing all about her. She never gives up. Looks like she going to have another one of her "attacks". Even if we didn't know she really has a health condition i'd think she was just a slightly better actress than Mancia.
 

Decie Girl: HaHaHa---"Even if we didn't know she really has a health condition i'd think she was just a slightly better actress than Mancia."

Niecie--Maria took the bear home with her. I didn't see it in her house, but when she was clearing out Santos old apt. we see her sitting there cradling the bear. I guess it had some left-over Santos aroma on it.

She only brought a paper bag and the bedding home, so I guess all the Mexican folk art is still on the walls for the next tenant.
 

Derecho's first name is Leon or Leonardo. Curtis mentioned his name to Maria.

There's really no reason Wendy would identify with being Mexican. "Michael Johnson" is most likely not Mexican. Arnold Smith was most likely not Mexican and neither were Bruno or Guiliano. Wendy grew up in the United States with a bunch of rich white people. Wendy looks white and that's probably how she identifies, as "American" instead of "Mexican."

Their grandmother taught Santos the mariachi songs but that doesn't mean she had a relationship with Wendy.....especially since there seems to be an age gap between Santos & Wendy.

Plus, look at their names:

Santos

WENDY

Everyone in the family except Wendy has a first name that you would think of belonging to a Latino (Justo, Altagracia, Santos).

The only thing that marks Wendy as having Hispanic origin is her last name, Martinez de la Garza. If she ever married Michael, she'd be Wendy Johnson.

So perhaps Wendy's trip to the hood will teach her to appreciate her Mexican background, and she may even come to love it like Santos.

I don't see Wendy moving to Mexico anytime soon, though. Not unless she married Michael and HE moved to Mexico.

I see Justo moving back, though.



 

Amen Anon207--You said it the way I was thinking it.

I always cringe when I try to differentiate between U.S. citizens and Mexican citizens, because both Norteamericanos. I don't want to call ourselves Gringos or Yanquis, pero, estadosunidenses it a terrible mouthful.
 

When my nephew was little (around two or three) and his family was coming back across the border (they live in a border town and did their grocery shopping on the Mexican side) - when asked to declare his citizenship at the border, would say, "American Gingo (Gringo)."
 

ANON 207

You raise an interesting point about Wendy and her cultural identification. Santos did learn the songs from his grandmother but not much else. When he first got to the DF people were always explaining what they were eating and there was a festival that Maria told him about. Obviously in the diplomatic circles they grew up in neither Wendy or Santos was dining on typical Mexican food nor were they celebrating some festivals. I seriously doubt that Wendy had a quinceañera so both of them were pretty much Mexican by ancestry but nothing else. Spending months in Mexico among his gente has given Santos a deep love and understanding of his heritage which Wendy doesn't have.

I can see Justo returning to Mexico at the end. The US holds nothing but painful memories for him and he can build a business in his home country or return to his diplomatic career. It will be interesting to see what Wendy will do.

Speaking of Wendy I continue to find it odd that Ruben and Oscar just seem to ignore her. Nobody has introduced her so some pregnant blonde hanging with the Mendozs should certainly raise some questions.
 

Is that Derecho's first name or is Samantha Curtis referring to him as "mi leon" or "my lion", a compliment any man would appreciate?

Wendy having that name was -- to me -- a clue that she was born in the US. I'm guessing that she and Santos are meant to have at least an 8-year age difference. She grew up speaking two languages and spoke only or mostly English with her school friends growing up. I'm betting she hasn't spent a lot of time in Mexico, either. In that restaurant scene when she met Maria she made such a point of ordering non-Mexican food.

It would be a good thing if Wendy could learn to appreciate her ancestry, which could also be completely European (from a DNA perspective).

Both Ruben and Oscar have been so fixated on Maria that Wendy might just be perceived as a friend of hers or maybe a classmate. I can't see too much time passing before either of them knows who she is, but there will be a key difference: Oscar would never harm her but Ruben might. In fact if I were writing this I might have Wendy fall for Oscar as a peculiar turn of karma. He does clean up nicely.
 

URBAN

I had though a ways back that a Wendy Oscar match up might be interesting. Considering his fixation on Maria in the long run I think it would be a bad thing, putting him too close to maria and Santos. My bet for him is the maria look alike.

I'm pretty sure we heard Derecho being called Leonardo and when the question came up it was the first name that popped into my mind. It could also be the reason Curtis thinks of him as her lion. I just wish she would knock off the growling ala Mirna. What woman in he right mind would do that.
 

One crazy enough to think it's sexy.

I think Wendy will marry Mike once he's free.

The question now is what will be El Padrino's next move?
 

It is a mystery as to wht th GF will do. He has apparently gotten Santos to call off Justo so I think he will turn his attention to OJ and go after him. He too now blames OJ for all the poop that has come down on him and his organization and he isn't going to let that go. And Ruben ill be in the crosshairs as well.
 

I wrote down Leonardo Derecho when he first came on the scene on my list of characters. This would have been months ago.

I'm sure that's Curtis calling him mi Leon is just a play on his name.
 

OJ is in custody now, so Derecho and Curtis had better hurry up with the interrogation or he will be turned into a dust bunny under the prison cot.
 

There will be fingerprint evidence that he killed Bruno and Arnold.

It is possible that one of the goons sent to Tijuana to murder Santos could turn on him. Since he also embezzled money from Garza Cars (after Santos arrived in Mexico the first time) that is likely to be in an offshore account, this situation has international implications and therefore is complicated enough to last through the finale episode.