Tuesday, October 22, 2013
PEAM, Tuesday 10/22/13 (#161): Life's a Joke. Death's the Punchline.
Once she's in the apartment, Vero overhears something about Vale's "novio" and chooses this as the topic of her fight with Alma. She claims to be there for visitation, but of course Alma doesn't let her take Vale. Vero hurls every insult she can think of at Alma, who stands her ground and doesn't lose her temper. They do threaten one another, however. (Actually, the real highlight of this scene is when Vero admits that she made a mistake. She's wrong about what the mistake was - she thinks she never should have let Chucho meet Valentina - but at least she admits to being fallible. Too bad Eli couldn't hear her say that. And Marta too, for that matter. They both told Vero that she should admit when she's wrong.)
Anyway, Vero tells Valentina "OK, I'm leaving now." Some visit. Valentina says, "I love you, Mommy." Vero replies, "Me too." I'm so touched, I dab at my eyes with a lace hanky.
Flustered after arguing with Vero, Alma discovers that her jugs have run dry, and she'll have to go to the store to get some formula. Normally Chucho would pick it up for her, but he's tied up in the vendor meeting and not answering his phone.
While Alma's out, Chatita remembers that it was Marta who pushed her down the stairs. She calls Alma to tell her. They agree that it's likely that Marta swapped places with Marcia. Alma says she'll try to get in touch with Marcia.
Alma pulls into a parking space; a car that was driving behind her pulls up alongside. There are two men in the other car.
Finally Chucho gets out of his meeting, and Chatita calls him to tell him the same thing. It sure is taking Alma a long time to come back from the drugstore, and nobody can reach her on her phone. Chucho picks up some formula at the store on his way home.
Around the same time, Marta goes to some vacant-looking area, wondering why Alma asked to meet her there. A shadowy form wearing Alma's dress (not just any Alma's dress, but her today-dress), her bracelet, her hair, and even her nail polish that we got a good look at when she was fighting with Vero earlier. At first, in the shadows, it just looks like a mannequin; but Marta sees this figure spring to life, raising a gun and firing three shots. As Marta falls to the ground bleeding, the figure steps into the light, swirling her hair around to reveal her face: it does look like Alma. But Marta's "seen" people before, so... anyway, as her life seeps painfully away, drop by drop, she struggles with blood-soaked fingers to write Alma's name on the ground. (A better sister's last words would have been "I'm Marta.")
Her handwriting (finger-writing) is nearly illegible; we see it again in the avances at the end of the episode. It looks like "[blob]MA MIA," which any detective would recognize as heartfelt praise for the hit Broadway musical Mama Mia.
At the manicomio, Marcia wakes with a jolt as her sister dies alone on the ground.
Alma is still in her car in that parking lot. There's a bag with the formula in it on the seat beside her. She is groggy and can't remember anything. More than an hour has passed. She drives home, still groggy, doesn't remember anything, and can't wait to go to bed. (To sleep.)
Back at the warehouse, or vacant lot, whatever it is, the CSIs are investigating the scene. Apparently they received an anonymous tip. In addition to Marta's corpse, a passport identifying her as Marcia, and a cell phone with a couple of recent texts supposedly from Alma, they also find Alma's bracelet and a few strands of blond hair. Marta's handwriting has mysteriously cleared up quite a bit to a legible "ALMA MONT." I hope that's enough clues!
Chucho calls the manicomio. The Only Nurse in Monterrey assures him that there's no way Marcia swapped places with Marta... except... well, no, Marcia would never push an old lady down the stairs, so maybe.
Chucho goes to the manicomio in the morning, where he is greeted by that very same nurse. Does this woman work 18-hour shifts? Is she a robot? A twin or clone? Never mind. The doctor's not there yet, but the nurse agrees to let Chucho see the patient. First, however, he must sign in, show his identification, and leave his cell phone at the desk in accordance with their very strict and effective security procedures. The nurse then leads Chucho to Marta's room, leaving the front desk and Chucho's phone totally unattended, but that's no problem because we've seen how this place is like Alcatraz.
Alma wakes up and tells Chatita she still feels as though she was hit in the head with a sledgehammer. She probably was. Still recalls nothing. Ding-dong, Chatita answers the doorbell. It's the po-po! They have an arrest warrant for Alma Montemayor. They Mirandize her and give her not one, but TWO new bracelets, not as nice as the one she lost, but much shinier. They show not the least interest or concern as to whether there are any children or invalids in the household who require supervision as they haul her away for the murder of Marcia Ferrer. (They've got the wrong victim AND the wrong suspect. That's quite a gaffe!)
Other tidbits:
- Paty moves in with Rogelio and doesn't get any sleep that night because of the baby's crying. She ends up holding the baby all night long to keep him quiet. In the morning, she is exhausted, but I think little Fernandito finally wins her over. (Rog refers to the baby and the dog as "the two eggs in our nest that you didn't open." I only remember one unopened egg. Juárever!)
- Despite falling asleep at her desk, Xochi manages to prepare for the meeting with the vendors. The fertility hormones, which she has been taking for four months, are taking a toll on her, but she insists that she really wants to have a baby. I say, if Fernando wants something that cries constantly, he already has Xochi. What does he need with a baby?
- The deal is that Avon will pay all of their vendors according to a specified schedule, plus a 3% penalty. The vendors aren't thrilled that they have to wait longer to receive the full balance of their overdue payments, but the 3% certainly sweetens the deal.
- Speaking of money, Ricardo is enraged when the online poker site puts a hold on his credit card. He's out of credit. (Not just cash, but credit.) "So much fuss over a few million," he complains. He tells Vicki he's going to the bank tomorrow and get a new card. Eh, not so fast, Stoli-breath!
- Julio and Aida are getting it on whereever and whenever they can.
Next time:
Vero gloats: Alma will spend the rest of her life in prison. OR WILL SHE??
Labels: Manda
You are so right about Marta's morphing handwriting no way in H E Double Hockeysticks would she have been able to write anything with a gunshot to the chest. No way!
I will wait for your most excellent recap before I comment anymore ; )
I think she is a wee bit afraid of that bebe. But, I do like what she did with the bebe this evening. It was very sweet and she didn't actually have to do that, but she did! Wonderful!
There's no question Marta was a danger to everyone around her, but she was sick and she did seek treatment voluntarily. A lot of other people screwed up to let her run free all this time. Marta also experienced a lot of ugliness in her life. She did not deserve to end up this way.
This is one of the most disappointing things I have ever seen in a TN - dramas included.
More to the point, if Vero is behind Marta's death - it certainly looks that way - I can't think of any ending for Vero that would do justice to this. At least not in the context of a comedy.
But I suppose it's time to give up trying to play the comedy card. It's obviously a joker!
Thanks so much for this marvelous recap and so loved your little comment about the lace hankie, snort!
Poor Alma! If it isn't one thing it's another, but I don't think she'll be in prison for the rest of her life. She appears to have been drugged, but that "hair tossing" Alma, I really don't think that was Alma at all. Who tosses their hair around like that? Killeronica does it all the time. Killeronica needs the anvil.
So Marta is dead. I'm glad she got her anvil now let's hope they let Marcia out of that manicomio already! The poor woman has been on all those meds all this time. Hopefully she'll come out of there sane.
Those hormones are sure working on Xochi aren't they? She has become a hot mess and totally agree with you about her whining, Enough already!
Pato was so cute with Rog's bebe. She cared enough about the bebe to stay up all night. I really like how she did that, and when Rog woke up it was his turn. That bebe really likes Pato! I had to laugh at Sanson Dos barking, too cute.
Looking forward to finding out how exactly Alma "killed" Marta. I still don't think it was Alma.
On to solving how exactly the crime was committed and Alma framed.
Jarifa
My first thought was Alma was drugged with a "power of suggestion" drug and actually did kill Marta. How did Vero get Alma's bracelet, if it was her (Alma had her bracelet on after Vero left the apartment)? Perhaps the guys drugged A and stole it so V could leave it at the scene of the crime?
You are always observant, but this is a very good one: "They've got the wrong victim AND the wrong suspect." So right, that IS quite a gaffe.
Thanks Julie!
I think Pati keeps referring to Veronica's son when she refers to "what are the odds" that she would be holding Veronica's (her enemy's) son. She loves the baby because he is Rogelio's, but never thought in a million years that she would ever hold the maniac's kid.
Yes, there seems to be only one nurse working during all shifts in Monterrey.
I loved the comment about Xochy, she acts like a child. She was whining long before the fertility treatments.
So Marta's anvil finally dropped, hmmmm and it's a clear case against Alma. Pleeeeeaaaazze. Yes, that blood writing sure dried clearly. This tn has gone from bad to worse.
Interesting: they find a couple of blond hairs at the scene which will no doubt turn out to be Alma's. That's no mystery - Vero could have pulled those hairs off of Alma's dress. My own clothes are a rich source of Julie-hair. :-( Or, she may have pulled a few strands from Alma during their confrontation. However, wouldn't the wig also have shed a few hairs? (I don't know much about wigs, so maybe not?) Vero could have left a few skin flakes or something behind, too.
I think it's time to start writing more satisfying alternate endings. Maybe Vero killed Marta, Marisela's mother, and Xochi's father -- and she's also secret mother to Rai and Quico. Off with her hair extensions!
The same like when people uses gloves to not leave fingerprints, I would use a hairnet, no jewelry that can become loose and fall, etc. I would wear all black with a balaclava...
I am not a policeman either, but all those items found on the crime scene would make suspect they were left there on purpose...
I did enjoy Pati, Rogue, Sanson II and baby Fernandito. Pati was just as unsure of herself when she was getting to know Vale when she was dating Elias. And then she surprised herself with how well she handled Vale. I suspect she will have the same successful results with Vero's newest child.
That’s it. That’s the only storyline I enjoyed in this tn last night. Wow! Things really have gone downhill fast.
Love that, Julie, as well as:
"If Fernando wants something that cries constantly, he already has Xochi.
So funny. So Julie.
Title though gives me the shivers. When you're in your seventies, that's not quite as hilarious as when you're in your forties!
Glad I skipped this one last night. I'm currently finding the 7,8 and 9 pm shows too irritating to watch. And the 10 pm is too late for this lady!
But addicted to our recaps. You all are such fine writers. Thanks.
Thanks for taking on this messed-up episode.
The only scene I actually saw was Pato staying up with the baby and handing it over to Rog at the first opportunity. Love how she fell
asleep immediately--true to life!
Alma a murderer? Que que what?! LOL at the lace hanky line and at Fernando already having non-stop crying in his life.
Veronica was just a witch,bitch, but now she is a murderer?
Wonder how Mexico liked this TN?
The Fernandito scenes were the only ones I enjoyed, too. I think it would be a stretch to describe them as comic relief, though. I was quite angry about last night, and I still am.
Another weird thing about the murder was what Pablo already pointed out. "Alma" shows up without a mask, "loses" her bracelet, and flings her hair around all over the place. More to the point - WHY? It would make sense if there were a video camera there to "see" Alma, but there apparently wasn't or the detectives would have been all over it. And that was professional-quality shooting; Marta wasn't intended to survive. So, planting the evidence was one thing; but why bother with the dress and the nail polish? It was just dumb luck that Marta lived long enough to scrawl Alma's name on the ground.
Maybe the shooter was just a big beefy guy, but Marta hallucinated seeing Alma because she had Alma on her mind.
On the phone with Chatita, at the end of the conversation, Alma says she'll try to get in touch with Marcia. Which means at least one text message on Marta's phone could have been sent by Alma - but it seems VERY unlikely that Alma would ever ask Marcia to meet her in a vacant lot/building. Nor would she likely have a gun handy!
I know it will all be explained soon enough. But something tells there will be a lot of eye-rolling.
I'll say this much for PEAM, though: they have kept us guessing.
They were beginning to exceed my tolerance for soapy cliches, such as long-lost parents who all end up in Port Charles; dead people coming back to life; and mixed-up paternity test results. I felt that it was getting to be worse than a telenovela. But then Marta's twin sister suddenly came to town and I realized that the only way to avoid such cliches would be to avoid serials altogether. I don't know if I can do that!
Fishknits: the deal with Rai is that her brother wants to move, I forget where to. For work, I suppose. Rai doesn't want to go, so Chatita said she could stay with her. But I would think Rai's brother ought to have some say in the matter, too, so maybe we'll finally meet him.
I think the goons probably drugged Alma. Then they could take her away, and Vero, ready with a wig, could take her bracelet and pull a few of her hairs, use her phone to call Marta, and make sure that she couldn't account for her whereabouts for a good hour or so. I'm not at all sure who actually shot Marta. I'm thinking Vero, dressed up as Alma enough for a framing just in case Marta lived long enough to tell someone about it, or as we saw, scrawl a message. She kept the hair mostly over her face, power of suggestion could fill in the rest and lead Marta to assume it was Alma, especially after they'd just had a fight and she was thinking she was meeting with Alma. Plus, Vero was a model. She may have picked up some good makeup tips, enough to imitate Alma's look.
Sad that Marta had to go out like that, though. She didn't deserve it. She should have been able to live for decades, finding some satisfying hobbies that she could do, safely medicated in the manicomio.
Xochi is so grating. The hormones may be affecting her mood, but that's no excuse for an adult to be so WHINY! Especially at work!
Julio and Aida have way more chemistry than our main couple.
Lemurs? How about sloths?
I wouldn't want to blame Alma for Martha's demise, when in reality is Jesús who killed her.
So true, amiga, so true. We have had to wade through her crap this whole novella ; )
Pablo:
Snort! I can't wait to see your take on tonight's epi : )
And I have to stand up for the animals. They'd be way too intelligent to write this stuff.
Although, maybe we should blame Chucho's friend who found out about Valentina on Facebook in the first place. Meddlesome clod! I demand justice! Maybe Marcia will pursue him in the sequel.
Our discussion about the lack of quality of the writing is actually far more amusing than the tn right now.
In retrospect: why are they playing the prison card so late in this show? Any other novela would have had Alma getting a beatdown behind bars somewhere around episode 70...
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