Caray, Caray!

Thank you, Urban! Just loved, loved, loved that beautiful moon picture!!!

What a bonus that you also gave us that link to the music. :)))

For whatever reason, I was particularly struck this time around over JA saying he found his true identity. How many men in real life would actually say such a thing? Here's a guy who, for all intents and purposes, was a "player" before the Orange Julius struck.

I think he's the only character who has matured throughout the whole series. Question is, will Maria be able to "match" that level of maturity?

Mil gracias!!!

Fatima
 

An excellent recap, Urban. Thanks so much. I was sorting bills and was able to watch this entire episode.

I liked the songs and enjoyed the musical throw down between Fernando and Siete Mares. That was a boatload of rose petals strewn around Maria on the stage.

Elvira and Ruben's intimate scene really turned my stomach, 'cuz they're both a couple of repulsive characters.

Looks like Maria will try crossing the border for a visit to El Lay.
 

Maria will because she has to. My question is about everyone else.

I have never met a man who could ever admit to his own emotional truth. Men in the US are taught they must be macho and our definition gets more limited all the time; we don't have to hunt mammoth and nobody wants to go to war. Therefore, to be macho means making piles of ca$h, being good at sports, or scoring with as many women as possible. Two out of three is adequate and a great physique is a bonus.

Jorge Alfredo learned that there is more to life than that.

I don't know how many men eventually learn that sex is far more meaningful and profound in the presence of love. Sometimes I think that the only men who realize that are heroes of novelas and romance novels.


 

UA - Great recap. Thanks for the detailed convos because I didn't get that the old guy in prison is nicknamed "Mil Amores."

Loved the musical duel between Fernando and Siete Mares. Maybe it's just me, but I'm feeling like QBA is now getting to what it should be.

My sister, who doesn't watch, happened to pass by the TV when El Padrino was on. Of course, she takes one look at his clothes and asks, "What is this? The Mexican Godfather?"
 

Um so we have a prisoner named Don Nando who has been in prison for a long time and has a memory problem because of a blow to the head and who reminds Santos of Fernando. What if the old guy is Fernando's father. We know he thinks his father died on the way to El Norte and abandoned him to a life on the street. Wouldn't that be a twist?

Justo said he was looking for an associate to help him with all those papers he was sifting though. Could that be a job for Maria if and when Rigo gets her over the border.

So OJ's evil stems from the most basic of motives — envy. I did so love Santos telling him his plan to ruin his life only brought him the opposite love, friends all the stuff OJ doesn't have. Nice shot and so much more effective than a punch to the face.

One really good thing when Sleazy and Sleazier hit the sheets we were spared seeing it. Praise God.

Loved the sing off and it is interesting to watch two real actors sing.Alejandro Ruiz sings like most of us on key but he obviously isn't a singer. Arturo Peniche is a singer in addition to being a fine actor. I'm thinking that the reason no one can find the lyrics to the songs he sings is because they are his. Didn't someone say Mejia is allowing him to sing his own songs and they may not have been recorded. In any event it was a nice light touch.

So the previews show up that OJ is going to be betrayed and meet his fate at the hands of the GF therby taking the last chsance that Santos had of proving his innocence.
 

My biggest concern about any forthcoming DVD for this series would be the absence of the songs. The DVD of Abrazame Muy Fuerte is missing all of the original music and the songs Pablo did which are on one of his early CDs. It's the second worst derived DVD of a novela I know about (the first one being CS 93).

Giuliano's motives are pathetic to me because he could have had most of what Santos had before the crime: Money, women, and friends. He has a US law degree which could have made him rich, gotten him friends in his field, and women. No, he doesn't have Santos' looks, but the right manner wouldn't have been out of reach for him.

The life of crime he chose probably put the possibility of love out of reach, but he should have the intelligence to have thought about that long ago.

BTW, I also think that Arturo Peniche is doubling up by playing Don Nando, but I guess we'll find that out tonight or tomorrow.
 

Decie--I was thinking exactly the same thing when Santos said Old Don Nando reminded him of his "bro" back in the barrio. Could they have made it any clearer to the audience? I guess this is one way Santos can repay Fernando for all the help he got along the way. Somehow, he'll get them reunited.

So, it looks like Oscar ISN'T going to stay home and watch over the two families. He's insisting on going with them over the border. Did Rigoberto come back to life? (Raul Padilla in real life died in May--or was this filmed before he died.) If I were Rigoberto, I'd nix that plan. It's harder to hide two people in his truck than one.

Who is going to do the daily paperwork and handle the money when Maria leaves? Amalia and Susanito?

I'm sorry we will still have Ruben and Elvirus til the end. They are a disgusting duo.

I thought Siete Mares made a miraculous recovery from his most recent bender. One minute we see him shivering in Ana's arms, the next he's orchestrating a rented mariachi band and is able to sing, quite nicely.

Still don't understand why OJ thinks Santos and Mike will spend anos en la carcel, long enough to rot, for money laundering. I guess a worse fate is in store for him, but if he does expire at El Paps hands, how does that help Santos--unless exculpatory evidence post-facto about the gun, fingerprints, etc can clear him. How does that get rid of the money laundering charge, though. I guess we have to believe the writers are saving OJ for the ultimo capitulos to meet his end.

 

Oh, and thank you, UA, for that over-the-moon recap. In my haste to dive right into the convo, I neglected my good manners.


I'm so glad you make the effort to find the lyrics and the songs they sing. I loved Maria's first song. Danna Garcia does have a lovely voice and with her hair pulled back, Spanish gypsy-style, she is simply gorgeous.
 

For Oscar to accompany Maria over the border would be boneheaded. Not to mention that it won't help her relationship with Santos.

I don't think we're going to be rid of Giuliano tonight. I'm sure something is either going to stop El Padrino or he has blanks in the gun and is just messing with Giuliano's head. Are they related? The shedding of kindred blood is a serious matter in the Italian Mafia and not to be done lightly.
 

URBAN

In the previews it looked like the GF stabbed OJ after telling him he didn't need him anymore. He also thinks OJ is an inepto and is worried he will blab. With OJ dead there is no one who can truly clear Santos of the money laundering charge and even if convicted he'd be out in ten years. I guess these Mafioso types like to dramatize things. In those previews it also looked like OJ was out of prison. Of for the love of God a man accused of two murders gets out and someone charged with minor money laundering stays in Rolling my eyes — again.

OJ like Bruno took the easy way to get money — stealing it. He must have known at heart that no matter how much money he had, no matter how many expensive Italian suits he wore, his over the top flashy pad, he could never compete with Santos who was educated, worldly and connected to the right kind of family.

I'm thinking 7 Seas has to die. That binge and the aftermath show he has a seriously drinking problem and i don't think he wants to stop but he sure id sober up fast.

Looks like Televisa needs to up its razor blade budget. LOL

So now we know the end of QBA is Oct 4 and must say the reppacement doesn't look promising. David Zepda relegated to the late hour yet again.



 

October 4th? OK; that comes in between a concert and an opera. Is it a 2-hour finale? If so there will be a pre-emption somewhere in between.
 

URBAN It is supposed to be a two hour finale so it looks like it will start an hour earlier then again who knows. I figured it was the 4th since it's replacement starts on the 7th. If you count the episodes and dates it seems like we will get two one hour episodes on the 3rd and 4th rather than two on the 4th. Time will tell.
 

Urban, Coloso is a bonehead.

Why they had this handsome guy (minus the scruffy face) playing such a dolt is beyond me.

Fatima
 

I hope not if the 2-hour (as it was in Mexico) finale is anything like AV was. That went into Epilogue Mode, which is anti-climactic.

I don't need to see the Five Years Later unless it resolves something.
 

URBAN

La Patrona had a pretty good two hour final. Not too much on the wedding and show us everybody happily ever after and while it may have been a minor epilog it wasn't obvious. To my mind the worst was Guapos when we had to watch the young ones age and age until one of them died. Still shaking my head over that one.
 

I scratched my head when I read about that. Why???
 

I think the GF will die b/c OJ can't die until the Gran Final along with Ruben & Elvirus.

Don Nando = Fer Nando's father.

I liked the Mariachi Battle. Did Ana give them both the finger at the end?


 

Yes, she did. But she had better stop playing this game. She's giving all women a bad name by doing this.

Fatima, Pablo Montero does not look good unshaven, but he was in his previous two novelas. I don't get it unless someone in authority thought his fan base is too female.

Like that would bother him.
 

Decie--You crack me up!

"Looks like Televisa needs to up its razor blade budget. LOL"

The unshaven ones seem to all end up looking like Bluto in Popeye, just pink lips protruding out of a ring of hair. Hernan on LaTemp reminds me of Bluto, too, even though he's slim and so is his face.

Question: Did Justo ever resign his position? I remember he declined the Paris assignment, but did the Ministerio not accept his resignation as consul in L.A.? In any case, he doesn't seem to be doing much in the way of diplomacy. If he did resign, what is he living on...and I hope he's not thinking about Amalia very often.


 

I'm going to guess there is some family dinero or he couldn't be a diplomat in the first place. Those tend to come from Old Money.

I also hope he doesn't end up with Amalia at the end. She'd be totally out of her element... and proving her hypocrisy to all.
 

Thanks, UbanA! You even got some good snark in there despite having to keep it short! Terrific moon pix, also.

4 wks to el fin. DZ will be decent to watch and the producer is one of the better ones, but I have never seen the gal playing the love interest/female lead. Have any of you?


 

Anita! Bluto!!! You are right. You are SO very right! I am dying laughing. :))

Urban, yes, I seriously doubt Montero would mind having a huge female fan base. :))

Fatima
 

Jardinera, the moon pic was fun to hunt for. Now, of course, I have the urge to watch Moonstruck again.

Fatima, I've met him and I can tell you that he loves being surrounded by females.
 

Urban, I didn't say so when I first posted, but the minute I saw that moon, I thought of "Moonstruck"!! I loved, loved that movie. Won't tell you how many times I've seen it, either! :))

Fatima ("Don't do it, Loretta!"
 

Jardinera, the leading lady of Mentir Para Vivir is Mayrin Villanueva, who was the female lead of UFCS.
 

Thanks for the recap! So I'm curious as to why OJ was gagged and tied up. Corrupt prison guards?

Jardinera, Mayrin was also in Yo Amo a Juan Querendon. She was the female lead. (Can't wait to see DZ which means ill be getting him and WL on my TV (double the hotness)

I wonder who's going to win the serenade showdown. 7M or MA?
--TF