Monday, November 11, 2013

TELEMUNDO Y MÁS: THE FRONT PAGE, week of November 11, 2013. La Reina del Sur is back in town!


Jean and I decided to try something a little different this week.  Since there is already a lot of interest in the continuing novelas, Marido en Alquiler and Santa Diabla, and the rebroadcast of La Reina del Sur is likely to stir up a flurry of its own, we have decided to post THREE SEPARATE PAGES:

This page -- THE FRONT PAGE --  is the space for discussions of La Reina del Sur, ¿Dónde Está Elisa? and any other Telemundo, Unimas or Mundo2 shows.

Feel free to copy and paste our old comments and recaps of La Reina here.  Some of us have seen this one, maybe more than once, and are planning to sit out this showing.  But if you have already seen the novela and want to join the conversation, please go ahead!  But remember that this remains a SPOILER-FREE page.

Novelera has offered to write a full recap of the first episode of La Reina del Sur to get things started.  After that, you can figure out what you'd like to do -- recap? mini-recap? just discuss? borrow from the past? It's up to you, Telemundo fans!


Remember:  Post comments and mini-recaps (or not so mini-recaps)  for Santa Diabla on its own separate page here; and for Marido en Alquiler on its own separate page here. 

Labels: ,


Comments:
If you want to talk about REINA, ELISA or just about anything else in the Telemundo world, you are in the right place.
 

LA REINA DEL SUR:
Folks who are looking for the recaps and discussions of Reina that were posted on the Telemundo page when it originally aired can find them by looking for Telemundo y más on the sidebar of the Caray page and then click on the Telemundo Index Page. This novela was recapped February, 2011 through May, 2011.
 

LA REINA DEL SUR – LUNES – PRIMER EPISODIO – Part 1 of 4

This was an amazingly popular telenovela that Telemundo first ran starting in February 2011. It is adapted from an excellent novel of the same name by the Spaniard, Arturo Pérez-Reverte. The book is readily available in either Spanish or English.

Cast of this Episode

Teresa Mendoza – Kate del Castillo
Raimundo Dávila (El Güero) – Rafael Amaya
Roberto Márquez (El Gato Fierros) – Gabriel Porras
Potemkin Gálvez (Pote) – Dagoberto Gama
Ramiro Vargas (El Ratas) – Salvador Zerboni
Epifanio Vargas – Humberto Zurita
César Güemes (Batman) – Alejandro Calva

I could not find the names of the actors who portrayed Chino and Brenda in the episode.

We begin with a view of a city. The city is Culiacán, Mexico, capital of the state of Sinaloa and the state’s largest city. We see a young woman preparing to take a luxurious bath. She clicks on a portable music player, and a romantic bolero is heard. On a shelf near the bathtub she puts down a small bottle of tequila and a marijuana joint in an ashtray. She sinks down into the bubbles and pours and then drinks a caballito de tequila, singing along softly to the bolero. As she prepares to light the joint, a cell phone rings.

The woman comes out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, looks briefly at her cell phone, and realizes it’s not the one ringing. She gets a frightened look on her face and we hear her internal thoughts. She remembers a man saying to her: “Si una vez suena este cellular es que estoy muerto.”. We can see her memory of an intense man kneeling in front of her. He goes on to say: “entonces corre, corre mi pretita porque no voy a estar alli para ayudarte. Y si llegues a un buen lugar, échate un tequilita en mi memoria por los buenos ratos, mi chula.” [“If this cell phone ever rings, it’s because I’m dead. So run, run, my little dark haired one because I won’t be there to help you. And if you get to a good (safe) place, drink a shot of tequila in my memory for the good times we had, my pretty one.”]

She answers the fateful call and hears an unidentified man say: “Mataron al güero, Teresa. Mataron a tu marido. Así que corre cuando puedes porque ahora te van a matar a ti.” (They killed El Güero, Teresa. They killed your husband. So run as soon as you can because now they’re going to kill you.) We don’t see the caller, but we see a burning plane in the background. We again hear the voice of El Güero: “Corre y no pare de correr.” Without even drying off the woman pulls on some jeans and a tank top, puts a few belongings in a large leather bag; and, lastly, removes a photo of herself and El Güero, smiling happily, from its frame. She rushes out in a pair of blue high-heeled shoes.
 

LA REINA DEL SUR – LUNES – PRIMER EPISODIO – Part 2 of 4

We see her moving through the streets, looking around her in fear. We see a traditional Mexican funeral procession, band playing, coffin held up high by pallbearers, and a person dressed in skeleton costume. What an image! She meets up with Lupe, a friend, who insinuates that maybe she’s forgotten her old friends since she won the lottery with the güerote. Lupe leaves her to go on doing some money changing.

We see another flashback that is labeled as six years ago. We see Teresa, for that is her name, with a different hairstyle, working as a moneychanger in the street. Her friend has some difficulty with the calculations, so Teresa approaches a car with El Güero Dávila at the wheel and his cousin Chino riding shotgun. Teresa quickly and efficiently does the transaction. El Güero flirts madly with her, but she’s all business and walks off. Her friend tries to convince her the guy is worth going out with; but, with her back to the car, she says Este Güero me caí regordo. Se cree gran cosa. He’s come up behind her and hears her say this. (This guy really rubs me the wrong way. He thinks he’s all that.) Teresa refuses to listen to his flattery and drags the other girl off. El Güero’s response: Así me gustan; sangrona y dificiles para enamorarlas. (I like to get the hard-to-get ones to fall for me.)

We go back to the present day. Teresa takes off her high heels and hurries down the street barefoot. She goes into a restaurant, takes the photo of she and El Güero out of her bag and has another memory. She remembers a pool party. She’s with El Güero and her friend, Brenda, is now with Chino. Teresa tells him she’s not such a fun girl like the others he’s used to. She asks why he bothers going out with her. He jokes that it’s because he likes ugly girls. Then he says that they like each other, but she holds herself back. He asks her why it’s so hard for her to let herself be loved. Surely he’s not the first guy, as pretty as she is?

She tells him that he isn’t the first. The first consisted of six guys from the neighborhood who raped her when she was 14. And there was also the creep who put her to work changing money in Calle Juárez and made her pay for the job. She tells him nothing good has ever happened to her with a man. She tells him he makes her laugh, sends her flowers, and takes her dancing. She asks if they are going to make love. He responds that it never occurred to him! She pokes him in the ribs, and he responds with a phrase we will hear many times in the novela: Pa’ que digo no, si sí. She warns him that she’s no good at it. He kisses her tenderly and tells her it will be the best.

Now we are back in the present. Teresa calls her friend Brenda’s cell phone. We see Chino in his apartment, snorting coke on the coffee table and ignoring the phone. Teresa hails a cab. Then we see Brenda coming in from the back yard with two children. She chews out Chino for the drugs and for not answering the phone. She picks it up and listens to Teresa’s message. “They killed El Güero. You have to tell Chino. They’ll look for us. We have to escape.” Brenda no sooner gets the words out to tell Chino than two thugs burst into the house. They are Pote and Ratas. First they shoot Chino in the leg. Then Ratas kills the children. Brenda and Chino are both finished off. Ratas takes the bag of cocaine.
 

LA REINA DEL SUR – LUNES – PRIMER EPISODIO – Part 3 of 4

Teresa is in a cab again calling Brenda. No answer. We see bloodstains on the apartment floor and the ringing cell.

There is another flashback. El Güero tells Teresa something about being in a tight spot. He lands the plane, lifts her out, and tells her it’s an important day. She’s about to meet Don Epifanio Vargas, the man to whom he owes everything. He also tells her that things will depend on how his luck holds out. If it’s good, she’ll also be in a good position. If things go badly, she’ll also be up to her neck in it alongside him. He warns her that she still has time to leave without meeting the others. But she stays. They are greeted by Vargas’ henchmen, Potemkin “Pote”; El Gato Fierros (who we saw killing Chino and his family) and Ramiro Vargas, known as El Ratas. Gato rather insolently walks around her, looking at every part of her body.

We return to the present. Teresa arrives at Chino’s apartment and is horror struck. We don’t see the children’s bodies, but we can see how Teresa reacts.

Gato and Pote arrive at the house where Teresa and El Güero lived. Gatos smells her nightgown. Apparently the pair was about to celebrate their anniversary. Gato sneers at a bouquet of flowers sent by El Güero. He opens the package Teresa meant to give to him, a fringed leather jacket and puts it on.

Teresa arrives at another apartment. We hear El Güero’s voice in her memory describing “the situation”. La situación es un instante donde todo o nada puede suceder. [This concept of “the situation” or fateful moment comes up many times in this novela.] We see El Güero giving Teresa a lesson in shooting tin cans with a revolver. We then see the two of them entering the same apartment where Teresa is in the present. He tells her no one knows that this apartment exists. Then he corrects himself: En Tierra Culichi todo se saben. (In Culiacán, everyone knows everyone else’s business.) He pulls out a sack with a big wad of money and a gun. When she objects, he tells her that this is not a game. If they catch him alive, it won’t be very long before he sings rancheras. He hopes to be able to hold his tongue long enough for her to grab this and get away. Teresa: “Them? Who’s them?” He replies that it’s anyone and everyone in his business. He also produces some passports, one of them for her. He gives her the cell phone and tells her never to be away from it. And he repeats what we heard before about his being dead if it rings and she must run. It begins to sink in that he’s gone and Teresa collapses in sobs.
 

LA REINA DEL SUR – LUNES – PRIMER EPISODIO – Part 4 of 4

We then see Pote and Gato climbing the stairs to this supposedly secret apartment. Teresa is putting things in her large bag, the gun, a passport, a folder, and a bag of cocaine. Gato and Pote burst in on her. Gato leers and says: ‘Look who we have here.” He tells her El Güero was too smart for his own good and thus he died. She curses at him and he hits her. He obviously has rape on his mind. Pote tells him that she is the woman of El Güero, a compañero, and deserves respect. Pote points his huge, Old West style revolver at her and tells her she won’t feel a thing. But Gato draws his gun and points it at Pote. Pote gives up and leaves.

While Gato is stripping off her clothes, she asks him what they did to El Güero. We then see another of Teresa’s memories, this one that very day. She’s at their house and he calls her from the plane. He tells her to make herself beautiful because they’re going out on the town. And he has a surprise for her. We see him open a velvet box to reveal a huge diamond ring.

Gato gleefully tells Teresa that El Güero was a traitor. Fue bueno para aterrizajes en pista corta, pero esta vez le tenemos una sorpresa. (He was good at landing on very short runways, but this time we had a surprise for him.) We see all of Vargas’s guys shooting at El Güero’s plane. He’s hit in the chest, and the plane crashes. The guys unload some bricks of cocaine. El Güero is not yet dead. We see how sadistic Ratas is as he lights the spilled airplane fuel and burns him up.

While he’s raping her, the charming Gato tells her how El Güero died. We see her reach into her bag on the floor and take out the pistol. She shoots him right in the face. Pote runs back upstairs and briefly checks out Gato. Teresa shoots at him a couple of times, missing. She puts on a man’s shirt over her underwear and runs out. We see her running from Pote, who is in hot pursuit. We see her jump off a roof, miraculously not breaking her ankle.

Teresa then appears in a church full of lit candles and religious statues. She accuses God of not listening to her prayers to protect her man. She takes the folder she got in the apartment out of her bag. We again hear El Güero’s voice. "Don't ever read what is inside this folder. “But if you take it to Don Epifanio you can save your life.”

We see Epifanio Vargas behind a desk. Batman and Ratas tell Epifanio that she got away. Just then his phone rings. “Hablando del Rey de Roma”, he says. (Speak of the devil.) He asks Teresa where she is. We see the whole crew arrive at the church. Epifanio tells the others to wait outside. At first we see Teresa with the gun, but she decides against it. She comes out with only the folder in her hand saying: “I need you to help me.” His response: “I regret to tell you, hijita, that I can’t do anything for you. You’re already dead.”
 

LA REINA - lunes

Wow, Novelera -- this is amazing. This first episode is so challenging with all the dizzying time shifts and the terrifying sense of the NOW. Somehow you managed to nail it.

I loved all the Spanish you included. You chose the most resonant lines and the ones that we will hear over and over.

Thank you so much for this brilliant resumé of chapter one of this brilliant, if disturbing, novela.
 

LA REINA DEL SUR

Thanks, NovelaMaven. I spotted one error after posting. The two who killed Brenda, Chino, and their children were Gato Fierras and Pote Galvez. Ratas was not there.
 

La Reina del Sur

wow, what a recap novelera, first class!

I wasn't planning on rewatching this but the first couple of shows went by so fast, especially since I didn't know who's who, that I wanted to see them again.

Pote is one of my favorite characters of all time,
Ratas is the worst novela character I have ever seen,
and Gabriel Porras as El Gato, wow,

Rodolfo Valdes was el Chino and is currently in Bella Calamidades.


interesting, which was mentioned first time around, the little 'church' where Teresa ended up, if you look at the shrine inside, it is to Malverde,

"Jesús Malverde, sometimes known as the "generous bandit", "angel of the poor", or the "narco-saint", is a folklore hero in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. He is celebrated as a folk saint by some in Mexico and the United States, particularly among those involved in drug trafficking. He is not recognized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church."

"Several important scenes of the telenovela La Reina del Sur take place at his chapel in Culiacán and Malverde's name is mentioned many times during the show."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesús_Malverde


 

REINA

Thanks, Deb, for the reminder about Jesús Malverde. I remembered that there was some not exactly politically correct figure on that altar but could not remember the name of the "saint" to put in my recap. So I just said that Teresa blamed God for not protecting El Güero.
 

Tks so much for putting this up & I just watched.Great beginning. So many of our old friends. Chino & Gato & El guero from El senor, yum Rafael Amaya. Ivan Sanchez from LT, I already like him more. Willy from SD is in it as well as Salvador Zerboni, Gabino from Abysmal de pasion.
 

Already a plus. When Guero took Teresa for target practice, he didn't have her shoot the family pet.
 

LA REINA

Welcome aboard, Variopinta. You are going to love this novela. It's one of the very best ever, with fabulous production values, terrific acting, and a very fast pace. It's much shorter than some of the ones we see that draaaaaaag on!

So far no one has volunteered to do any recaps. I said I'd do the first one and that one only.

So we'll see if people just want to drop in to comment on the action.
 

Reina
Great 1st & 2nd episodes. Kate del Castillo sure is in great shape. In my local, EST, it repeats at midnight.
 

This is a comment I made about the first two episodes on our thread here: http://caraycaray.blogspot.com/2011/02/el-mundo-de-telemundo-week-of-february_25.html

La Reina del Sur – lunes y martes

So. First impression: amazing, really amazing! From that opening shot – the tequila bottle, the glass, the boombox playing Norteña music, the joint in the ashtray, the bath – all those precise details of Teresa’s dreamy pleasure that turns to fear the instant the cell phone rings; and then the repetition of the words: corre, corre cuanto puedas. Corre y no pares de correr. (Run, run as far as you can. Run and don’t stop running.) -- I was immediately caught up in the story, the characters and the both gritty and sentimental sense of place

I agree with all of you that Kate del Castillo owns this character. This is a level of acting we’re not used to in telenovelas and it is thrilling to watch. I still see flashes of Julián [from Alguien te mira] in el Güero. My problem, not the actor’s, I’m betting.

It seems to be the Day of the Dead in Culiacán, no? I couldn’t remember that detail from the book but interestingly, Pérez-Reverte says:
una tarde de Difuntos – irónico augurio – la vida le puso en el camino de Raimundo Dávila Parra…
So in the book Teresa and el Güero first met on the Day of the Dead.

I admit I was a little worried when “Willy” (Escobar from El Clon) showed up. I hope this plot thread and new character are good enough…

Language: yeah, the accent and slang are tough for me too. I confess I had to put the training wheels back on and use the Spanish captions because without them, too much was flying past me.
-------
In the department of compare and contrast:
Both Triunfo del amor and Reina are stories about humble but gifted Mexicanas – Victoria and Teresa -- who survive years of humiliation and abuse, including rape, to become “queens”, although their realms are quite different. But they both grow to be tough, powerful women. It’s kind of interesting to watch the treatment of this classic theme in the two novelas simultaneously. Different traditions, different target demographic. Interesting.

Hey, you might like this website of the Diccionario breve de mexicanismos --
http://www.academia.org.mx/dicmex.php
 


TELEMUNDO

"Almas Perdidas"

(not official)
this is a remake of "El Cuerpo del Deseo" that starred Mario Cimarro, (now Telemundo is switching gender), and will star Maria Elisa Camargo, you might know her as Catalina in "Flor Salvaje", and is rumored to follow LRdS.

right now the cast is,
Maria Elisa Camargo
David Chocarro
Jorge Luis Pila
Vanessa Villela (villain in Una Maid en Manhattan)
Laura Flores

more on the story here, whoa,
http://masquetelenovelas.blogspot.com.es/2013/11/maria-elisa-camargo-protagonizara-almas.html#more


 

REINA

Thanks, NovelaMaven for posting your long ago, and very astute comment about this fine novela. I also think the introductory scene of Teresa Mendoza is one of the very best in any novela, ever. Her abrupt descent from the dreamy pleasure of awaiting an anniversary celebration with her man to stark terror is fantastic!

I had completely forgotten Ratas and Pote chasing Teresa through the airport and even shooting at her! Zerboni did a fantastic acting job as Ratas. As far as sadistic villains go, he's primo!

The scene in the church with Epifanio Vargas was also terrific and well worth watching. Both actors at the top of their game.
 

ALMAS PERDIDAS

Thanks for the news, Deb. But my reaction is: Bah! Gah! Basta with the remakes. El Cuerpo del Deseo, which I did watch, was pretty crappy and I don't know why they're bothering.
 

Here is Novelera's comment from 2/11 after the third episode:

LA REINA - MIÉRCOLES

I don't remember Pérez-Reverte ever explaining the title. I thought it meant the south of Spain.

Personally, I am enjoying the time spent still in México. I assumed it was to extend the length of the novela, but the acting has been fabulous.

Batman Güemes explains to Epifanio that all of Culiacán knows Teresa shot Gato and that if you're not tough the sharks will eat you.

Don Epifanio puts out his cigar in Batman's hand to punish him for disobeying orders and then gives him a firm handshake afterwards on the burned hand.

Also, Pote (el sicario), full name (and I love this) Potemkin is exactly like the character in the book. They could not have cast him better. And that gun! Looks 18 inches long!

One unrealistic thing: a small plane just lands from México y nada? No security guards from that airport? Of course the reveal of The Chump as DEA could explain it, but it still seemed odd to me.
 

I really wish some of you would've caught Secretos del Paraiso on MundoFox.
 

wish you guys would've caught Secretos del Paraiso on MundoFox.
 

LA REINA DEL SUR

Novelera:

Thanks so much for a recap of the premiere episode. I didn't have Telemundo when this one originally aired. I did go to the library and got the book in English. I like how they are following the book so far.

NovelaMaven:

Thanks so much for moving comments over. I am so glad you did. I also didn't get why there were no police when Willy landed the plane either. Was very surprised he let her run. Who was it that Ratas knocked out with the gun? Was that Guero's sister? Had to laugh at Ratas when he was arrested and kept yelling "Turista" lol. SZ is really good at playing crazy as IS is playing crazy over on LT. So what happened to El Patron's brother? Is he taking care of his whole extended family? It's been a while since I read the book ; )
 

That was Guero's sister that he beaned with the gun. At least he didn't rape her (is about the best thing we can say about most men here).

I had forgotten from the book that she was with Guero in Mexico before going to Spain. Poor girl, just can't catch a break.

kelly
 

Kelly:

Thanks.

I am surprised El Patron let her go too.
Was it in exchange for the Agenda of Guero? I thought for sure Teresa was dead when El Patron met her in the church. I can't believe Batmancito ordered Teresa's hit behind El Patron's back. He's lucky he only got a cigar burn on the palm. Can't wait to see Ratas handle a US prison.
 

REINA- Madelaine: I read the book before I watched the novela and it took away from the novela for me. I kept comparing what happens on the novela to what happens in the book - there are differences - and it spoiled the novela for me a little. Just a warning.

 

REINA

Jean, actually having read the book didn't bother me all that much. I kind of liked the extra stuff they threw in there, plus lots of extra interesting characters.
 

REINA

I felt the same way, Novelera. Reading the book didn't spoil it for me at all. If anything, it enhanced it because the differences were, as you said, rather interesting.

And I like the way the telenovela script respected and reflected the language of the original.

Mads,
Salvador Zerboni (Ratas) was so convincingly horrifying here that I found it hard to see him as anything but repulsive when he showed up in Abismo de pasión as Gabino Mendoza. [As it happens, the carry-over worked pretty well.]

Ivan Sanchez doesn't show up until later; but when he does, he's gonna knock your socks off. You'll forget all about crazy Hernán Saldaña [his character in Uni's La Tempestad]. Hernan who?
 

SECRETOS DEL PARAISO

Sheshe,

I don't know that one. Not too many of us have access to MundoFox (I know I don't). I'm sure we miss a lot of good stuff.

You can discuss the show in this space, if you want.
 

REINA

NovelaMaven, I completely agree with what you said about Iván Sánchez. I felt like a needed a cool cloth on my forehead every time he was on screen. He's hot, hot, hot!!!

And thanks for re-posting our comments from 2011! I hope people who haven't seen the novela before find them interesting.

And, if you (and you know who you are) are lurking out there and watching LRDS for the first time, please join the party!
 

Here is my minicap of episode 4 from Feb, 2011:

REINA – jueves
A Brief resumé:

San Diego: Federal agent Willy Rangel can’t get Teresa to admit knowing anything about the Güero’s missing ledger. He grudgingly allows Teresa to board her flight for Spain.

On Don Epifanio Vargas’s instructions, Batman goes to see Ramiro (Ratas) in jail and tells him if he wants to keep breathing, he’ll have to serve a 5 year sentence like a man and keep his mouth shut.

Mexico: Don Epifanio’s political career begins.

Spain: Teresa flies to Madrid where she meets her contact. He tells her she can’t stay in the city. She’ll have to go somewhere obscure: north or south. Does it rain in the north? she wants to know. Yes, he says, and the winters are cold. She picks south. (Novelera, I think you’re right – this is the south of the title). She is sent to Melilla, a Spanish city in North Africa.

On the voyage across the Strait of Gibraltar, she meets Fátima Mansur, a prostitute.

In Melilla, Dris Larbi gives her a job waitressing at his bar, Yamila, after she turns down his first offer: to work as a prostitute. Coincidentally, Fátima works at Yamila too and she’s happy to see Teresa again. Dris Larbi also rents Teresa an apartment.

On her first night in Melilla, she hoists some tequila in the Güero’s memory. Then while wandering through the city, she meets Jaime (played by Juan Pablo Raba, ‘Said’ in El Clon) who seems to remind her of el Güero and with whom she has an intense sexual encounter. She leaves him smiling even though she tells him she was thinking about someone else.

Teresa settles into her waitressing job and her small apartment.

Six months later:
At Yamila, Teresa exposes the cashier as a thief, and incidentally displays her proficiency with numbers. The cashier is fired and she is given his job. A few of the B-girls are resentful.

Santiago Fisterra and another guy are small-scale smugglers moving goods across the strait in their boat. Right now they’re moving tobacco but Santiago wants to get into the hashish trade.

Santiago and friend – young, handsome guys – walk into Yamila one evening. The B-girls – the ones who dislike Teresa – swarm them but it’s Teresa who catches Santiago’s eye.
 

Reina

Malaga, Melilla, and Cueta, (all part of Spain) and the ferry route.

(pic)
http://lexicorient.com/e.o/atlas/maps/spanish_north_africa.gif

more on Melilla
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melilla


 

Reina
Love it when I learn sth from a novela. I had no idea that a small piece of North Africa belonged to Spain.

 

REINA

NovelaMaven:

Thanks so much for the mini recap. I'm surprised Teresa did the deed with a complete stranger, but I kind of get it. She still really hasn't grieved over her Guero. I had to laugh when Jaime? asked her what her name was, Teresa, Mexicana!

I don't regret reading the book before actually seeing this Novela. I read the book the same time this was on Telemundo the first time, but I didn't have Telemundo then, so far it isn't taking anything away from the Novela at all. I am really enjoying this one so far.

I like Fatima. She is the quintessential hooker with a heart of gold to me. At least Teresa has a friend.

Liking Santiago. Sigh! Such a difference with IS from LT to here. Is the guy working with Santiago just a friend or is he family?

So loving the scenery in this one. Spain really is beautiful. I've only ever been to Rota, where the tile work is exquisite.
 

REINA

Thanks so much, NovelaMaven for re-posting your recap.

Yes, Spain is beautiful. It was fun to see Teresa in Madrid and recognize La Reina Sofía Museum in the background. I was just there in the middle of September. And one of the thrilling things for me was going to that museum to see Picasso's famous Guernica.

Loved the scene where Batman told Ratas he had to suck it up and stay in jail or the guy keeping an eye on him would kill him there. As the novela goes on, we learn to LOVE any setbacks at all for this psychopath.

It's been interesting watching for the second time. I'm still interested, and there's a special pleasure seeing characters introduced, with hints of what kind of person they are subtly portrayed by the actors, when you already know the arc of their roles in the novela.

And we do forget things. I'd forgotten Dris Larbi offered Teresa a job as a prostitute first. And this time around I was wondering if that might have been a bit of vengeance from Epifanio Vargas. I don't think my mind worked that way the first time I watched.

European Spanish accents are difficult for me to tell one from the other, so it was interesting that the hookers caught on immediately that Santiago and the other guy (forgot his name) were Galicians (or Gallegos).
 

REINA

Madelaine, they haven't yet said, but my memory tells me that Santiago Fisterra's sidekick is just a friend and co-worker, not a member of his family.
 

REINA

Novelera:

Thanks for the info on Santiago's side kick. I think maybe the Galicians drops some vowels or the th sound. When I recapped "El Talisman" I listened to the theme song and the singer Rosana dropped some of the vowels and the th sound too. I find it interesting and I listen intently to what they are saying to get what they are saying, lol. I know Rosana isn't Galician but from the Canary Islands I think. I just like to hear the differences.
 

Reina,

interesting, that Geraldine Zinat (who played Gabriela's step-mother in "La Patrona") was the female cop at the airport.

it amazes me that novela actors are so good playing their parts, but can also be so completely convincing as a totally different person in another story.

btw, Lalo Veiga is listed in the cast as "Santiago's best friend and associate in the smuggling trade".


 

REINA

Deb, I also noticed Francisca from La Patrona as an angry DEA agent in last night's Reina.
 

This is Jean's minicap of episode 5. You can find it and many more comments about Reina on this page:

http://caraycaray.blogspot.com/2011/03/el-mundo-de-telemundo-week-of-march-7.html

REINA - Viernes
If Thursday's episode had the classic prostitute with the heart of gold, tonight's had the equally classic aging prostitute taking vengeance on the younger, more attractive woman. Hunky Santiago Fisterra comes into the bar and is immediately smitten with Teresa who is behind the cash register. Sheila, the aging prostitute makes a play for Santiago but he rejects her. Santiago doesn't get anywhere with Teresa but he is obviously not going to give up.

Meanwhile Don Epifanio runs for deputy, the equivalent of our Congressman, and wins. He has ambitions to go much farther in politics. Ramiro is stuck in prison in the US and is keeping his mouth shut but he's not a happy camper.

They call Santiago, El Gallego, which is someone from Galicia in northwestern Spain. The book tells us that he is a smuggler. He uses his fast boat to run hashish and other contraband from from Morocco to Gibraltar pursued by the Guarda, the Spanish police. The book says that the British, who own Gibraltar, didn't care what went on there as long as the drugs didn't end up in Britain. So if your boat could get to Gibraltar with its load of drugs, you were safe.

At this point, the novela veers away from the novel again. Sheila, the aging prostitute, and the fired cashier plant 2 kilos of hashish in Teresa's room and give the police a tip. Teresa is a arrested. It turns out that Jaime, her one night stand on the ramparts is a cop. He is also friends with Santiago. He wants to help but Dris, the bar owner, arranges a deal and offers it to Teresa - have sex with the chief of police, who already put the moves on her in the bar or be deported to Mexico. Teresa agrees to the deal and is released.

Santiago is ignoring his business to follow Teresa around and his partner gets a visit from some unnattractive types who are looking for Santiago.

One final comment on passports. I watched Thursday's episode last night and Willy was definitely holding a US passport that he told Teresa he found in their safe house. And Novela Maven, you are right that the book said that Teresa found Mexican passports with American visas there. It would not have made much sense visually for us to understand that Teresa could go to the US if she had a Mexican passport.

 

Reina

while I remember, for any first time watchers, because the story moves pretty fast,

the drug bust was set up by Sheila and Ali,
(pic)
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/metervik/la%20reina%20del%20sur/5d.jpg?t=1299441966

the cop that arrested Teresa was Ali's cousin,
(pic)
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/metervik/la%20reina%20del%20sur/5c1.jpg?t=1299441892

and the interesting thing here is that Teresa walked right into this "situation", and we're thinking she will never do this again,
(pic)
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/metervik/la%20reina%20del%20sur/5c.jpg?t=1299442021

also of interest is that Jaime, also a policeman (and an old friend of Santiago), who was all for helping the (he thought) innocent Teresa, discovered that Teresa had friends that could override the law.


 

REINA

Novela Maven:

Thanks so much for bringing your recap up from the archives. You are a peach! It is much appreciated for those of us who haven't seen this TN before.

I was surprised that Teresa was going to cave to that Police Capitan. He's a slug. Jaime was sure surprised she had friends in High Places, so to speak. I don't Ali's cousin. He is smarmy and shady and corrupt. I hope Teresa finds some way out of this. That Santiago is a dream though, sigh! NM you were so right, Herny who???????? Oh and had to laugh at Rata crying to his Mommy for being in jail!

DEB:

Thanks for the links. They are much appreciated.
 


General / Reina

Kate del Castillo was on the morning talk show, talking about a new movie she made,

"A Miracle in Spanish Harlem"

coming soon to theaters, 6 December 2013,
and it's in English

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1656195/


 

I'm liking La Reina a lot. It's more like a prime time TV show than a TN.

Bummed to read about Maria Elisa. I really like her in PEAM and wanted to follow her to her next, but I'm already committed to La Reina and anticipating a commitment to Robo (Uni). Hopefully, it won't start for awhile.

Nanette
 

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