Caray, Caray!

Oh my gosh, Jardinera! I didn't expect anything tonight,but thought I would check anyway and another one of your super recaps was there!

It's really late and I know I'll have much more to say in the morning, but I am SO glad that Don Nando got out. I find it unbelievable that he was jailed for 30 years for a murder he didn't commit.

I feel cheated on the Elvirus anvil. I'm still shaking my head at that one.

Mil, mil gracias, Jardinera! Mil gracias!

More tomorrow!

Fatima
 

Again, that old Alka Seltzer commercial comes to mind and I keep thinking to myself I can't believe I watched this whole thing. The music and the cast of professionals we know and love were this tn's only saving grace. The musicians and those who sang were terrific--and it made the idiotic direction and inconsistent story line/ editing at least bearable.
 

Jardinera, ITA with all you have said.

Fatima
 

Mirna got no punishment, yet she was Concho's mistress & embezzled from the bar.

Guiliano got burnt up twice. That's funny.

Ruben's end was dumb just like him.

Elvira was going to crazy town getting dressed up to get married instead of taking the cash and leaving town.

And how did Curtis have jurisdiction to arrest Elvira anyway?

Where was Irasema? And I'm sad we never saw Dona Prudencia or Dona Refugio again.

Was the cash Ruben had Justo's 10 million dollars?
 

Here I said I'd be back in the morning, but I can't stop watching the vids at the Novelas y Series site. They've interviewed most of the cast members.

Is it usual for a story to have this many loose ends? I'm still fried over the non-existent anvil for Elvirus. Mirna got away scott free and we don't know who her daughter really was.

Did 7 Seas have any connection to Mirna at all?

The Derechos deserved their very own anvil for their stupidity.

Agree Anon207 about no further sighting of the two Donas.

I listened to the interview they did of the Mejia guy. Obviously, he thought he created a masterpiece.

Loved Maria's wedding dress and hair. I am going to miss Jorge Salinas BIG TIME!

Fatima
 

Wait... Justo is the French ambassador to Mexico??
 

Thank you, Jardinera and all the other wonderful recappers. I had really wanted to thank you all individually, but I was totally swamped this week. As it is, I am just glad to be alive and really, really glad that it’s Friday. :) And I also can’t believe that I watched that whole damn thing, and most of it twice.

Oh, man. This mess of a finale was just sooooo fitting of an end to this mess of a TN. There are loose ends sticking out of this thing like a porcupine.

Swords, anvils. They had the wrong things hanging over the wrong people’s heads. But so much has been wrong for so long, what did we expect anyhow? At least they finally showed some sensitivity for Viewerville’s tolerance level and gagged some of Maria’s professions of everlasting love. She did look lovely for her wedding. But, man, they needed to clobber those villains a whole lot worse than then did if they want all of us who watched their loathsome behavior all these months to leave happy.

“(Mirna) presents the funny looking guy in the crazy Denny’s horn rims and nose disguise and dimple obliterating wads in his chipmunk cheeks as the new owner.”

Fixed that for ya. Like anyone would recognize Mr. Dimples sin said dimples. *eyeroll*

Who knew that OJ fried so beautifully? However, I would have that crispy critter live with his crispy critterness a lot longer. A lot. I guess I have to be happy about how clear they made it that he had hell awaiting him, which, after all, is the ultimate BBQ pit for crispy critters.

Jorge? Um, red sports coats? Are most definitely a glamour ‘no’. As in ‘nada’. As in ‘could negate all the dimple and half dead lamb eye action in the world’. As ‘please, NEVER again and maybe we can still be friends’. M’kay?

“Justo tells (Amalia) that he believes she’ll see plenty of him—that is if she allows him to initiate a formal courtship. She agrees. (Viewerville boos.)” Hey!!! Not this Viewervillette! I’m glad. So there. :) Amalia was never meant to be seen as a villain or even a bad person. This ending has been coming down the pike since the two of them met, and I think it’s nice that they were not left to be alone at the end. Not that it wouldn’t be a little weird to have your mom dating your father-in-law, but, hell, if there’s one thing we’ve learned since April, it’s that Maria and Santos are both a little off anyhow, so they probably will be just hunky dorky about it.

Questions that need to be asked? Was that Mirna’s daughter drafted into service as Maria’s dress train holder for the wedding? It looked like her to me, and maybe that is one of the hazards of standing around the Televisa sets for too long.

And I have to mention that, the other day, seeing those Televisa ratas looking so fat and sassy? Made. My. Night.

Hope you all have enjoyed my alcohol-enhanced posting tonight. Night-night. I am out of town this weekend, so that’s probably it for me. I am so very glad to wrap this thing up, but you all have made it wonderful!
 

Even if Elvirus didn't get ultimate karmageddeon, at least we got the satisfaction of seeing her get punched in the schnoz and slapped silly. I for one enjoyed that as she didn't receive anything in Dinero and in that one the one who played Michael here fornicated with her. In Dos Hogares, at least she showed some repentment as Jennifer Garza and was redeemed. I can't wait to see her as Vanessa Montero in Feliz a Escondidas. Overall, this novella was WAY better in many cases than say CORAZON SALVAJE or TRIUNFO DEL AMOR. Even though I tolerated those two due to the gorgeousness but I digress. I still have PEAM to watch until it ends and Corazon Indomable isn't anywhere near done except in Mexico this Sunday and LaT isn't really my cup of tea. I wanna watch MPV and currently follow UFCS at 9 and Cachito de Cielo in the morning. I also catch LFMB on Galavision which is perfection! I wanna follow La Mujer Del Vendaval which is a favorite as well. I'm such a novelero.


Honestly, I adored the kids/teens storyline. Roddy and Paloma were so sweet together. Aaron really was a wild card as at times he was caring but was still in for the MP3 prize. I admired his stand-ups to Vanessa though.

About Mirna, I admired how this woman was strong-willed at times when she stuck it to Lourdes and Concho about how they ignored Elvira but when she conspired with them I thought she would end up with a terrible fate. I really didn't get why she made out with Susanito though. Speaking of a boy named Susan, where was Irasema? And it was funny when he worked as an Ice cream man.

Fern, Ana, Jal and MilAnos as a family in the end was sweet. Very fitting. Another favorite storyline especially because I liked Ana's character.

Maria and Santos finally got to say they had un amor que es bien bonito in the end and couldn't be happier. I loved Maria's character and determination. I saw signs of Monita from UGAC.

Giuliano was given a disturbing end but suiting. Out of all the actor's end ups as a villain, I preferred the one in Llena de Amor where he was castrated by gunshot. Don't get me started in Cadmilo who pulled on Flor's paonytail in broad indoor lighting poor gurl and he ended up redeemed in and out of prison.

Ruben didn't get off easy as Elvira was rejected already once and wouldn't take it again. She would kill for cash.

The wedding was gorgeous and I loved how everyone even Aaron showed up. I LOVED Amalia suited up and how she didn't get with Justo.

I didn't like how Lorena didn't get bit in the butt at the end as she had the looks of a serious villana and didn't even see her husband's fate.

I couldn't stand Derecho but tolerated and loved Curtis as they remind me of my parents.

About Mirna's daughter, I still feel Isa was it but they wanted to leave it at hints and pokes. I still guess it could be a possibility.

Overall, this novella was superb in my eyes but I guess the court scenes were mega flawed. I will miss this and will keep an eye out on anything Mejia Alejandre to see if he improves as this was an improvement.


 

I also didn't like how they didn't make clear which murder Elvirus was arrested for as there were more than one. The wax job which succeeded practically and then the sword thing and the fire job at the party. Then finally the gun job that would've been a success if Curtis hadn't shown up. Jail is the crazy girl's home and only home other than the Manicomio. They made it sound as if she was only guilty for the gun job though (restating my thesis)
 

Great work, Jardinera, and thanks for posting so soon. I'm going out in a couple of hours and will be out all day.

My closing remarks will be posted in pieces because of the post-size limitations. I usually do this at the conclusion of a series I blog and this series has a lot of clear examples.

The Good: Cast, music, and production design.

Cast: Let's forget about whether any of these actors were age-appropriate to the characters; would we be commenting on this if there hadn't been a previous version with a younger lead cast? I don't think so. Either way, Jorge Salinas is easily Televisa's best actor and it's clear he had a good time with at least most of this series. Every one of the primary cast also did well even when – and sometimes especially when – we couldn't stand them. Pablo Montero was supremely irritating for the first time, Roberto Palezuelos is coming into his own as primary villain material, Marcelo Buquet was an operatic villain, and Manuel Ojeda continues doing well as a character actor; he seemed to enjoy playing an Italian Mafia boss complete with a wardrobe right out of Mario Puzo.... or Damon Runyon.

I said this once before during an episode discussion, but I don't think in general that novelas are written with specific actors in mind for the lead roles. In the case of remakes there needs to be adjustment made for casting differences from the original if the actors being considered for a remake are substantially older, younger, taller, or whatever than the original ones.

Music: Mariachi is probably the “soul” music of Mexico and the song list for this series was fabulous. My only criticism of the music was in the failure to choose a single singing voice to dub Jorge Salinas' character. It should have been the one who sounded like Alejandro Fernández.

Production Design: Colorful, cheerful-looking most of the time. The wardrobe was also beautiful; I hope Danna Garcia got to keep some of those fabulous dresses. Gorgeous wedding, worthy of mariachi royalty.

The following items were positives in the writing:

1. No character was saintly; except for the main villains the characters were mostly coming off as “real people.”
2. The absence of know-it-all characters like priests and servants, although the level of adoration of La Virgencita would normally insist on the presence of a priest at minimum (beyond wedding and funeral duties).
3. No real parental villains this time; the two protagonists both had loving parents (a very rare thing).
4. Opening episodes were a good set-up.
 

The Bad:

Most of this is about the writing.

1. Unrealistic representation of criminal (in)justice. Police on both sides of the border looked completely inept.
2. Lack of English in places where it belonged. We should have heard the Garzas speaking English more frequently and English should have been the language of all the scenes in the El Lay police station, courtroom, and prison.
3. Inconsistencies in character behavior, particularly with Maria and Amalia. The latter's inconsistencies could have been acceptable if she had been a controlling, manipulative bitch wanting to gaslight her daughter, but it made no sense this way except to make her look like an idiot. The inconsistencies in Maria are less forgivable, since she is better-educated than her mother and has more responsibility for the family than she needs at that time in her life. She should not have leaned in the direction of being just like her mother.
4. Loose ends. There aren't supposed to be any in a Televisa novela. They left the following ones:
-- Isabel's parentage
– Irasema's brothers
– Ruben's ex and her thug
5. Comic relief right on the heels of something very serious. This is just as bad as US film writers putting “humor” in horror movies. They cancel out each other's emotional impact and make the total package substandard and much less memorable.

Some bad acting points:

1. Mirna's growl was meant to be sexy. Good thing she has a body most men want on a woman or this would have been repulsive, but Paty Diaz barely got away with this.
2. Frequent flatness of affect in the teen actors.
3. Shriekfests by Lorena del Olmo were excessive. We got that she was obsessive from the beginning, but this actress was hitting us on the head about it too often in her few episodes.
4. Not sure, but Rosie Pelayo (Curtis) and her attempts at being sexy were pathetic, but perhaps were meant to be seen that way. (At least we were spared the honeymoon).
 

The Ugly:

1. Five o'clock shadow on the series' two hottest actors. At least Jorge Salinas only had it for the prison scenes; that made a certain amount of sense. There is never a good reason for Pablo Montero to have it at all. His character should have by now become the farthest thing possible from a country bumpkin. He also should have kept his hair the length it was in the opening of the series. With that haircut, a clean shave, and a black traje de charro he looks like a prince.
2. The red mariachi suits on the men. Maria's red dress was gorgeous, but this color scheme doesn't work on men's suits.
3. The Mariachimobile, which was ridiculous.
4. The Tostitos signs in JNTR. The one over the bar was not completely unrealistic, but the one onstage was annoying.


Karmageddon Rating (1-5 Anvils)

Concho: 5 out of 5 Perfect. This was a man defeated by his own conscience because of having murdered a business partner, causing the poverty of his survivors. The lies told after Pedro Mendoza's death have also affected Amalia and her raising of her daughters, particularly Maria. He underpaid his employees, cheated on his wife, abandoned a pregnant lover, and was severely remiss in the raising of his daughter. He got what he deserved.

Bruno & Arnold: 5 out of 5 because both were too stupid to live. Here's hoping that Wendy's daughter gets the same intelligence genes as her maternal tio and abuelo, which will then be nurtured by her stepdad.

Mirna: No rating because she had no Karmageddon. Granted, she didn't do anything worthy of a long prison term, but she aided and abetted those who did. Is poverty enough?

Elvira: 5 out of 5 because she will not only lose everything she had, she'll find out that orange is not the new black.

Giuliano: 4 out of 5 because hell is where he belongs. I was initially disappointed that he didn't die in the fire, but actually it was better for him to have to live for a while with the disfiguring scars. His envy of Santos' better looks, bigger fortune, [bigger equipment also, I suspect], and social position had to have poetic-justice consequences. He should have suffered longer with the scars, though.

Rubén: 5 out of 5 because due to his mindset of women being playthings he deserved to be killed by one.

El Padrino: 3 out of 5, only because there was no perfect choice at that stage of the story. Giuliano had to have his Macbeth moment and take the consequences. Since El Padrino was closer to Vito Corleone than Giuliano could ever hope to be I would have preferred to see him in prison controlling the behavior of the other prisoners in his cellblock.
 

Head-Scratchers and other Unanswered Questions:

How did El Jalisquito get on the bus without dinero in Guadalajara? Or did he sing in the streets until he had enough?

How do we get a new chick for Oscar in the last episode and he falls for her on the spot? Must have been because the actress playing the waitress wasn't available to shoot that episode.

How did Santos get his fortune back? Granted, we don't have to get all the details, but it would have been nice to see this question answered.

What happened to the money Elvira was about to run off with?

Seriously, Maria left the candles burning when she ran out of the apartment?

No punishment for Vainessa. Somewhat disappointing.

Lorena del Olmo also got no punishment; very disappointing.

As for the Swords of Damocles:

The two swords were heavy enough to cause real damage if suddenly dropped. If dropped while still attached, they definitely would have stabbed; if dropped free the hilt could have upset the position and landed on someone's head.
 

One more thing: Someone else noted the absence of Prudencia and Remedios, so what happened to Oscar's pet rooster?

Mirna tried to seduce Susanito in order to distract him from his duties as part owner of the bar and/or to attempt to seduce his share out of him.
 

Mirna must have been redeemed because she must have been the one to drop the dime on Ruben and Elvira/Crispy Critter. I'm supposing that Mirna got the money Elviral absconded with as a reward leading to her arrest--Curtis perhaps was making a citizen's arrest or was still in Mexico with the El Lay and D.F.'s permission till the case was closed, or a hired bodyguard/bouncer for the ceremony, since she told Vi she was arresting her for Ruben's murder as well as the attempted murder there and then in the church.
======
Fatima: I can't believe you went onto the blog so soon after the fin! Tks!
=======
Corazon Salvaje: I'm glad that there was at least one true Mejia fan for the show watching up here. !; > )
===============
UrbanA: Thanks for the critique. I don't think I disagree with any of it. I supposed that Jali did sing for pesos to afford the bus trip back to the D.F. from Guadalajara, like you.
========
Carolina: That red sports jacket was the pits! I suppose it was worn for the t.v. screen optics. I missed the girl holding Maria's train and Aaron's being at the wedding. Thanks for noting it. Looking forward to your "rants" with MPV, amiga!
============

Anon.3:07A.M.: No, Justo was made French Ambassador from/ for Mexico.
 

Thanks to all the recappers here for completing a labor of love with high competence. Once I started skimming for musical highlights, I had to depend on the recappers to keep me informed.
A beautiful wedding and a wonderful dress for Maria. Didn't realize there could be a mariachi bridal gown. Loved your title, Jardinera!
 

Jardinera, I just had a "feeling" you would surprise us with a muy pronto recap and you did! What a wonderful treat! I know you are recapping for two TNs. How in the world you do it, I don't know, but I'll follow your work over at CI (even though I find it very hard to watch).

Urban, I think you've hit all the nails on the head. I love Jorge Salinas and look forward to his next TN.

I wonder what Pablo Montero will be doing next?

Fatima
 

Jardinera - Great recap. Love the title. I remain amazed at how you can cover so much ground so smoothly.

I bailed on QBA but had to keep checking in at times on Santos and Fernando. My favorite moments last night were when Maria dedicates the bar's reopening show to *dead* Santos and Santos starts singing from the balcony and when Don Nando returns to Fernando.

The condensed DVD for QBA could be pretty good if they cut out all the annoying/nonsensical stuff that all of you have mentioned.
 

Urban, did you or anyone else compile a complete list of all the music that was sung/played on this TN?

Right now, I am going back and writing down the songs from the very beginning as they were listed, but was just curious if anyone had compiled a complete list.

Thanks so much!

Fatima
 

NiecieMD/La Paloma: Glad the recaps were useful.....
=/ ;? ))

Fatima:

Se you and La Paloma over at CI. Hope all three of you consider trying out MPV. Maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised and rewarded.


 

Jardinera, I am definitely going to check out MPV. Some of the actors look very interesting, so will definitely check it out!

See you there!

Fatima
 

Jar, you had to tie up a whole lot of loose ends which just wouldn't let themselves get tied. Thank you for being the one to bring us El Fin. Now I can breathe again.

Following UA's critique--my sentiments exactly.

Carolina, thank you for the mini-lesson on swords. Dangling the way they did and dropping a bit every 10 min. wouldn't have given them much power to slice and dice IMHO. The folks tied up in the chairs could have dodged it, the chairs weren't fastened to the floor or anything and maybe gotten bad cuts, but the bad guys were still around to put the finishing touches on them, which we knew wasn't going to happen. It was a novel new way to build suspense, though. It just didn't work for me.

Did Paloma ever lose her hairbow? She did have a rather loud dress on in church, and because of it, I didn't look at her hair.

One thing I must say, they all cleaned up pretty well (except for El Coloso) and the unfortunate choice of red jacket for JAntos. Curiously they didn't tell us which name he used to get married, but with everybody dead he could use his Justo & Altagracia-given name.

And Jorge Salinas looked divine in the last half. He was either in heaven because it was over, recovered completely from his eye accident, he got a few decent sounding lines in, or he got to "marry" Maria in an absolutely goregeous scene. Danna Garcia also looked esplendida. Loved the horses. I wish they had spent more camera time panning the wedding guests.

Maria Angelica is quite lovely. She was an entirely different character (in heels, no less) when Amalia walked into her new house. And yes, Justo asked formally to court her and announced that he got his offer to be the Mexican ambassador TO France. Well, if Amalia looks like that in Paris, he chose well.

My queja with the music the mariachis sang was that many times they didn't let us hear the whole song, or the scene cut away to something else and then back to the rest of the song. We did have to adjust beanies slightly to see 5 guys and a gal on stage, but a full orchestra backing them up. The finale was wonderful with plenty of musicians.

Another personal irritant was that as popular as JNTR was, the tables were placed very far apart and usually only one couple or occasionally four people were at each table. The place should have been packed.

They should have prepared us a little more for Elvira turning into a Looney needing a bin. She was pretty cold hearted when she shot Ruben in the back. He didn't seem too out of sorts as he died with an almost grin on his face. I would rather she had shot him facing her and knew what was coming.

Yeah, TWO fires?

All the inconsistencies is in storyline and character development melted away for me in the last fifteen minutes. I had a big grin on my face during the whole wedding procession and wished there could have been more of that.

My biggest wish for this and all future tns, is that they would let each scene last longer rather than the whiplash we are getting treated to now. I'm watching El Privilegio de Amar and the transitions are much smoother and you don't have to wonder where you are or need big letter signs to remind you. But that was 15 years ago and there is a new generation of watchers now (well, as someone alluded not long ago, the new generation has a much shorter attention span--lordy, how do they get through reading War and Peace, Moby Dick, Tale of Two Cities or Les Miserables--ok I answered my own question, they watched the movie).

All in All, it was a Grand Finale to El Fin del QBA.

I'm going to miss you all, but I suspect I'll see some on other tns. So it's Hasta Luego and not Adios.

 

Fatima--What a wonderful task you are setting up for yourself. When you are done with the list, please add it to this final episode, even if it's many days hence.
 

Fatima and Jar--I'm bailing on MPV. If they had had Diego and David switch places, I would have been glued to the 10 pm slot--again. ITA that Zepeda makes a better villain while Diego makes a superb hero and galan.
 

Anita, amiga, believe me, it will take me a good while to put together this list. Plus, if one of our wonderful recappers didn't list it in their recap, I will miss a few.

The credits roll by so quickly at the end I miss it all. I'm watching mostly online, but I'm sure I can come up with something.

Really sorry you won't be with us on MPV as I always enjoy your comments. Funny that you mention the Diego guy, HE is the one I am really interested in seeing. What a handsome dude! The Zepeda guy I know only from seeing the reruns of Soy Tu Duena. He seems more of a villain type versus a galan, but we shall see.

Fatima
 

Fatima: He was a fabulous villano in Sortilegio, starts to transition in Soy Tu Dueno and then is a full fledged galan in La Fuerza del Destino and Abismo de Passion.
 

With David Zepeda I think it depends on the writing for his character. I've seen him in several shows:

Sortilegio: He was totally villianous as Bruno.....that's the main reason I wanted to watch La Fuerza del Destino to see how he would do as a galan.

Soy Tu Duena: I liked Alonzo. He was bad but he redeemed himself in the end as he assumed responsibility for his son.

La Fuerza Del Destino: They had him doing stupid things like making out with the wall. I felt his chemistry & sex scenes with Merry Piece was a whole lot better than the boring Lucia.

Abismo: He should've been playing Gael, and Mark Tacher should've been playing Damian. They probably cast DZ as Damian because of the two actors playing his parents......Mark Tacher wouldn't have made sense as the son of Cesar Evora and Blanca Guerra.

So I'll tune in for a little while to see MPV. I think JS probably wanted to play a light character after playing such a dark character in LQNPA.

I'll miss Santos, Michael, Justo & Fernando the most. I'll also miss Lourdes. I wish we had gotten an update on her whereabouts.

Where was Irasema? We saw Susanito announce he was going to be a dad and announce his scholarship to music school and be at the wedding, but no Irasema.
 

Well said everyone. As novela endings go it was neither the worst or the best and Marias gown was a knockout. The only quibble I had was the stupidity of OJ returning. How the hell much time was supposed to have elapsed from Fire 1 to Fire 2. They made it a couple of days and his scarring plus the pain would have lasted month — oh well at least the good are happy, the evil are dead and Evile can rot in prison.

I am taking a TN rest. Mentira does absolutely nothing for me. I'm not crazy about the current Señora Santamarina and there isn't enough wine in the world for me to suffer through David Zepeda as a galan. I seem to remember reading that Mentira is a short novela something like 100 episodes but who really knows.

The others don't interest me and even their repacements are just more Televisa remakes. I'm going to wait for the new Jamie Camil - Zurita Vega novela which has had several title changes already and is a remake. It doesn't even begin filming until next month so it may be a long wait. It is also a Rosy O'Campo number so it may be long. We will all probably be bitching about there being too big and age gap between the leads but that seems to be the norm these days.

Marido has jumped the shark for me with the long dead hubby returning so I won't be hiding over on Telemundo until La Impostora airs. It has Christian Bach and her baby and is still casting. The plus here i addition to Sebastian is that it is an ORIGINAL story — fancy that.

Anita, Urban, Jardinera as always will miss your comments, recaps and wit. As for the rest of our little QBA family we will always have our memories of the music, the colors and those glorious Mariachi outfits.

 

Thank you for this finale recap! Thanks to ALL recappers for a job well done!

Overall the finale was just okay. There was definitely still unanswered questions and loose ends, but I think there were a couple of high points-little things that I liked to see.

One of my favorite parts was when JA returns and Fer asks about his dad and JA lies and then when Fer sees his dad in the next scene he says "Vargas me la vas a pagar"

Somehow I'm glad there was no PDA between Justo and Amalia when they decide to go formal with a relationship. It'd be weird they had eventually gotten married as well.

I don't why but I figured the 3 villains would end up betraying/killing each other. I was definitely made to look like a domino effect with the deaths of Giu and Ruben being just a scene or two apart.

Was it just me or at the end during the montage of mariachis around the world was the clip of Vicente Fernandez singing with mariachis behind him the scene from Amor Bravio when VF makes a cameo singing for Dan and Camila? And I too also noticed that Aaron was among the partygoers before the wedding. Glad he got his comeuppance of sorts but disappointed Vanessa never got hers.

Don't really know if its safe to say whether Mirna got redemption or not since her last scene was telling Maria
about the supposed fight between Ruben and JA. And where was Irasema?

Well I will most likely tune into MPV so hope to see some you if I ever wander around here.
--TF
 

TF Always wander over here if you're watching a novela. Sometimes it is more fun here than what is on the screne. Since i'm probably going to pause from my novela watching i won't be posting because i hate the idea of hit an run posting, watching one episode and running over to make snide comments. LOL
 

Decie Girl, I'm sad to see you won't be with us on the next ones. I've always enjoyed your perspective on things and your knowledge of the TNs.

Jardinera, thank you for the information on Zepeda. This helps me to gauge what I am seeing in terms of the actor's progression in these stories.

I've sure learned a ton following QBA and really want to thank our small family of regulars for educating me. :))

Remember, if you haven't seen it already, you've GOT to see the Derbez film. You will love it!

Fatima
 

Sorry, the thoughts come to me after I post. One of the things I will miss the most is the sense of family amongst the mariachis. It was so nice to see and comforting in its own way.

I think that's why I enjoy some of these stories (the VERY few that I have seen). They bring comfort in the midst of the day to day chaos. They are like a friend I look forward to seeing. I know. Kinda sappy, but I am kinda sappy sometimes.

Fatima
 

You guys, you guys, you guys, we survived Mejiaterror2013! The only thing I loved about this novela (aside from the yummy Jorge Salinas) was the music, it made me realize that I'm not too cool for Chente! Because I watched this I went on youtube and found so many oldies that I now have to buy for my ipod, if anyone wants Eli's list of must have Mexican Ranchera songs I can email you a list.


Thank you to all the recappers who put in the hard work on this one, your recps were much better than the actual show, well done ladies!
 

Fatima

I agree the sense of family among the mariachi's was one of the best things in the story. I also forgot to comment that i was glad to see that Bufalo did not take greedy Jen back. She hurt him and he wasn't enough of an idiot to take her back even though i do think she realized what she had done and was sorry.


 

Thanks, Decie Girl!

Eli, I was going to work on a list of all the songs that were sung here, but if you have already done so, could you let me know? Would you consider posting your list to this blog so that we might partake of your list?

Thanks so much!

Fatima
 

Fatima, I have a list of the songs from the show but also of other songs that I found thru youtube, you know how sometimes you watch a video and then after you're done they suggest other things for you to listen to? I have a few vicent Fernandez songs and others that I think are beautiful!
 

Your list sounds fantastic, Eli!! Yes, I know exactly what you mean about one song leading to another and so on.

Hope you consider posting your list to the blog so that it can be referenced in the future. I figured it would take me a few weeks to get the list done, but you've already done it! That is fantastic!

Fatima
 

For Fatima and anyone else, here’s my stash of QBA music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O3DZ-9oXy8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWCBP5h_jkc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwusB4k45uA&NR=1&feature=endscreen

The end theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfqhYAcrgys

And QBA songs by other artists:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QUCw4Bws5c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr7Ymfw4A3Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25ocpYbbI0w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWK6B6yJBRk

For me, Jorge, the music, and the community here were the best parts of QBA. I’ll miss you both, Anita and Decie Girl, but I hope to find you again in some future TN. I’ve totally enjoyed your comments for this one. Jardinera, I’ll be giving MPV a try, but not sure how long I’ll last. I still may sail away with Captain Fab since I’ve been seeing bits of LT every night while waiting for QBA. Hasta luego, mis amigas!
 

Carolina/Eli/Decie/TF/Anita/Urban/Anon207, et al: For me, Jorge (PM and Danna too along) with the music and the community here were the best parts of QBA for me also! I appreciated all the additional input from those of you with insights. That's what I love about this blog. I'll see some of you amigas on future sites, I'm dead certain! 8 > ))
 

Hi everyone!! i was asked to refrain from commenting between this one and the earlier versions so I feel free to do it now.
Did this one come even in the ballpark of the earlier one in terms of the plotline and quality of the music and dubbing of singing? heck no.
However, this one did come through as sweeter, and Jorge Salinas and Arturo Peniche won me over, despite of their age, because of their work portraying the characters.

I have to comment that the last week, mostly the last three episodes, were a circus as far as the writing... it seemed like they took some elements of the original but did not bother to put any continuity between them or even show them in a way that made sense.

I missed you all so much!! and, like Decie, I am not attracted by MPV from the previews so I will wait for the Camil/Vega one and maybe even recap it. Hopefully it will start after the holidays.

Thanks for all the recappers. Every once in a while I peeked but did not comment.

My favs in this one were definitely Arturo Peniche and his twist on a combo of the earlier 'Fernando / Sigi' wrapped into one great character.
Jorge Salinas won me over in this one, definitely looked better in the second half after his 'accident'.

God bless.
marta
 

How do I feel about Justo and Amalia ending together? I guess I am on the fence.
I can't see them sleeping together, but certainly they would be great company to each other... giggled at the face Jorge Alfredo put when Justo proposed 'courtship' to Amalia... priceless smirk!

Sorry, did not care about the acting on many characters, including 'Mirna', 'Elvira' and 'Ruben' or the teenager actors.

Our 'Orange Man' definitely made good use of the 'orange color' dying by fire not once, but twice! talk about overkill!!

 

I saw a bit of La Hija Del Mariachi on youtube and I wish they had used "Volver, volver" on QBA. Mark Tacher KILLED it and I think that song would have been a better choice here, especially when you consider how many times we heard "Qba" during the course of the novela.
 

And I agree, the last few days were a bloody mess, it just felt like the writers had no idea how to organize things so that things would have a smooth and steady flow.
 

Eli, there is a LOT of songs by Jose Alfredo Jimenez that were used very successfully in Mariachi, even at different points in different context (sometimes for happy moments, sometimes for battlezones, same lyrics) that were either never used or totally wasted here... like when they have the parade where Jorge Alfredo is on the horse and Maria on the carriage toward the church, they played the music of 'Serenata sin Luna' which is absolutely beautiful... They barely, if at all, used 'la mano de Dios' even though JA and Maria both always swore that only the hand of God would separate them...
then again Monica Agudelo milked all the JAJ songs she used for all the beautiful they were... the music was not such a front line 'character' in this version. This is one of the huge reasons I prefer the earlier Mariachi to this one by far. Mark Tacher was also a big part of the success of Mariachi. Just like Jorge S. is here, surpassing all expectations.
 

Carolina, thank you so much for those links! I will certainly miss you, amiga, but I am sure we will see each other soon on another TN!

Fatima
 

Marta, I never saw La Hija Del Mariachi, I just saw a few scenes here and there but the one that stuck with me is when Tatcher comes back and sings "volver, volver", I had a tear by the end of it because I believed that this man loved this woman so much that he was dying to be with her,and when he sang it took my breath away. Mark, oh man, I never knew he was suc a good actor!
 

TF, yes that montage did include a clip of Don Vicente at La Gavia (La Malquerida of Amor Bravio). I did the Monday episodes for that one as well and it was a pleasure.

I'm guessing that the actress who played Irasema wasn't available to be in the finale. This has happened before, even with more prominent characters, due to illness or their next series taking priority.

The fast scene changes annoy me, too. I wonder how many of them are written that way and how many are just edited that way.
 

UA, Irazema was performed by Karla Alvarez, better known as Virginia from La Mentira ('98 with Guy Ecker and Kate del Castillo). And yes, that would be my guess too, that Karla was not available. She has been very thin since she suffered an eating disorder since/after La Mentira.
 

Eli, Yes, Mark is THAT good. I did not like his character much in Para volver a Amar since he did not have much to work with as far as depth... but he has rocked it in Mariachi, Triunfo del Amor and more recently as Gael in Abismo, I loved his chemistry with Rene Casados as his adoptive dad.
 

Wow....wonderful job to all recappers....u did make the story sound better then it sometimes was...UA....u 2 r great....love your final thoughts on all....the last 3 days were so fast....I thought they would need at least a 2 hour show to close all the loose ends....impossible mission....and disappointing to say the least....but I loved the wedding and the horses and the mariachis playing....Maria's dress was beautiful.....so mariachi......loved the whole thing....just had to keep telling myself it was a novella..they did some dumb ass things but once again .......I ..it was a novella and I love them all....someone said they are like coming home to a friend.....yes they are.....I will check out MPV.... I would like to see Christian de la fuente and Fernando colunga do something good ....thanks again recappers....BNinCA
 

Tacher is a fabulous actor, but he cannot sing or keep a tune IMHO.
 

Glad to see you didn't forget us, Martai!
 

@UA: Thank you, that's what I thought. I meant to reference La Malquerida in my question but totally forgot what the hacienda was called in AB.

It actually took me a while to figure out that the actress that played Irasema was the same that played Virginia in La Mentira. La Mentira was actually the very first TN I ever watched. It makes sense now that its possible Karla was unavailable to film scenes for the last two episodes of QBA. I wouldn't think she would just disappear for no reason since its possible that Irasema was finally pregnant or since she wasn't there it was just meant to show that Susanito didn't have any problems in that area anymore.
--TF
 

Surprised to see so much criticism of this show! It is one of my favorites. I've never seen a telenovela musical before, and I enjoyed that very much. Jorge Salinas and Arthur Peniche were also new to me -- wow to them both. I enjoyed Derecho and Curtis, found Lt. Curtis very funny (not that the dialogue was clever, but the actress made it hilarious) and Derecho a good straight man. I even enjoyed the extraneous teen romance between Paloma and Rodrigo -- rarely can I say that about a telenovela. The kid playing Rodrigo was excellent.

Some quibbles -- the goofy portrayal of U.S. prisons (no running water or medical care, but you get a dentist??), the goofy doctor who proclaimed Maria would likely be driven insane by her miscarriage because according to doc that is a usual side effect of miscarriage, the horrendously irritating Amalia... but for me the virtues of the show far outweighed all of that.

About how Santos regained his fortune: I think it is because Justo won his case against the city of L.A.

It didn't make sense to me that Elvira, Ruben, and Guiliano would all independently be driven criminally insane by the sight of Maria and Jorge Alfredo's bonito amor. Well, a lot of things about this show didn't make sense, and the heavy cutting of the last episodes was a pity. Still, what an awesome, fun, colorful, entertaining show. It gave me an appreciation for mariachi music that I didn't have before. Que bonito telenovela.
 

For those who missed Doña Prudencia and Doña Refugio in the finale, here are a couple of clips of them in their younger days:

Eva "Chachita" Muñoz (Doña Prudencia) as a child, acting opposite screen idol Pedro Infante: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xlf98rgYdY

Ninon Sevilla (Doña Refugio) in her glory days as a "rumbera": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_G8GmYfXSM

 

Jardinera:

Thank you so much for the finale of this TN. This recap was superb. I would also like to thank all the other recappers for this TN and the marvelous job Y'all did with it. The recaps were fantastic!

I did love the ending for this TN. I actually sat and watched the whole thing. Loved Maria's dress and the Mariachi parade was fab.

I am just glad all the villains got their anvils. Mirna was never evil enough to have a karmageddon.

Thanks to this TN I too appreciate all the music. I am now a huge fan of this genre of music, but my favorite is still Alejandro Fernandez

UA:

Thanks for posting that clip of Alejandro doing "Granada" with Placido Domingo and Jose Carras. Alejandro Fernandez could really do opera, what a voice!


I will take a peek at MPV and see how it is. Not the fan of David Zepeda but will watch anyway. It looks so interesting : )
 

I've seen the Mexican broadcast version; they showed the last two hours together.

Madelaine, are you in NYC? Alejandro will be here for a concert at the Barclay Center on November 21. I have my ticket!
 

Jardinera,
How are you??
I have to agree with you wholeheartedly that Mark T cannot sing, at least not the ranchera genre...
He has come from a F to a D with his more recent appearances in Sabadazo where he has sung for his fiancee Cecilia Galiano... but he still needs to stick to acting.
What he excelled at was the lip singing / dubbing of the mariachi songs in LHDM. The real voice behind him there was one of the other mariachis in the group. So he had his lip-s coach very handy.
 

Didn't say much about it before but the wedding was gorgeous. In some ways it was even more beautiful than the triple royal wedding in FELS. Gorgeous horses, the army of musicians, and the bridal carriage were amazing. It must have taken several days and a few takes to get all the shooting angles done.

Love those luxurious manes and tails on the horses and JS looked like royalty in his white traje.

Someone needs to start an e-mail campaign telling Pablo Montero he needs to start shaving again.

On the subject of Pablo Montero and Alejandro Fernandez, there are DVDs of their music videos. I highly recommend both.

There could not have been a lot of time passing between Santos' release from prison and the wedding (based on Maria not looking pregnant yet), but I have to think that it would take a while to resolve his financial situation and for Giuliano's scars to get to where they were. Not to mention he couldn't be ambulatory that soon.
 

One other disconcerting thing, the last curtain scene Danna Garcia had a baby in her arms. Obviously lots got stuck on the cutting room floor north of the border.
 

Well, I had to see Thurs/Fri capitulos again. I just enjoyed it and smiled, especially during the events of the wedding. The men all looked so handsome. I want ALL of Maria's dresses!

The sense of family was so evident which made me smile.

Jardinera, it was the second time seeing the wedding that I wondered about that baby that Maria was holding, but I wonder if it was Wendy's baby?

I still wonder tho' how the ladies manage their top heavy bodies with those stiletto heels! Ana and Mirna were something to behold in the chest department!

Fatima
 

ELI if you lkike Mark Tacher his next part will be in the new Jamie Camil Zuria Vega novela. Can't give it a name because it keeps changes and it starts filming next month. Mark is the protagonist while Jamie is the antagonist. Should be interesting.

MADELAINE I'm a huge Alejandro Fernandez fan as well. When we went to live in Meixco i brought my boombox and a bunch of his CD's - talk about bringing coals to Newcastle you heard his music everywhere. When we came home the bag with the boombox and CD's was lost and eventually retunred minus only Alejandro's CD's.

Santos would have had to go to court to get his assets back but since Justo was a newly named Ambassador you can bet your life they fast tracked that case.




 

Had to be Wendy's baby. I saw the Mexican version of the last two hours; no childbirth scene for Maria. Under the heading of All Things Considered, they would not have waited until after the birth for the wedding.
 

Urban:

No, I'm not in NYC it is about five hours away from where I live. You lucky duck. You will have to tell me all about it : ) I will have to keep an eye out and see if he ever comes to D.C.
 

@Urban

Sorry, but at the end is supposed to be Santos y Maria's newborn. It's clearly a boy, while Wendy's baby is a girl, and is completely different from Wendy's child we saw in the last episode, the baby girl is darker with black hair, the little boy at the end is almost blonde. I suppose they closed giving to Viewerville the portrait of all the family, no matter if we didn't saw any childbirth scene. The little boy is Jorge Alfredito, definitely. :)
 

I think Santos would get all his money back very soon after getting out of jail, or probably even the moment he got the 'release' from the judge. So i guess a few days passed between his faking his death and the death of Ruben and Giuliano, allowing him to get the car for Coloso, the guitars for Fernando, the trumpet etc for Susanito and the house for Dona Amalia.
Remember Santos was a millionaire on his own thanks to his business before Giuliano/Bruno/etc started the money laundering. So he would get all that released back to him on his release. No need to wait until his dad's suit to the police. Since the cops helped save his life and Maria's in the end I would not be surprised Don Justo dropped the charges eventually.
What I like in this one is that the whole Martinez de la Garza / Michael family decided to move to Mexico clearly before the ending, something they left kind of blurry in Mariachi.

About the baby in the very ending, my guess is that they allowed several years to go by after the wedding. they might have waited until the baby was born and a few months old before they did the tour around the world, which is what i think they wanted us to interpret that as, that Santos took the group on a world tour.

My question is more about Mirna. Would they forgive her for giving in to the kidnapping/forced betrayal and let her train Susanito in the bar administration or would they let her go and Santos+Susanito would administer the bar.

 

Are they trying to get us to assume that weird looking blonde guy was none other than Santos disguised with a fake nose, hair and outfit?? Of course like you all said the dimples gave him in.
 

Can you all imagine Elvira wearing the 'orange as the new black' every day for the next 20 or so years and limiting herself to the 8 by 8 cell?? i think her ending was fitting. Not sure i wanted Ruben and Giuliano to end that easily, they needed to be locked up.
In the original the Elvira character did not do anything drastic against the couple, she basically just faded away from the point of 'popping in his shower' until the very ending where we see her dying of envy at the wedding.
The Ruben character, again, was not such a drastic villain, he did point the police to where Santos/ Emiliano was once he realized who he was... and in the end he ended up free but drooling in envy as well. The characters of Giuliano and the third guy ended up in jail.

 

Decie, so Mark is also on the Camil/Vega novela? now I REALLY want to watch that one. not sure how i feel about Camil as antagonist. we will have to see.
 

martaivett, I share your questions about Mirna. As I saw the last two capitulos for a second time this weekend, I found myself thinking of Mirna.

She wasn't evil like Elvirus, but she was not a "good" person. While I understand she was trying to support a child, the ways she went about doing this were downright wrong, from my POV.

Did this character exist in the original TN? If so, did she behave in this manner and what happened to her?

Thanks for clarifying for me the business about the 'round the world tour. It was probably obvious, but I missed it! I couldn't quite figure out what was happening.

I also missed that some time had passed between the tour and the last scene of Maria holding the baby in the group shot. Again, I wasn't quite clear what had happened. Thank you to Anon@6:14 for clarifying that.

Some of the last moments just whizzed by for me.

Fatima
 

I hadn't thought that Santos might have taken the group on a world tour. For some reason I thought they ere just showing us how popular Mariachi music is around the world. That surprised me when they were in France. I've spent a lot of time there and never heard a lick of mariachi or ranchera music. So I think the idea of a tour was probably right. Funny how you can see something and get the complete wrong idea about it. Of course with Novelelaland that is sometimes the intent.
 

Decie Girl, I, too, initially got the idea that the "trip" was so show that the music was popular. When I looked up the music for La Negra, the video of the Mariachi Vargas was of a performance in Japan!

When Martaivett said it was a 'round the world tour I knew I had missed the boat on that one altogether! LOL!

Fatima
 

Very late posting, but -

Karla Alvarez (Irasema) had some conflicts with the production and was suspended from the production for a while due to problems with alcohol. If they filmed the finale during that time (as scenes are frequently filmed out of order), she would have been missing then.

I thought it was Paloma and Isabel holding Maria's train. Paloma was dressed in traditional dress (hence the loud colors) and her hair was very prettily styled to the side (definitely no hair bow).