Caray, Caray!

OK Tonight, they officially dropped the ball with Old Nando being MilAmores' dad. Him and Michael were discussing fatherhood and how God shouldn't forgive neglective fathers came out of MilAnos' (my nickname for Old Nando) mouth so yep.



 

It was obvious to me when I realized that Don Nando is also played by Arturo Peniche.

The avances have guaranteed us that Giuliano is going to hell at the end. What he looks to do is about the sickest thing I've seen in a long time.
 

Thank you so much, Urban! I will miss your recaps when this TN ends. I know you are planning on taking a well deserved break. Wanted you to know this person has appreciated your writing.

I think it is interesting how they have actually shown the galan (the most handsome Mr. Salinas) with his depressive moments. At least, it is a realistic touch to his oftentimes bizarre situation.

All of the charges brought against him still seem pretty convoluted to me. They also seem to have "evolved" as time as gone on and for no real reason, either.

I guess it won't happen, but I would really like to see Amalia on her own and WITHOUT a man. She needs to grow up just as much as her children need to grow up.

Thanks, Urban!

Fatima
 

I agree, Fatima. I don't think Amalia will be on her own at the finale because she has been for the past eleven years. I'm sure there will be some miracle cure for her and the future she doesn't deserve with Justo.

The charges against Santos are likely to be the following:

-- Money laundering (which can't be proven because they can be disproven)
-- Escape from police custody (when he was avoiding being shot)
-- Illegally crossing back into Mexico (which is actually the fault of the border patrol)
-- Attempted prison break (the only legitimate charge except that he should not be in the prison in the first place)

Somebody like Jack McCoy of Law & Order could make mincemeat out of that and embarrass the entire LAPD and legal system. Derecho and Curtis could end up being fired and publicly disgraced.

The cell phone along the escape route was planted by the guard who is in cahoots with Giuliano. Somebody along the way has to be bright enough to figure that out.
 

Que Bonito Amor & Guiliano made THE SOUP:

http://youtu.be/F_wfNgzdCSA
 

URBAN Santos can't be charged with anything for escaping from Derecho. He had never been tried for anything. He can be punished for the escape attempt although that is ridiculous since he has never been tried for anything. Talk about a screwed up story line — bad research all around for the writers.

The entire prison thing is insane. Santos has never been tried and yet everyone babbles on about spending the rest of his life in prison. The fact is that in Cali the maximum sentence for the amount of money laundering involved in this case is 8 years which is what Michael got and Santos would get the same. The wandering the pipes episode would have more time tacked on but that is typically a few months or a couple of years, not life.

Loved the imps last night standing up to the snotty Assron. Jalisquito is a feisty little devil and it may be handy to have him around when Ruben and his Boobs try their next play. That should be fun since Maria has flown the coop, Amelia and all the adults are in the hospital, all that is left to throw out on the street are children.

I disagree that the writers dropped the ball last night with Don Nando. I think they gave us another clue about him. We obviously know he is Fernando's father but because of his head wound has no memory of his past life, he can't even remember the man he is supposed to have killed. He doesn't know he had a son and family in Mexico when he went north to earn money for them. We don't know if the head wound was caused when he first got to the US or much later. If it is the former the fact that he is so condemning of a man who would desert his son speaks volumes about his basic character. Even if it came long after he arrived it still tells us something about him. I keep wondering if, how and when the connection will be made and if Fernando will ever learn the truth.

OJ looks to really be stepping over the line but this late in the game I don't think he will get away with it although if he offed Amelia I wouldn't shed any tears. I laughed when the nurse said the baby looked just like her mother. Wendy is a fair skinned blonde, the baby has dark hair and is bronze like its father. Nurse needs glasses. Also couldn't help noticing how big the baby was considering that it is a preemie. Wendy was probably not more that 8 months along.

I'm really disappointed in mopey Santos. Where is the fire to prove his innocence and be free to marry Maria? I keep thinking Amelia's defeatist attitude has worn off on him.


 

Jorge Alfredo wants to fight for Maria.

Santos doesn't.

Maria said about as much.

Santos is in Santos mode now that he's back in the US. The only way he's going to fight for Maria is to become Jorge Alfredo again.
 

I am getting tired of mopey Santos. He hasn't even been tried and convicted yet, and he is already going on and on about 30 years imprisonment.

I am also wondering, does he have a lawyer? Isn't there someone who can advise him of his rights and potential consequences of his possible conviction?
 

There is no going back now. Santos discovered his true self in Mexico and he can't be untrue to himself any more.

He would be miserable without Maria and it's not like him to give up.

He doesn't have a lawyer now. I would guess that Giuliano's betrayal -- and Ruben -- might make him not trust lawyers.
 

URBAN Surely Justo has gotten a lawyer for him, he isn't stupid and would know what to do. We have never seen any lawyer advising either father or son - another screw up by the writers. True after trusting OJ Santos would be leery of trusting anyone but sitting around and moping and drawing endless pictures of Maria isn't going to solve anything. I've been surprised from the beginning that he seemed so lackadaisical about clearing his name. I get that he was shocked by the betrayal and loss all around him but you'd think that would have spurred him on more. With the attitude he has shown especially lately you can only wonder how he became such a successful businessman.
 

But he IS giving up. He's all like "Oh well, I'll be spending the next 30 years in jail, go free yo'self, Maria."

Instead of "I'm gonna get the best lawyer and get out of here."

He's in Santos mode, where everything was done for him. He needs to get back to Jorge Alfredo mode & fight for his freedom and Maria.
 

Forget Maria - what about the promises he made to little Isa? He's a dumb wimp.

Maybe Maria should say, "Fine, then I'm going to give Coloso a chance." Maybe THAT will wake up the Jorge Alfredo in him again.

When, oh, when is that ugly lemon-sucking face of OJ going to be gone for good? UGH!
 

This is definitely a writing screw-up.

From Day One we knew that Santos isn't a guy who waits for things to be done for him or given to him. He built a successful business with little or no help from his father, he enjoyed the fruits of his labors, he was calm in moments of crisis, and he could think on his feet. He got better at this as time went on and with each new crisis he actually got stronger.

However -- in the eyes of our villains and most Anglos -- falling in love weakened him by taking away his ability to think of himself first and foremost. He worries about Maria being in danger for being with him or near him. He will sacrifice himself for her but isn't seeing that this is unnecessary and that this is hurting Maria more than it helps the situation.

Justo should have lied to him and said that he would stop investigating El Padrino, but somehow I suspect he doesn't know his own son as well as he thinks he does.

These writers have to learn how to extend stories without violating the characters' basic personality traits.
 

I suspect the writers overlook the fact that they have a thinking audience. I'd hope that Spanish language blogs might also be pointing out how sloppy the work is.

As for Justo lying to Santos and continuing with the investigation I don't think lying is in Justo's' character. A diplomat lives and dies by his word. However Justo could have avoided the question and just gone about his investigation.

In a way it is true that falling in love did weaken Santos and he got so wrapped up in protecting Maria he forgot to look out for himself. Now he is acting like a self pitying idiot and not listening to her. He is taking the stance that my way is the best and not allowing her to be an equal partner. She on the other hand should forget about trying to convince him and do what most of us do and say yes dear and then go about doing what we please.
 

So Justo paid ten million dollars for OJ to go ahead and kill his family? What a dumb waste!

And the whole mafia gang consisted of the padrino, Guiliano, Arnold, Bruno and those two thugs? Does this mean that OJ is only padrino over himself? Gah!
 

I was thinking about that this morning. There were a few thugs whom El Padrino used to go after Giuliano, but Giuliano now appears to have no authority over them because we have not seen them.

There were a few others whom he used to pursue Santos in the early episodes but we haven't seen them either.

Sounds like he tried to pull a hostile takeover and it's not going to work.
 

OJ offed the godfather but as far as i know nobody knows. The GF had dealings with thugs in Mexico - Fanbnot and Ruben who had others working for them. I don't think OJ would dare try an takeover of the bigger gang. All that he is focusing on is getting the Martinez de la Garzas. Sooner or later he has to cross paths with Ruben but his days as the self appointed GF are numbered
 

Thanks for the recap! I'll just admit right now (finally) that I did see a tiny bit of the Mexican broadcast of this TN, and I'm almost 100% certain this was the episode I saw. As I said, I only saw a tiny bit so I don't remember much of what I saw. I do remember seeing someone, who I actually did conclude to be Wendy, in surgery. I vaguely remember seeing Santos in jail as well with Maria there with him in the scene. Can't really spoil anything so don't worry.

I'm also thinking that we are one step closer to confirming that Nando is MA's father.

I wonder what OJ will do, if anything, to Amalia and Wendy. I thought Mancia was supposed to be watching over Amalia, at Justo's request. And that was before OJ snuck into her hospital room.

And when are we going to see a reconciliation between Susanito and Irasema?
--TF
 

Anon207, that clip from The Soup was hysterical. It was a lot like what happens with ebay auctions. Thanks for the laugh.

That 10 million was money well spent, eh?

I’m thinking a good roll in the hay will convert Santos back to JA and put a little fire in his belly. I’m also thinking that this conjugal visit will eventually also be credited to Maria for showing up like a guardian angel and saving his hide once again. (Metaphoric free-for-all today!) I agree that surely he has a lawyer. Even if he has run into a couple of bad ones, he is far too intelligent and worldly to think he would therefore be better off not getting anyone to help him with his legal problems, and so is Justo. Besides, if he hated all lawyers, he’d be hating on Maria, too.

UA, as a Mexican citizen, JAntos didn’t commit a crime to re-enter his own country. You need a passport, visa, etc. to enter other countries, but not your own. I know this because I’ve done it. :) And it was explained to me personally by a US consul that it was OK before I did it. Since JAntos owned a business, he would almost certainly have a green card and is free to leave the US without showing a passport or any other documentation, just as citizens are. Only visa holders have to report to US immigration before they leave. In any event, if there were some sort of crime, it would be very minor and a violation of Mexican law, not American.

I don’t think there is much point in trying to figure out what JAntos has been accused of. They haven’t made it clear and if we try to impose real world logic on Telenovela Land, all we will do is hurt our noggins. I think we’ll all be a lot better off if we just accept that they have come up with this big scary number – 30 years OMG!!! – and be really scared and upset, because that is ALL these writers want or expect us to do. Not think, just emote.

The writers seem to think that the American criminal justice system works just like the Mexican one. (Although that’s not that different from the posters here who think the Mexican legal system/families/culture in general are just like ours, no?) In Mexico, almost all trials result in a guilty verdict, so that is why everyone in the show seems to assume JA will be convicted. Bail is rare or non-existent, so that is why there has been no mention of bail. People accused of crimes are routinely tossed in prisons to await their trials, which can take years, so that is why JA is in prison, not jail. There are no grand juries, so that is why we haven’t seen a grand jury examine the evidence, see that there isn’t enough to proceed with a trial, and set JA free, as he would be by now in the US. And so on. But remember people, – 30 years OMG!!! – stop thinking and start freaking y pronto!

 

In the early part of the series there was a proceeding during which Justo requested -- and was granted -- the opportunity to question Bruno. I don't recall anyone calling that a Grand Jury proceeding, but it would have made sense as one. It was where stupid Wendy came into the courtroom just as Bruno was about to cave and announce that Santos was guilty.

I'm aware that Mexico's injustice system is very different and other novelas have had trials that more closely resemble what really happens there. What gets me is the failure of these writers to do their homework on the US way of things. Telemundo writers are just as guilty and they have no excuse for it.

Murderers don't typically do 30 years in the US unless they're serial killers.
 

Totally agree that they could do better at portraying our legal system more accurately, especially since they make us look so bad. However, they are entertainers and it seems this TN even more than others, aims to just pull at our emotions and not bother with facts. Hence my advice to stop thinking and start freaking. :)

That earlier proceeding against Bruno was his trial. These writers probably have no idea what a grand jury even is.