Caray, Caray!

¿Dónde está Elisa?

This has been reaired in Mun2 and i have decided to give a weekly recap. But first im gonna start with the storyline and families.

The storyline is similar to LCDAL and SD (Characters usually hide secrets). At first the Altamiras look like a big happy clan but when one of their own dissapears they turn on each other once secrets start coming out.

There are 3 Altamira siblings. Mariano (Gabriel Porras), Cecilia Altamira (Catherine Siachoque) and Viviana (Ivelin Giro did not age well!).
Mariano is married to Dana (Sonya Smith) and has 3 daughters Elisa (Vanessa Pose) Cristina and Olga (forgot the 2 girls names).
Cecilia is married to Bruno Caceres (Roberto Mateos) and has a son and daughter, Eduardo (Mauricio Henao) and Florencia "Flor" (Carmen Aub). Viviana is married to Jose Angel Rincon (Omar Germenos, now a conductor in Un Nuevo Día) and has a son Santiago (JC Canelas younger brother Jason).

Will recap what happened last week tomorrow.
 

MARIDO EN ALQUILER – LUNES – Part 1 of 4

As we might have guessed from José’s remark to Griselda after she offered him the doghouse for sleeping quarters, his “better offer” was showing up uninvited in Teresa Cristina’s bed. [How did he get in?] After some very weak protests, she goes for the róbalo. Such a funny scene! He’s got a pillow over the jewels; she plucks it off wide-eyed and: Voilá! Plops down right on him. José grimaces.

Esther and Vanidosa have finished the designs after working together all night. Vanessa is worried about how he’ll react. Esther says he’ll love them. Vanessa knows he’ll know who produced them.

Sol, Manuel and Celeste come home from the big party. Sol is walking on air and mentions the kiss Griselda received from the “prince”. Sweet as ever, Manuel growls that Gris is behaving shamefully. Celeste warns him once more to behave. He responds that the big changes in her are because of Gris; and he’ll get those ideas out of her head.

Tony, Amalia and Quique come downstairs. Gris is setting the table. Reinaldo is right behind them and says he’s going to make breakfast, especially pancakes voladores [?] for Quiquito. Deborah also waltzes downstairs, saying it was too late to go home! Quique and Antonio try to get on their mother’s case, but Amalia is happy Rei is there. Gris: Hay que colocar el hijo mayor y el hijo de medio en su lugar.. (She’s going to put them in their place.) She’s not going to explain her life to them.

Vanessa shows up at Fina Estampa to show the designs to Juan Pablo. He’s furious! He tells her it’s clear she didn’t draw the wonderful designs. It was Esther! He asks if this is a bad joke. She says Esther just wanted to save the company. She didn’t ask anything in return. He calls Vanessa ignorant, with no sensibility for design. And what right did she have to ask Esther to do these. He tears them up!

Ro finds TC and José in bed and is appalled. Later, when he’s about to leave, she’s critical of his wardrobe. But when he starts sucking on her toes - well, the clothes are forgotten. José finally emerges, scratching his rear end, and is spied by Amalia leaving TC’s.

Juan Pablo shrieks at the staff. He tells Vanessa she must be crazy to think that, after he forced Esther out of the company, he’d accept her help. Marcia tells him they have vendors and clients waiting. He insists on his other dumb idea, cherry picking the best designs of 10 years and recycling them. Marcia tells him not to count on her. Vanessa gets in the last word before leaving: “The business may be yours, but you are behaving just like your sister when she closed Gourmet Palmer!” Cutting off their noses to spite their faces appears to be a family trait.

Esther is with Gabriel when Vanessa calls with the bad news. Esther asks if she has the notes she made. Vanessa says she does; and Esther says she made a copy of the drawings. Gabriel convinces her to try to talk with JP.
 

MARIDO EN ALQUILER – LUNES – Part 2 of 4

Amalia comes to Maridas en Alquiler with the chisme about José. Gris tells her he can move in for all she cares. The two of them are made for each other. She asks them not to tell Tony; he can’t be trusted not to run to Patricia with the story. Amalia says it’s confusing. You switched partners with the neighbor!

Gigante chimes in that José could be a problem. Gris says her lawyer is ready with divorce proceedings the instant José has been declared legally alive. The lawyer plans to exclude José from everything she gained while she thought he was dead. She tells them: Olvídate de José. Cuando él se va de pesca, yo ya regreso con los filetes fritos en asceite! (I’m always two steps ahead of him.)

Gris sends the Maridas out to their work orders, but calls Deborah back. She tells her that whatever is up with she and Quique, nothing has changed in her work status. Deborah waves it off. Bye, suegrita!

Paloma fires up the laptop that was left by Marcela at the Posada and finds a folder labeled “TC”. It’s a video by Marcela at first saying a dead person is speaking. But this is a bit of a fake out as she then says she’s dying of hunger. She’s on her way to lunch with TC. Rats! Diosa interrupts.

Amalia comes to visit Rafael and tells him she’s hired Guerra (also Barbie’s lawyer) to defend him.

Some thugs grab up Leo about the money he owes them for the drugs. At first he doesn’t say what happened but, when the gun is at his temple, he gives up his mother, saying she threw out the drugs. The head thug smirks saying maybe he’ll cover the cost with Leo’s sexy mother.

Susana smugly tells Eduardo about her plans to get Max back in the ring and to be a champ again. After she leaves, another employee tells him that what Susana wants is Max back in the ring, for Max to die, and for her to get the life insurance.

Esther shows up at Fina Estampa. Juan Pablo is not very pleased to see that her pregnancy is showing. She tells him he needs to behave like a businessman instead of a bitter ex-husband. She asks if he wants to ruin the company just to spite her. She also tells him she’s in another partnership, not one that competes with his. He tells her he tore up the drawings. She tells him she made a copy, leaves it on his desk in a folder and goes out with dignity.

After she leaves he decides to accept. He goes out and tells the employees to get cracking on ordering fabric, etc. Joy all around.

At the beach Paloma and Gris talk about what Gris did to TC’s dinner table. Paloma, very seriously, warns her how dangerous TC is.

Quique shows up at Tacos Bar and asks Clara to tell him what’s troubling her. She ends up crying on his shoulder. She’s having second thoughts about throwing Leo out. Quique says she wasn’t tough enough on him. He promises to look for Leo.
 

MARIDO EN ALQUILER – LUNES – Part 3 of 4

The Hotel Manager tells Reinaldo that business is up in the dining room, as is the room service business. His ideas are paying off. Reinaldo then calls Simón, saying maybe he was too quick to judge. They have a heart-to-heart and Simón convinces him that he’s prepared to take it slowly with Patricia. He knows she hasn’t forgotten Antonio. Rei seems to be back in confidante mode with Simón. He tells him Pati didn’t take his relationship with Griselda very well. Simon then tells him that TC put the restaurant on the market. Rei knew this and has applied for a bank loan. Simón reminds him she’d never sell it to him.

Griselda talks with Gigante about a plan to buy Gourmet Palmer secretly. [I’m definitely enjoying the fact that the supposed muscle-bound beach bum has turned out to be quite the financial whiz kid!] She tells him Reinaldo is too proud to accept her money, plus TC would never sell to her. The investment has to be anonymous. Gigante says he’ll look for someone to pose as the buyer and with the caveat that Reinaldo has to be the chef.

Reinaldo and Simón are at the restaurant. Rei tells him he was turned down for the loan. He’s sadly packing his things.

Celeste tells Gris deceiving the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with won’t end well. Gris’s viewpoint is that Rei is like she is and like Celeste is: a person with a need to work. She says he won’t be happy without his restaurant.

Paloma tells her mother, Tía Iris, that she’s going to visit Teresa Cristina. And she asks her, since she seems to know her so well, if she thinks TC is capable of murder. Iris says she doesn’t have an answer. But she advises her not to stick her nose in and to stay away from TC. “Tú no eres apta para enfrentar la oscuridad que vive en el corazón de esa mujer.” (You’re not the kind of person that could go up against a person with the darkness that lives inside that woman.) And we then see a scene of said Dark Hearted One cutting her finger accidentally on a broken champagne flute and fondly remembering her crimes.

Paloma doesn’t listen. She shows up at TC’s house and tells her she’s worried about her. TC is beyond sarcastic at this and suspects that Paloma is there to tell her to lay off Reinaldo and Griselda, since she’s a good friend of Griselda. Paloma replies that she’s not there for that reason. She’s here for Marcela. Something is off about the carjacking and death. TC angrily asks if she’s hinting she had something to do with the death of her dear friend. Paloma says Marcela never was her friend. Paloma is ready to leave. She reminds her that she’s her cousin; they’re family. She wants to help her. TC chases her to the door. ‘What are you hiding from me?” she tells Paloma.

José is depressed about the treasure. Elio thinks maybe it was a bad joke on the part of El Chino. But maybe, says Elio, they should look through Barbie’s belongings.
 

MARIDO EN ALQUILER – LUNES – Part 4 of 4

Meanwhile Quique has gone to the logical place, the beach, to look for Leo. Barbie is there and puts some serious moves on him again. Angry at being rebuffed, she returns to Casa José and discovers the two of them in her room. She explodes, but José jumps up, grabs her by the hair and shows her the ivory knife. “Where did you get this?” She tries to say she never saw it in her life, but José isn’t buying it.

Quique finally finds Leo and rebukes him for making his mother suffer. Leo is his usual unsupportable self and even kicks Quique in the jewels. Max shows up and puts a headlock on Leo.

Bárbara finally fesses up. She tells them she found the treasure, and someone robbed her of it. She tells them she put it in her hotel locker, to which she had the only key, and the next day it was gone. And the day after that someone left that one piece there. Elio surmises that someone at the hotel did it. José says he’s going to stay at that hotel to discover what happened. Elio laughs at the idea of José in a 5-star hotel.

Max seems to have a calming effect on Leo. He tells him that he didn’t want to make peanuts like his mother earns. Max comes up with the bright idea to make Leo into a mixed martial arts fighter! Boy, that came out of nowhere.

Max and Quique bring Leo to Tacos Bar. With Clara and Gabriel listening, Max asks him if he’s willing to train until he’s half dead, take punishment, and maybe be deserving of making real money. Leo is up for it but tells them first he has to settle a debt.

Reinaldo tells Griselda that what really mattered to him about Gourmet Palmer were the people he worked with.

The conversation with Paloma is worrying TC. She asks Ro if he’s sure he got all the flyers. She tells him her cousin is up to something, and they have to find out what it is. Meanwhile, we see Paloma putting the laptop into the safe at the Posada.

Whoa! We see Gigante approaching the crooked antiques dealer and asking him to be el testaferro (the front man) for a business deal. After it’s explained to the guy (Barinsky), he says he’ll do it for a good commission.

Bárbara tells José the value of the knife ($50K), and José goes right to Barinsky and leaves with a big sack of money. We don’t really see much of a reaction by Barinsky to José showing up with the missing knife. But methinks José can now afford a hotel stay!

Barinsky calls Reinaldo and tells him he wants to buy the restaurant. Reinaldo is overjoyed and tells Griselda, who feigns surprise at the good news.
 

SANTA DIABLA – Monday Part 1

I don't have work today so I can do a more complete recap instead of doing it from memory in my office!

A drunk Bert yells for Samanda outside her house. Samanda comes out and Bert tells her that he loves her. He had everything – he was the “tiberon blanco,” “the white shark,” and now look at him – she has brought him down to nothing. Samanda is horrified. She says that she didn't do this to him, he did it to himself when he had her husband killed and destroyed her life. All she feels for him is hate. Bert replies that he hates her, too but he loves her more. He says that he had the whole world at his feet and now look at him. All he wants is to kiss her. He gets on his knees and begs Samanda to forgive him. [Super performance by Carlos Ponce!]

Bárbara and Sebastián/Franco are have a jolly drink at casa Cano. Santi slinks in and S/F invites him to have a drink with them. Then George comes in looking for dinner and Babs introduces him to her “novio.”

Vicente hears Inés breaking things in her room (Friday's capitulo) and comes to see what is going on. Inés tells him that she doesn't want the child she is carrying. Naturally, Vicente is surprised. He says that Inés always wanted to be the mother of Santi's baby. Inés volunteers that the baby isn't Santi's. Vicente is impactado and then he flashes back to Willy's cryptic remarks, “ask your daughter who the father of her baby is.” Vicente asks and Inés tells him that Willy is the father.

Bert keeps asking Samanda to tell him that she loves him. By now the neighbors are congregating to see the show. Samanda tells Bert that if he doesn't go away, she will call the police. “Call them,” says Bert loudly, the more the merrier. Begoña comes out and helps Bert inside the house so as not to create more scandal.

Sebastián/Franco shakes hands with George. Babs feel obligated to point out that George's real name is Jorge but he wanted it to be more elegant. It seems that S/F feels that he has caused enough problems in the Cano house and he leaves promising to call Babs in the morning. Santi appears to be trying to glower but looks more like he has indigestion.

Begoña hopes that none of her neighbors recognized Bert and called the press. She directs Bert to the bathroom. With Little Willy listening, she asks Samanda if it is really true that Bert is in love with her.

Vicente looks like a ton of bricks fell on him. “Not again,” he says. This is every father's nightmare: a lowlife (by your standards) gets your daughter pregnant; you force her to have an abortion; then chain the guy up in the basement for two years to punish him and then he gets your daughter pregnant again and you've committed a capital offense for nothing!! Meanwhile Inés is begging him not to be angry with her – she didn't know Willy had done bad things. Vicente leaves her room saying that he has to make a call. Inés begs him not to tell Santi.

Vicente calls someone [the corrupt doctor?] and tells him to come over immediately. It's an emergency. [But it can't be as easy to get rid of the baby this time. Inés is 6 mos pregnant and Santi is there, too.] Speak of angels, Santi comes home. “What are you doing here?” asks Vicente. “I live here,” replies Santi, surprised. And then as if Vicente's day couldn't get any worse, Santi asks him about the chains and blood he found in the basement of the cabaña.
 

SANTA DIABLA - Monday Part 2

Vicente claims that he doesn't know anything about the chains and blood in the basement of the cabaña. He asks if Santi is accusing him of something. Then the doctor comes downstairs [when did he show up?] and says that he gave Inés a sedative. Santi asks what is going on. “Just an attack of hysteria,” replies Vicente casually. Santi goes upstairs. The doctor tells Vicente that he can't terminate Inés' pregnancy, it is too far along and would put Inés' life in danger. Vicente replies that he has no alternative than to “internar” his daughter, lock her up in an asylum, until the baby is born.

Willy flashes back to what Padre Milton told him about how Samanda publicly accused the Cano's of sending him to prison for a crime that he didn't commit and then having him killed. “Mi Santa,” says Willy.

Back at Begoña's house, Samanda wonders what Bert is doing in the bathroom. Begoña tells that if it is true that Bert has fallen in love with her, that changes everything. Samanda goes to find out what is going on with Bert and finds him passed out on her bed.

At the police station, Pancho's colleague shows him the video of Samanda's press conference. Pancho is impactado.

In their honeymoon suite, Patricio is on top of Vicky in bed. He tells her that finally she is completely his.

Santi gets in bed with the sedated Inés and caresses her shoulder.

Samanda watches Bert who is dead to the world on her bed. She doesn't want him in her bedroom but Begoña tells her that they can all sleep in her room.

Mara apparently wanted Arturo to stay with them but Elisa and Lázaro are united in saying that is a bad idea. He should be with his wife and baby or in a hotel. Mara is fed up and goes to bed. Lázaro and Elisa decide to go out for a drink.

Ivan is sprawled on Lisette's bed. She brings him a cup of coffee and tells him that he needs to forget Vicky, get on with his career and find a nice girl like Daniela. Lisette says that she made mistakes as a mother and look how it turned out – Ivan went to prison and the nightmare isn't over because he has only been released conditionally. Cue Horti to come in and say that Ivan is a “delincuente” who shouldn't be near her grandson. Ivan has to leave her house immediately.

After sex with Patricio, Vicky cries [natch] and remembers her lovemaking with Ivan.

George tells Paula about the nerve of Babs to bring her boyfriend home for a drink with their daughter in the house. Paula asks what the big difference is between that and George bringing his girlfriend to live in the same house as his daughter. She accuses George of being jealous and if he is jealous of what his wife does, she is outta there.

Samanda finds a rose outside the door. Begoña asks her if it is from Santi. Who else would leave her flowers? “Willy,” replies Samanda. Begoña reminds her that Willy is dead.

Elisa and Lázaro are in a bar. They have a drinking contest to see who has the worst luck in love. Elisa has been divorced three times. Lázaro claims the prize when he says that was terrified of the altar.

 

SANTA DIABLA - Monday Part 3

Ulises makes Arturo welcome in Vicky's house. Arturo is overcome with emotion.

Horti relents on evicting Ivan. She will give him a roof and food but no salary for working in her bookstore. .

Samanda calls Santi. He doesn't take her call.

Elisa tells Lázaro how Vicente dissed her on the street and Lázaro can't believe that anyone would treat such a wonderful woman that way... Elisa begins to see where this is going and ends the party asking Lázaro to call two taxis for them.

Samanda's house. The doorbell rings. A large bunch of red roses conceals the person. The bouquet is lowered. It's Willy. Samanda stumbles backward and wakes up – it was a dream.

Samanda's house. The doorbell rings. Samanda opens the door – its Santi. He couldn't take her call the previous evening and wants to talk. A shirtless Bert comes out of the bedroom. Santi comes to the obvious conclusion and leaves.

Vicky comes home and is happy to see Arturo. Patricio not so much. He wants to know why Arturo has shown up at “his” house.

Lisette calls Daniela and tells her that Ivan has been released from prison. She encourages Daniela to visit Ivan and help him forget his problems. Daniela is holding a baggie of drugs. She says that she would to anything for Ivan.

Patricio starts interrogating Arturo but Ulíses and Vicky tell him that Arturo is a friend and the boarding house belongs to both of them, not Patricio.

Bert comes home a is accosted by reporters. He won't tell his mother or Babs where he spent the night. They want to know what he going to do about Samanda. He says he isn't going to do anything because it would prejudice him. His civil marriage with Samanda was a sham. The judge was an actor that he hired. When he leaves, Francisca tells Babs that she is not going to leave well enough alone.

Vicky doesn't care that Arturo brought no clothes with him and has no money. Ulíses offers to lend him some clothes. Vicky asks that Arturo not mention any of this to Patricio or tell Patricio that he is married to Ivan's mother.

Padre Milton has asked Begoña to come and meet with him at the Church. He wants to ask her about the death of Willy Delgado.

Pancho comes to see Bert at his office. Bert is not interested in embracing his new half-brother. No problem replies Pancho. I'm here on business to inform you that I am opening an investigation into the accusations made by Santa Martinez that you killed Willy Delgado. Bert offers Pancho a bribe and Pancho says that he will forget that this time. In spite of the fact that they are half-brothers, he has to do his duty as chief of police of Marrero. He asks directly if Bert suppressed evidence of Willy's innocence and paid to have him killed in prison. In reply, Bert hands Pancho and envelope and says that this is the real Santa Martinez.
 

SANTA DIABLA - Monday Part 4

Daniela comes to see Ivan who is sweeping the floors at the bookstore. He is glad to see her until she finds the notebook he was writing in all those months prison.

Ulíses tells Vicky to let him know if Patricio mistreats her. She says that she will. Then she finds the passports of two women in a shirt of Patricio's.

Lucy comes to see Willy/Pedro at the Trebol d'Oro. Tránsito tells her that isn't necessary. W/P is much better and she can take care of him herself. Then Lucy suggests that she move back into the club to help Tránsito. Tránsito correctly points out that Lucy doesn't do things for nice. Is she interested in W/P herself?

Daddy and bad doctor come to see Inés. Vicente tells her that because of the bad things she did, she has to go with the doctor.

Padre Milton asks Begoña if she ever considered that Willy might not be dead and might be hiding, waiting for the perfect moment to appear. Poor Begoña is impactada.

Santa's house. She is watering the yard with Little Willy sitting on the stoop behind her. We see Big Willy come around the back of the house and call his son. Santa goes inside. Big Willy comes over to Little Willy and asks for a hug. “I'm your father,” he says. Little Willy runs to him.

The credits roll.


 

Santa

¡Dios mio! Haven't watched yet, but can't wait. Tks Jean, what an episode.

I'm wondering about Ines telling Vicente, "you are dead to me". What happened with that?
 

Santa

super recap Jean!!!

and wow, what a show,

Carlos Ponce is great! telling Santa that he loves her, but the next day Humberto seems back to himself, did he sell his white corvette, and the envelope he gave Pancho about Santa, that looks like one that he gets photo's in.

amazing scene where Santa meets Willy at the door! (and she managed to stay on her feet).

Vicente's ears were really smoking when Ines told him the baby was Willy's, you could really see all the gears turning after all he went through to get rid of Willy and their baby, and now... AGAIN?

not to worry about Victoria finding those girl's Mexican passports, she just doesn't get anything, she is so hard to watch, she acts like having a brute for a husband is normal, and then goes about trying to live an ordinary life.

so I guess it's time for Willy to slide into his perfect husband role, hmm, will he tell Santa the truth about Vicente locking him up? (and he doesn't know that Santa has heard about Daniela and Ines)


 

Marido,

thanks so much for the great recap novelera,
and some Spanish lessons,
these two hour shows are wearing me out just watching them,

hmm, what happened to Gabriel not butting in and giving his advice to Esther?

I didn't get the part where Jose and the antique dealer didn't recognize each other (from his earlier visit to the old house), and if he stole the rest of the ivory set, why would he pay $50k for that one piece, and if he is really crooked, why did he say it was worth so much, he could have said anything, I'll have to wait till I see more of this.


 

SANTA:

Super recap, Jean! Thanks.

Before yesterday, I was thinking that despite Santiago's wimpishness, he'll eventually save the day, and get together with Santa. But now, with Bert's proclamation of love, I'm not so sure. Anything could happen.

I was thinking that little willy would actually be afraid of his father, because, maybe the reason why willy has been sort of autistic is not from the shock that his father died, but maybe he SAW him with one of the other women he seduced! This may still be true, but the fact that he hugged Willy made me less sure. I still remember when willy said he wanted Santiago as his father.

Come to think of it, I don't see Bert as a good father figure for willy, so that's another strike against his actually winning over Santa.

As frustrating as she is for us viewers, I think Victoria is acting more like a real person than anyone else in the cast (except maybe Pancho). Everyone else immediately springs into action, makes outrageous plans, etc., whereas real people often don't know what to do, and suffer silently, pretending things are okay. What Vicky needs is a female friend she can talk to. Lisette?

We never really knew exactly what Santa's plan was. But that's true with several other characters. What was Bert's ultimate goal? What is Patricio's plan? We know he hates Vicky's family. And what is Franco/Sebastian's plan? Yes, kill them all, but how, and when. Somehow, all of these unknowns seem destined to collide, along with Willy, the wildcard whose being alive will change EVERYTHING.
 

SANTA

Thanks, Jean!
Haven't yet see the episode, but I read the recap and couldn't wait any longer to comment.
I had to laugh out loud at the way you explained Vicente's problem: he had to take care of Ines' bastard baby via Willy once, now he has to do it all over AGAIN? But, man, is he cruel to want to kill a 6 months old fetus in its mom's womb - his grandchild!

When I read that Bert passed out on Santa's bed, I was hoping this will be the gear in the story, when it becomes more about Santa and Bert then about Santa and Santi.
But the, Santi's arrival put a stop to my dreams, this is still about S&S angst.

Why is Begona so surprised that Bert loves Santa, why is it such a game changer? They already knew this from the times Santa pretended to sleep while Bert caressed her, and besides, a broken hearted Bert is just the cherry on the cake, after all the legal problems he's in.
Oh, and Santi caressed Ines while she was asleep? Not her belly, but her??

I'm waiting for Santa to find out the truth about Willy and realize that maybe Bert has done her a favor by locking him up... somehow... if she doesn't change her mind about him then, bummer, I don't think she ever will.
But if she does, this tn will definitely go in my top 10 Favorite tns.
Make it happen, you smart writer, you!
 

SANTA

Forgot to add:

Hombre, many things stand between Bert and a possible happy ending with Santa now... but this is a tn, anything can happen.
Is there anyone on the board who is rooting for Santa and Santi?
It feels to me like most of us prefer Bert for her, especially due to Carlos Ponce's excellent acting. Also, if she ended up with her mortal enemy, how soap worthy would that be?
 

TELEMUNDO

"El Señor de los Cielos"

rumor says, season 2 will begin recording this month and run through April,
according to Raul Mendez, (Chacorta).

I don't know if this will be as good without Monica, it seems now Mauritius Ochmann (Chema) will be the antagonist.

ref:
http://diario.mx/Espectaculos/2013-10-26_33d5748b/vuelve-el-senor-de-los-cielos


 

SANTA:

Adriana, I am sort of rooting for Santiago and Santa. I know I'm in the minority. I don't think Santa deserves Santiago. But I think he is the one truly noble character in this entire novela. Yes, he's silent, brooding, whining. But he takes his responsibilities like a man. He had to marry Ines, and he did. The reason why he caressed her is that he cares for her as a human being, despite what she's done. He has to stay silent in the face of Franco's threats, and he is doing that. He repeatedly tried to dissuade Santa from revenge, not because it was against his family, but because she was going too far, beyond justice, to revenge. He has been kinds to his mother (unlike Barb) despite her infidelity and complicity in the Willy matter. It's notable that willy said he'd like to have Santiago as a father. He is a true hero, in my opinion, although others may disagree.
 

SANTA:

And Humberto is a selfish jerk. He cares nothing for any other person besides himself. He only "loves" Santa because he wants to possess her, similar to Patricio and Vicky. He didn't really try to help his son Ivan. He used Lisette. He doesn't care about willy. Yes, he's handsome, and Carlos Ponce is an incredible actor. But I don't like the character one bit.
 

SANTA

I forgive you Humberto! is what I was thinking at the screen. Sure, he still murdered someone (the chauffeur) and is probably scheming something, but he'd be a lot more fun that Santi. Except I did laugh what Santi got home and told Vicente, "Aqui vivo". Duh, Vicente.

Were those pics of Santamanda? I thought he was giving Pancho something else to investigate (Santiago and the gun situation).

Kelly
 

Santa,

Adriana, I'm sure the writer's will be flirting with Humberto and Santa hooking up, because it totally adds to Santa's confusion, but I think the question is, (and sure they could just throw them together) but could they make this believable, (and what a passionate story this would be).

Hombre, I too like Santiago, a truly noble person (so far), but it seems he spends too much time being a nice guy, while the world is falling apart all around him, (and now he thinks he sees that Humberto spent the night with Santa), and Precioso is truly needed elsewhere, this guy is really spread pretty thin, will he be there for Santa?

if you look at the horrors our good guys (who are they again) are up against,
it may take a just-as-bad person to calm the waters,
and save the day, (more shades of Flor Salvaje).

 

SANTA

Hombre, of course you're right about Humberto as a person. But, dang, Carlos really brought it last night. I thought it might be another plan of Humberto's but nope. He was really drunk. You gotta love how he turns what must have been a supreme hangover the next day into a chance to stick it to Santiago.

Kelly
 

SANTA -- lunes

Thanks so much for this excellent recap. You really hit this one out of the park.

I love your dry humor: Vicente is experiencing "every father's nightmare." Yeah, right.

I was also glad you included the lines that cracked me up last night:
Vicente: Qué haces aquí?
Santi [bewildered]: I LIVE here.

Carlos Ponce was fabulous. I still contend he will be the Gabriel Porras of this one, that he and Santa will fall in love, a doomed beauty and the beast love.

As for Victoria, maybe Arturo will be the "girlfriend" she needs, someone to confide in, talk things over with.

P.S. I was cheering for Mara when she blew her top at her meddling Mama and Lazaro. Overdue.
 

SANTA-

Thanks everyone.
I don't think that Santa will ever get together with Bert. All the promos for this show have Santi & Santa, not Santa having to choose between two guys. Ultimately, Santi may sacrifice himself for Santa but I would be surprised if Santi ever felt anything more than pity for Bert.

It seems to me that a lot of the problem is that Santi is a good character but Aaron Diaz is not a charismatic actor, at least in this role, and Bert is a bad guy, which is always easier AND he is a great and very charismatic actor.




 

SANTA

Jean - thanks so much - fabulous recap! I haven't been able to watch or comment for a while, so I'm playing catch up. Last night's episode was amazing. I especially loved "every father's nightmare … - and you've committed a capital offense for nothing!!"

The addition of Franco has really turned things upside down for Santi. I'm not sure where Franco's character is going, but he's one major obstacle to Santi's happy ending.

Bert's proclamation of love had a very sad meaning for me. He's committed too many crimes to end up with Sam. I'm thinking he'll become a tragic, maybe repentant, figure. He may have been begging for forgiveness from Sam last night, but the next day, back at the office, he was all business as usual, trying to bribe Pancho and then steering Pancho to investigate someone else (?Santi).

I think Sam and Santi are going to end up together. Sam hasn't confronted Willy yet, but I don't see her forgiving the affairs with Dani or Begona.

Patricio pointedly asserted himself as "man of the house". I suspect part of his plan to get back what he feels is his, is to take the Colletti property away from Victoria.

NovelaMaven - I like Arturo as Victoria's new bff!

Beth
 

It's not official yet, but

Santa Diabla:

Bert is more interesting drunk than Stalkerago is sober. Ouch. Though I'm not sure that's on Carlos Ponce and/versus Aaron Diaz so much as the writing--Santiago is a rather low-key protagonist, perhaps more so in comparison to Santa herself (and it didn't help that both of them were in a holding pattern of sorts up until the timeskip, which basically marked the start of a "nueva etapa").

That said, Santa and Santi are the fated couple...and nothing can stop that short of a full-blown Flor Salvaje ending, and I don't think TM's got it in them to go there again. Bert, best case, may be the one villain to get a big redemptory act (if not Barbara); he shot and apparently killed El Toro, sure, but the show's definitely been playing up Patricio and Franco Punchable Face and crybaby freakout-prone Vicente and Hortensia as the real villains of the piece. Let alone Big Willy, who's about two steps away from obliterating the remainder of his pre-"death" halo in a fireball (if he takes off with lil' Willy for any reason, let alone the whole Lucy/Transito thing).
 

Santa
Carlos Ponce really brought it on. Not ever having seen him, I was prepared not to like him. Wow, I am now a believer. ¡Fantastico!

In contrast, Aaron Diaz just doesn't have it. I think he is the worst actor in this novela. Nothing seems a natural reaction, just contrived. Everyone else is doing their job. Although I'm not that impressed with Gaby Espino.
 

¿Dónde Está Elisa? week 1 pt 1

In a luxurious Malibu vacation house The Altamira clan is celebrating Marianos 43rd birthday. Elisa prepares a digital photo album that makes everyone happy. Its obvious that Elisa is the apple of Marianos eye.
Later Elisa wants to go to a nightclub called "Spicy Glam" the adult try to protest saying it is Marianos birthday but they eventually agree. The adults continue to celebrate their party talking abut a magazine with Mariano in the cover. His best friend Nicolas (Ismael LaRosa) arrives. Meanwhile Elisa is partying.
Finally it is time to pick up the teens. Dana and Ceci arrive at Spicy Glam only to find Santi fighting in the parking lot. As they go in the club they look for Elisa, Eddy, and Flor. Dana finds a couple kissing in one of the stalls in the girls bathroom. In another one Eddy is passed out from drinking. Flor has been looking after him. Dana searches in vain but Elisa is nowhere to be found.
 

¿Dónde Está Elisa? week 1 pt 2

(Forgot to mention that Mariano is the owner of a wine company previously owned by his father. He saved it from being bankrupt at a young age. J.A. Ceci and Nico work with him. Bruno has his own area which specializes in architecture. Vivi works with him.)
After searching in vain for Elisa detective Cristobal Rivas (Jorge Luis Pila) is assigned to the case. He has two sidekicks Gisela Cruz (Karina Mora) and Esteban Briseño (Forgot his name but he played "El Ronco" in MSED).

Eddy acuses Santi of knowing where Elisa is. Turns out Santi and Elisa had a fling. Bruno and Ceci accuse one another of not spending enough time with their kids and putting their work first.
Vivis best friend Ricardo DeLa Fuente (Melvin Cabrera. I miss this guy!) comes back from Barcelona. J.A. seems uncomfortable with his return.
 

¿Dónde Está Elisa? week 1 pt 3

During the investigation a stolen car turned up near a gas station where Elisa was last seen. She apparently cut her hair and dyed it brown.

Mariano gets a call from a man who claims he has Elisa. Mar is told not to call the police or his daughter will be killed. Mar keeps the phone call a secret but the police eventually tap his cell phone. Mar gets a call from the kidnapper and is told to go to one of the winery warehouses. Inside the warehouses is a trailer with Elisa inside. Cris and his team secretly follow Mar. "Is she alive?" Mariano asks "Enter and find out." the kidnapper responds. Mariano enters the trailer and Elisa has a sheet over her. Mariano pulls it off. Surprise! its just a manequin. Cris pulls him out of there.

When asked if he had any personal enemies Mariano knows only one person: Alberto Ventura.
 

¿Dónde Está Elisa? week 1 pt 4

Cecilia and Nicolas are lovers. Flor has a habit of cutting herself and sent a message on Elisas facebook "Elisa is a dirty bitch who deserves to die." The police take Eddys laptop from him and find a video of Santi kissing Elisa. When the police confront Santi with this info he tells the she had a lover but refused to tell him who it was. Santi later gets in a fistfight with Eddy having already been accused of hiding Elisa by Mar.

Apparently Ventura was accused of fraud in the company. Mar claims he hardly knew him but since Ventura spent 5 years in prison it makes sense to him. Gisela investigates and tells Cris that Ventura kept claiming he was innocent. Eventually Gisela tracks him down. Cris shows up and Ventura flees with a hostage in his car. Could it be Elisa? It isnt. After Ventura flees on foot the hostage is unmasked and is an older woman. Cris chases after Ventura. The chase ends on a rooftop and Ventura commits suicide, claiming Mar ruined his life. The hostage is Venturas wife. She claims he went crazy after the accusations. "He was innocent." she said

Dana accuses Mar of seeing Elisa as HIS daughter and not "their" daughter. She later meets up with Cris at a cantina wanting to join the investigation.

(a side note. Gisela and Cris may have had a relationship. She once told him if "I could survive what happened to us years ago i can survive anything.")
 

MARIDO Tuesday Part 1

I'm so sorry guys, I watched this in the morning, but I couldn't take notes, so this will be only from memory and very short, I believe.

Here goes: several montsh pass by, in the meantime:
- Rafa is in jail
- Jose goes to live at the hotel to investigate the dissapearance of the tresure;
- Esther's belly grows;
- TC sells the restaurant to the men hired by Gris and then gets mad when she reads in the paper that Rei will be the Chef;
- Leo starts his training with Max
- Barbie spends more time with Kikito, while K reluctantly watches;
- Paty is with Simon, but she's obviously not over Tony, yet - you, guys are right, these two are endgame, sadly
- TC and Jose continue their relationship; so do Rei and Gris

And we are a year from the moment the show first startes (we learn this from Beatriz, who visits her ex's tomb and mentions the anniversary of his death
- Esther gives birth to a baby girl - Victoria - Gabe is next to her every step of the way, Esther wants him to be the baby's godfather, but I think Gabe would prefer to be the father
- JP finds out from Marcia that Esther is in labor, at first he acts like a jerk about it, but then he goes to the hospital to act like a jerk there, too; he finds Esther with Gabe, she's trying to feed the baby, JP accuses them of maybe having an affair behidn his back, could Gabe be the real father? Gabe throws him out and warns him from now on he'll protect Esther and the baby from him no matter what

- Rei Gourmet, the new restaurnat, is about to be opened; Rei and Simon are taking care of the last details, Gris is at home trying to find the perfect dress; TC wantsto crash the inaugurantion
- Gris almost hits TC with teh car by mistake, they fight, Gris calls TC loca, which is the absolute worst offence for TC
- Jose hasn't found out anything while staying at the hotel and his money is running out; but then he meets the antique shop owner in the elevator and finds out he's staying at the hotel; he realizes the guy could have something to do with the stolen treasure
- Gris and Gigante talk about the fact that Rei can never know who was the real investor - this is going to turn out BAD!
- one of Rafa's trials is over, his lawyer got him libertad condicional; he has two more trials to go through, but until then, he's free; he goes straight to Amalia with the news, they are both very happy
- Barbie spends the day with Little Q, talks brielfy with Deborah, who answered Q's phone
- Gris comes to ask an almost naked Jose about the trasure she realized he has - he tells him the truth, there was a treasure, but now is lost; also, he says that TC is paying for his hotel, which Gris doesn't believe

 

MARIDO Tuesday Part 2

- Jose and Barbie decide to infiltrate Elio in the antique shop with a secret identity, so he can find out stuff about their treasure; but first, it's time for a makeover for Elio
- everybody who is anybody and some nobodies too, come to the big inauguration on Rei Gourmet (RIP Palmer Gourmet)
- Gris arrives wearing a blue dress and gets a round of applause
- the restaurant is a succes, obviously, everything is great, until TC arrives
- she tastes all the food, thinks everything is crappy, makes a show, Rei can barely stop Gris from fighting with her right there and then - the press is present!
- eventually, he manages to drag TC out
- at home, TC calls Jose for their usual booty call, but Jose is busy with his treasure hunt, so TC needs something else to entertain herslef
- she calls Fer, asks him to burn Gris' house TONIGHT!
- Amalia arrives home when Fer is already there; while she's in the bathroom, he sets the living on fire and locks her up in the bathroom! - so much for being friends with Gris and her family

I lost the last 10 minutes, because I had to leave for work, if someone can fill in the missing information, that would be great; again, I'm sorry, I couldn't do a better job with this recap, I can't wait for the two episodes shows to be over.
 

SANTA DIABLA, Martes, Part 1

This show is a blast! I’m really enjoying the various turns of events. We begin with willy hugging Willy. Santa has conveniently gone inside for a minute, and misses the exchange. Willy says he went through a lot in the last three years, but he loves willy and wants to be with him. He also says Santa is brave, and he wants to reveal himself, but not yet. He swears willy to silence (not too difficult, as the kid barely talks anyway), and asks him to meet at the playground in an hour. Little willy goes back inside.

Begoña continues talking to Padre Milton, who cryptically says, what if Willy is still alive? Begoña, after reminding the Padre that what she confessed (her affair) is under the seal of confession, and wondering if he’s playing with her head, gets the picture. Willy IS alive, but the Padre can’t say it. Whoa! She rushes to tell Santa.

I might have this wrong, but I think Santa leaves willy alone, and meets outside of the house with Pancho, who wants to ask her for proof of the fact that Willy was innocent of abusing Daniela, that Bert put him in jail, that he was killed in prison. Santa doesn’t trust Pancho, after all, he’s Bert’s brother. And she tells Pancho his father Vicente is just as guilty! She does give him the recording on her phone, and she has copies. Pancho later asks Sifuentes to analyze the tape. Pancho also has the pictures that Bert gave him, and they are the ones of Santiago. Bert’s still on his “don’t worry about my crimes, here’s the real criminal” kick. Sifuentes says we can see Santi pointing that gun, but maybe it was self defense.

Back to Santa. She goes back into the house, and willy is gone! Yes, he went to the park, meets his Dad, and he even talks a bit. In fact, when Willy explains that he understands why Santa married a Cano, willy says, yes, she’s with Santiago Cano. No, son, says Willy, she married Humberto Cano. Little willy says well, she loves Santiago, and he loves her! Big Willy is not happy about this.

Santa is frantic. Her Mom arrives, and before she can tell Santa about what the Padre said, Santa says willy has disappeared! They look all over, but can’t find him. They call 911. Santa calls Santiago.

What’s he up to? He’s moping around the house when he hears Inés screaming, don’t take me away! Vicente and the Dr. are about to inject her with something, and Santiago bursts in, don’t you touch my wife! The Doc splits, doesn’t want to get involved, and Santi reams out Vicente, who yells right back. After going into the next room, Santi demands to know what’s going on, but Vicente won’t talk, and threatens Santi right back. So Santi goes to Inés, who tells him her father sometimes lies (you think?). She adds that she does know the difference between reality and dreams. She was pregnant a few years ago. Her father had her taken somewhere, and caused an abortion. Please don’t let it happen again! Santi comforts her. She begs him, promise me you’ll never leave me alone. Promise. He does.

Then his phone rings. It’s Santa, doesn’t want to talk about Bert, her son is gone, no one can help but you! So Santi, despite what he just told Inés, goes into action.
 

SANTA Part 2

Meanwhile, what’s going on with some of our other characters? Iván has rescued his black book from Daniela, he can’t tell her what’s in it. He’s friends with her, but he can’t talk now. She leaves. He’s cleaned the whole bookstore, and Horti arrives to see him writing in the book. She first accuses him of being lazy, not doing his job, but he says he’s already cleaned the whole place. Then she says, what’s he doing, drawing dirty pictures in a book? She’s surprised to find out that he’s actually writing WORDS. She wants to see what it is. Wow, it’s even sentences. Amazing. She tells him she’s read all the books in her bookstore, would he like her to read HIS book?

Paula and Bárbara threaten each other.

Vicente quits the law firm! He doesn’t want to be on a sinking ship. Bert is now all alone at the firm.

Arturo struggles with his crutches, makes his way to Mara’s café. She has mixed emotions about his presence. Earlier, she had talked to her Mom Elisa, who told her that last night, Elisa just went for a walk. She conveniently leaves out the fact that she was with Lázaro, and the two of them came close to starting something with each OTHER. Elisa says why did I just lie to my daughter? There’s nothing wrong with what I did. Or is there? Anyway, Arturo explains to Mara that Lisette went back to Horti’s house with the baby, but Art didn’t. He’s separated from Lisette! And before you know it, they’re kissing again, right in the middle of the café. They pull apart, but probably not for long.

Tránsito comes bounding into the police station to find Pancho, tells him you’ve got a problem with your girlfriend, she’s two timing you! Pancho points out that Lucy isn’t his girlfriend, even if they live in the same house. Tránsito says what about that guy Pedro whom she has living in the bordello. She has a thing for him. Pancho doesn’t care. Yeah, continues Tránsito, he’s the guy who came in with a gunshot and whom Lucy was hiding there! NOW Pancho’s listening! Lucy comes in, and she and Tránsito proceed to have a catfight, pulling each other’s hair, until Pancho puts them both in the same cell to cool down. We’ll see about THAT!

 

SANTA, Part 3

Vicky is suspicious that Patricio had passports of two young, pretty Mexican girls in his pants pocket. When he’s ready to go to work, she praises his outfit, then in an alluring voice, asks if she can come see the workplace of her wonderful husband. Pat says no. A woman’s place is in the home. He leaves. She follows, stealthily. She sees him meet with some shady character in the street. Then he goes to the Trebol De Oro, starts kissing and fondling two babes, wants his free sex, he is the owner, right? But in the background, Vicky has SEEN this!!!

Santi arrives at Santa’s place, she’s frantic that willy is gone. She quickly explains the Bert thing, he was drunk, her mother said bring him inside, he slept on the bed, but nothing happened. She tells Santiago, I love you. Outside, Willy is bringing willy home, when willy sees Santi’s truck, yells Santiago! He runs back inside, right past his mother, and hugs Santiago! Well all’s well, they can call off the 911 search. Santa is yelling at willy, how dare you leave and have us all worried! But Santiago calms the waters, at least he’s back. Santa calms down, realizes that once again, Santi has saved the day. They look into each other’s eyes, are drawn together, and Santa once again says I love you, as they kiss.

But right outside, Willy has seen EVERYTHING!!!!!!
 

Thanks, Hombre. This was yet another FastenYourSeatbelt episode and you more than did it justice.

Did you just start doing the Willy vs willy thing? Clever.

So in one brief scene, Hortensia forever sullies the image of readers everywhere. It makes me want to…I don't know, go to the movies or something.
 

Santa,

wow, great recap Hombre!

what a cat fight scene! all you could see was hair and arms! and Pancho needed help breaking it up, didn't that start when Lucy decided to move back in to the Trebol de Oro, which Transito wasn't too big on, knowing that she was after Willy, and when they worked their way to her room, Willy was gone! (hmm, how did he manage to stay there so long in Transito's room without Patricio finding out) but I was surprised she took their fight to Pancho, but the guy-with-the-bullet-wound sure got his attention, funny that he put them both in the same cell.

so Arturo kisses Mara at the Cafe and tells her where he is staying then leaves, only to be followed home by Mara, wow, this is a gran amor! no if, and, or buts.

and what is Ivan writing in that book, he didn't grab it back from Hortensia.

Yep, Vicente has had enough with his law partner(son) being in love with the enemy.

no take-the-wife-to-work day on Patricio's calendar, but Victoria sure was getting an eyeful at the club before that guy started hitting on her.

Curious that willy runs to Santiago, with his father there, right past Santa, hmm, he must know something.


 

Marido, (the last minutes)

ok, Amalia is in the bathroom, a chair propped against the door and smoke pouring in, she yells for help, TeresaCri (is that what someome called her) is sitting in front of her bedroom window watching the house burn, Ro arrives to panic but not to stop it.

Rafa arrives (was he meeting Amalia here) followed shortly by the family home from the restaurant opening, they figure out Amalia is in there and take turns holding each other back,

K holds onto Gris and k, while Rafa and Antonio rush in,

Rafa hears Amalia's call for help, and carries her out, while Antonio is knocked down from some falling debris, the firemen arrive, open coats and no hats, air tanks, axes, truck or anything, and run in following Rafa to save Antonio,

Gris is thankful to have her family safe and sound, TC shows up to gloat (what did she say?)

Elio, in his new suit, is with the antique dealer, chatting and sharing a drink,
Jose is home with Barbara, chatting and sharing a drink.


 

SANTA -
Wonderful recap, Hombre. I loved "willy" and "Willy" - very elegant.

Maybe Willy needs to get a saxaphone to get willy to like him more.

In her tirade/conversation with Pancho, Santa said that Vicente was just as guilty as Bert but didn't mention the chains and blood in the basement of the cabaña.

Padre Milton seems to have a pretty elastic idea of the seal of the confessional by telling Begoña - "Did you ever think that Willy could be alive and hiding somewhere?" HINT HINT.

Babs also told Paula how easy it would be for her " to have an accident" if she stayed at the Cano house. She noted that Paula is pregnant and they were standing on the Stairs of Death.

I don't remember hearing before that Horti has a bookstore. If she made her fortune from that business, it must have been a long time ago. I can't imagine that Ivan would let Horti read his notebook but he wasn't as defensive about with her as he was with Daniela.
 

SANTA
Jean, Surprisingly, Horti seemed to actually calm Ivan down as she complimented him. She accused him of wasting time drawing, but when she saw he was writing words and sentences, she complimented him for that. She also said she had read every book in her entire bookstore, except, the one that Ivan had in his hands. She asked him if he wanted her to read it.... SHe was actually somewhat pleasant for a change. Maybe there is hope for some redemption through Ivan....

H d Misterio - Thanks for the very fine recap. I believe that Santa and Pancho had the discussion in the house at first. Finally, when Pancho left, after saying he would check things out even though SAnta was suggesting he might be less than ethical, she ran out after him to yell at him that she was sick of everyone "giving the Cano family a pass". Something like that. I also wondered why Santa forgot to mention the blood on the basement floor of Vicente's "vacation house".

Looking forward to this week's story!
 

MARIDO

Thanks so much, Adriana. If you did that from memory, you're amazing! And thanks to Deb for finishing it off.

I enjoyed the passing of time; I think that was good for the plot. I'm going to be seriously pissed if Esther EVER goes back with Juan Pablo. His behavior at the hospital was unbelievable. He's obviously eaten up with jealousy because Gabe and Esther are bonding so well. If MY memory is any good, he also said something distasteful about the sight of Esther nursing her child. He needs to have lost the love of his life forever!

Wow, Fernando had absolutely no scruples about not only setting fire to Griselda's house, but putting a chair under the doorknob in an attempt to burn up Amalia. He appeared to be enjoying himself.

I was so happy Rei grabbed TC by the elbow and hustled her out of there. He's put up with her scenes time and time again and never physically removed her from the area. High time, I say!

It will be interesting to see if José is able to get back the "treasure". Last night they finally said they were jade. For some reason I was thinking they were ivory. Also, they showed another scene of the Hotel Manager and the antique dealer chatting on some sofa. More evidence that they conspired to take the stuff from Barbie's locker.
 

Marido--Thank you both Adriana and Deb. You covered all the high points and the low points. There was a whole lot of unnecessary chatter and not much to comment on that amplifies things. Oh, except that Elio is supposed to get Barchinski (sp?) drunk or knocked out so he can search his room.

Barbara got really pithed at Jose for living for several months high on the hog on "her" share of the knife, but is still going along with Jose's plan.

When Jose realized that Antique Dealer Guy lived in the hotel, he devised the plan of sending Elio in on the pretense that he was interested in art and to make sure he went in the room.

Elio looks ok all cleaned up, but I still wouldn't trust him enough to invite him into my hotel room as Barch did.

Oh, we also saw a scene where Hotel Manager guy and Antiques Dealer guy are sitting on a sofa in the hotel lobby confabbing, so we were right about their being in collusion.

I'm glad Pati and Simon are still together, although she did seem rather cool and under-animated--even when Tony tried to start a conversation with her. I wonder if they've had sex yet--it's been months (according to Ester's gestation time). At least Simon and Rei are back on track.

Loved all the halagos Rei gave Griselda when he saw her all dressed up. When she told him she was ready to go, he said he wanted to "see" her later. She told Rei she was going to go home first to get out of her shoes and dress, since he knows she can't last more than a couple of hours in heels and dresses. Rei offered to take them off for her.
 

Marido--
Novelera--I was typing while you were posting. Interesting, I would have thought ivory, now being a banned trade item would be more valuable that jade. It could be the dynasty that makes them valuable. I had to look up ivory=marfil; jade=rocin, jamelgo, jaco. I didn't quite hear what the guy said they were, so I'll go with jade.
 

MARIDO:

Thanks for the recaps for the last few days, ladies.

I was quite happy with the time jump. I ditto everything Anita said. :)

I was so ticked off at JP, and quite shocked with the callous way Fer locked Amalia up in the bathroom, even splashing the gasoline closed to the bathroom door! I also noticed that the fire department had NO equipment. And just how did Rafa lose his shirt from the time he entered the house to when he went into the bathroom. I think I likely blinked and missed him taking it off in order to open the hot door handle, but it was funny to look up and see it gone, because it looked like gratuitous shirtlessness, and dangerous too!
 

Marido--
Vivi, I think Rafa shed his shirt while rescuing Amalia. I saw him wetting something tan in the sink to wrap around her head. I assumed it was a towel. Then I was as surprised as you to see him shirtless. We probably both blinked.
 

MARIDO

Anita, this scene -- including the shirtless heroic rescue -- was in Rafa's contract as part of Telemundo's agreement to release the actor's manhood from the blind trust in which it had been placed during El Tal.

[Or so I have heard.]
 

MARIDO:

NovelaMaven- LOL!!! I'm sure he and Aaron Diaz over on Santa Diabla want to forever forget El Talisman. Well, maybe not Aaron, since by the comments on Santa it seems all he gets to do is be weepy and stalkerish. He had a lot of fun as the Beltbuckle.
 

SANTA (sort of)

True, Vivi. Maybe Aaron/Santi needs a boda bag and a little hint of brother/sister incest to energize his character. Oh, and also, an impressive belt buckle.

[snort]
 

MARIDO:

Jose didn't just want Elio to pretend to be interested in antiques/art, but also to be interested in the antiques dealer! Elio must really love his papa to be willing to do that.

I notice that Jose does the same thing Quique does when he's trying to cajole a smile/action out of someone-- he does that "quien, quien?" game and chucks the person under the chin or pinches their cheeks or tickles them. Meanwhile, Tony takes on many of Jose's characteristics when he's trying to fast talk someone into doing something or is bending the truth. Quique is like Gris when he gets in "bull in the china shop" mode, ready to take someone on, no matter the consequences. Amalia doesn't seem like either of her parents, except she holds her values really firmly and doesn't waver, like Gris does.
 

MARIDO
Hey late watchers--the Marido recap for Wednesday will be up in a while. Stay tuned for the interesting developments.
 

MARIDO

Okay, I'm starting to agree that the relationship between Griselda and Reinaldo is passionless. It made sense for Reinaldo to be patient and extremely gentle their first time, and the slowness was even a little hot. But ever since they seem to be so vanilla that it's striking. Polite, smoochy kisses. The scene where Griselda models a negligee for Reinaldo would have fit just fine on a fifties sitcom.

What was with Sol? At first I was afraid it was the start of a wave of food poisoning, and then it turned out it was just Sol who had indigestion... (Or maybe, rather than the TN obvious, it was because she had on more clothes than ever, and somehow it disoriented her and made her nauseous.)
 

MARIDO En Alquiler – Wednesday, Part 1

After the fire is out, TC and Gris confront each other in front of the Gris Mansion. Gris is thankful she had the protection of her virgencita. TC scoffs. Does she really believe that santita helps you? Gris has had enough. She says she would really like to hate TC, but can only feel sorry for her. TC pays her no mind. Instead, she hopes she has insurance and if she does, hopes Gris changes her décor, what she had was such poca cosa. When she turns to go back to her own mansion, Gris is standing in front of her with the garden hose turned on high. TC gets a soaking.

At the restaurant, Simon and Rei are congratulating themselves that everything is turning out to be a success. The reservations for the next day are coming in. Gris calls Rei to tell him about the fire. He’ll be right over. She doesn’t tell him about Amalia’s narrow escape.

>>FF>> Daniel and Sol are saying goodnight at the Posada talking about the fire. Manuel shows up and tells Sol to get her a$$ home.

>>FF>>TC’s outdoor shower is over and Ro dries her hair. She orders him to leave. Such bad luck, nobody died. She calls Fernando and gives him 10 min. to meet her in the sauna.

Beatriz arrives at the Gris Mansion and hugs Tony and is happy he’s ok. She assesses the damage with one glance around the place and her professional opinion is there’s no structural damage, just smoke (did the firefighters use any water to put it out, hmmm). Gris is still thinking about what could have happened to Amalia if…Bea says, no, just start thinking about repairs.

Elio has made it into Barinsky’s hotel room and they are chatting about financing for the art work. Elio assures him there’s no problem. He’s merely the intermediary for someone else. Has Barinsky heard of Griselda Carrasco? Ah, the new millionaria, of course he has….and Elio leaves it at that. Barinsky makes a typical TN cliché move and excuses himself to go to the bathroom. Elio uses the alone time to spike his host’s whiskey. Barinsky, of course, drinks and they continue to talk. The art is in the shop, Barinsky doesn’t want to go just then, because it’s all locked up and the alarm is set, so another day. Elio is fine with that. His client is not in a hurry. Barinsky doesn’t last long, he passes out. Elio calls José to let him know that things are progressing. José reminds him what he must do next and not to do anything stupid. Elio gets to work. He calls José again, when he finds out that the pieces are still in Barinsky’s possession, in the safe at the shop and he has the combination. José will be right there. Barbara, who has been listening to José’s end of the conversation, wants to come, but he says, NO.

Rafa has been comforting Amalia. Griselda is aware that thanks to him and Antonio, Amalia was saved. Rafa was brave. He says he didn’t consider the danger to himself, he just had to rescue his princess. Griselda is grateful to him and glad he was freed from jail. She turns to Amalia and tells her she needs to drink some milk because she breathed in a lot of smoke. Amalia must have had her milk upstairs because Rafa is with her saying goodbye, he has to go. She rewards him with a kiss and he says he’ll be back for another. They go downstairs to talk to Griselda.

 

MARIDO En Alquiler – Wednesday, Part 2

One of the firefighters hands Gris a report that there was evidence that the fire was intentional. Rafa speaks to Gris privately because he didn’t want Amalia to get upset and tells her that when he got to the door, there was a chair tilted against the door so it couldn’t be opened from inside (here is another case of doors opening the wrong way—it should have opened IN and not OUT). Someone targeted Amalia, someone knew she was in there and wanted to harm her, but who. Tony says it’s true, he even cut his hand on the door. They discuss whether or not to file a complaint with the police. Gris thinks about it. There will have to be an investigation, it’ll take a long time. They realize Rafa might be implicated since he was the first one on the scene and he just got out of jail. That’s enough for Gris to decide not to bring in the police. She has a strong suspicion that it was TC, but for now, no police.

Fernando arrives at the sauna. TC is waiting for him. He gets a slap for his trouble. She’s pithed that it was such a poor fire. Lots of smoke and that was all. Nobody died. She’s doubly pithed.

Rei arrives at the roasted, toasted mansion. He’s kind of hurt that she didn’t call him right away. He’s glad to hear the damage was only to the living room part on the ground floor. All he wants to do is take care of her. She should have called him when they saw the fire. Gris explains that all she could think of was Amalia trapped. He soothes her in a sweet embrace and suggests taking a bath. After the bath they snuggle in bed and the scene is cut before it can become a PG-13.

>>FF>>TC is in her room thinking.

José and Elio meet outside the Antique Shop. We are treated to some Spaghetti Western Outlaw music. They think they are alone, but Barbara has followed José anyway. The two fellas get inside and disarm the alarm. They find the safe. José hesitates. He enters the combination. He opens. He sees the box. Joy spreads across his face and then he hears a voice announcing that the alarm alerting the police is going to be set off. Virgen Santisima—they bolt for the front door with the box. They realize that if the police stop them, they will be caught red-handed with something of value in an old box. They just stand there as the sirens get louder. The Miami PD are on their way (will Horatio be the first at the scene I wonder). José turns and hides the box in the bushes (in case we have forgotten, the Antique Shop is in the same complex as the hotel). Barbara, ever vigilant sees what has taken place and stays hidden.

The police cars pull up, guns drawn, they approach the store on foot, in full battle regalia, while Elio and José beat it. Barbara wastes no time scrounging around for the box. Before she can put her hands on it, an officer calls out to her and wants to know what is she doing here by herself. Oh, just waiting for a bus. The officer points out that this is not a bus stop. Barbara turns on her seductive mode and claims that the bus driver always offers her a special service. Hmm, he’d like to talk to her about that some more, but he has other duties awaiting. NOW she grabs the box, opens it right there on the grassy knoll checks out the cutlery. She bags it and scurries away. But one fell to the ground, hidden in the grass.

>>FF>>Ro is back at his place and scorpion legs are waiting for him.
 

MARIDO En Alquiler – Wednesday, Part 3

Away from all the excitement, Paloma is in her room at the Posada with her laptop watching Marcela talking into the camera for her benefit. Iván walks in just as Marcela is saying that she didn’t think Teresa Cristina would be capable of murdering her own mother. Paloma slams the lid of the computer. She tells Iván she’s just nervous. He wonders if she’s nervous about the boda. She has a date with Iris tomorrow to pick out a wedding dress. Iván’s phone rings. He tells Paloma it’s some telemarketer, but we see the name “Carol” on the screen. She goes downstairs to see him off and Momma Iris arrives with a tray full of food chattering about the lack of room service. They banter congenially and Momma can’t picture her daughter, the hippie, in a wedding dress.

>>FF>>Gris and Rei and snuggled up peacefully asleep.

Amalia is sleeping but is awakened by a nightmare of the fire. We are made to think she is still dreaming when she gets up and goes downstairs and finds Rafa standing outside the glass front doors (that would have freaked me out). She lets him in. They embrace. They kiss. They find themselves in a bed and make love in it right there in the middle of an open field of green with blue sky above them. Now we *know* it’s a dream. She reminds him that if it hadn’t been for him, she would have died. He reminds her that he would have died if she hadn’t opened the door for him. She loves him. He loves her. More sweet nothings and the scene moves a bit past PG-13, safely dressed in underwear.

Elio has returned to This Old House of Gris’ and is jumping for joy. They did it, they did it. They were almost caught, but they accomplished what they set out to do. He goes up to share the news with Barbie and finds a note on the door that says she’s sleeping and not to bother her. Elio goes to bed. Barbie tiptoes back into the house and when she gets to her room, she spreads out the treasure. That’s when she realizes one of the pieces is missing.

José has returned to the hotel and hears the Hotel Manager talking to the Housekeeping Supervisor about the poor guest who couldn’t be revived and to top it all off, someone stole the combinations to his safe and robbed him of everything. José sneaks off, probably not feeling at all guilty.

>>FF>>TC is in bed fast asleep and is still asleep the next morning.

Over at Gris’ Mansion, she and Reinaldo are up and he’s getting dressed. She’s loaned him another shirt. She suggests he leave some of his things at her place, in case he needs them. She wants to know if he’s off to the restaurant because it’s so early. He’s going shopping first. He holds her and tells her he feels rejuvenated, revitalized—Sra. Gris. She answers that she bet on him to succeed—oops, did she say too much. Guess not. Reinaldo goes on how she’s his strength and love. Oh, and he’ll be home late. Still together, they kiss-kiss. Downstairs, she’s seeing him to the door and acts a little embarrassed by any more PDA in front of her children because Rei was going to embrace her and kiss her again before he went out the door. He can see they’re alone and it’s early. Surprise, surprise, it wasn’t Amalia’s dream, nor our misconception, Rafa really did spend the night and Gris is triply surprised. Gris complains that it seems that her house has become a motel. Rei knows when it’s time to leave Mama-Bear alone with her cub and says he’ll see her later.

 

MARIDO En Alquiler – Wednesday, Part 4

Gris wants to know what’s going on here, trying to sneak Rafa out. Amalia answers quite honestly, yes, he spent the night, they were together and it’s not the first time. Gris says she knows that, but if they have re-committed themselves to each other, why not re-set a date to get married?

>>FF>>Kikito shares with viewers a preview of the new animated movie, Frozen, on his iPad.

>>FF>>Cute scene at the hospital with Gabe holding Victoria while Ester is talking and thanking Alba. Everybody is happy. Although I’m disturbed that Ester is wearing black—is this symbolic? She and Victoria are being discharged and Gabe is going to take them home. Later we get another short scene of the Gabe getting ready to change diapers and Ester buzzing around being very maternal.

Gris has gone to her office in the Maridas shop and his having a flashback to the night of the fire with TC showing up with a big Cheshire Cat smile on her face seeing the tragedy of the burned house. Gris is actually talking to Gigante about it. Is she just going to leave it, forget it, he wonders. Griselda assures him it is not her intention, but his is not the right time. Although she suspects someone, she needs proof before going ahead.

Next Gris goes to visit Paloma. She spits out the tea Paloma offered and wonders what it is. Paloma tells her it’s called Cats’ Claws. Gris says it must have been a dead cat. Paloma warns her again that TC is dangerous and she should be careful. In fact she should just leave that house. Gris won’t think of it. She’s going to send her to jail after she has the proof she needs.

At the hotel, José goes looking for the treasure box in the bushes. He gets scratched for his efforts, but no box. He’s on his hands and knees in the grass and lo and behold, finds the missing knife. He goes back to This Old House to show it to Elio. He can’t believe it. There was just one? José swears he looked everywhere. At least it’s better than nothing. Barbara comes in to see the sorriest two men and wants to know what happened. They tell her. She acts pithed and tells them it was a stupid idea. She has to go to work. José lets Elio know that he’s going back to the hotel. He needs to sell the knife, of course to some other buyer, dummy. Elio apologizes again about not knowing there were two burglar alarms. José says it wasn’t his fault.

José gets to the hotel and while waiting for the elevator, notices the Hotel Manager pushing someone hunched over in a wheelchair. It’s Barinsky. He just got out of the hospital, he’s not responding. José wonders if it was the robbery that put him in that state. HM wants to know how José knew. Oh, rumors fly around here. José immediately calls Elio and told him he used way too much doping powder. Next time, don’t go so far. So Elio thinks there’s going to be a next time? Of course.

>>FF>>Daniel and Pati are strolling through the university grounds. He’s telling her about the fire at Gris’ place. They run into Tony. She is mildly interested in his heroics and he’s convinced that she cares about him. Daniel not so much.

>>FF>>Juan Pablo is having a flashback at Fina Estampa of Ester’s discrete PG-8 scene breastfeeding Victoria. Vanessa interrupts his reverie. He’s very short with her and tells her if there is something she doesn’t know, ask someone else. Marcia tells Van that he’s like that because of Ester.

 

MARIDO En Alquiler – Wednesday, Part 5

TC is dressed to Kill (according to Ro). She’s on her way out but won’t tell him where or if she’s meeting anyone. She just wants Manuel to bring the car around.

The new Rei Gourmet is off and running. They are pleased they will be full for the lunch crowd. Simon is desperate to have a receptionist. He and Rei talk food talk. Rei’s head is full of making sure everything goes right. He’ll think about a likely receptionist later. Right now he’s too nervous and tense. To make matters worse, TC shows up unannounced, uninvited, and unwanted. Forget about throwing me out, she tells Rei, or I’ll create a really big scandal. Gris has shown up right behind her, also uninvited, but definitely wanted by Rei. Go ahead and try it, I dare you, Gris challenges, but wouldn’t it make more sense to have this circus at your house? All the clowns are there. TC says something nasty back about Gris needing a depilatory for her moustache.

Rei can’t do anything except again ask her to leave. She says she will, but she has an announcement for her ex-employees. Reinaldo doesn’t have to since this is no longer her restaurant, but she assures him she will leave afterwards. He says he’ll leave it up to the staff to decide. If they decide to hear her out, it’ll be in the kitchen.

While she waits for them to decide, TC and Gris are together at the bar. (What follows is an interpretation of a loose translation of their conversation—one Reinaldo wanted to know in detail later, but Gris just told him about the champagne.)

--Gris-If you are hungry, I’ll get you a banana
--TC-Champagne is more my style (Gris gets her a flute of champagne, pours and hands it to her)
--TC-My, my, you did that so well, not a drop dripped
--Gris-I’m good at everything I do and nobody complains or objects. You, on the other hand, do nothing and get complaints from everyone.
--TC-Do you want some champagne?
--Gris-I only drink with friends.
(Something is missing here, but I’m too tired to look for it.)
--Gris-I’ll work later, when I start the repairs to my house. And oh, about the fire, I keep wondering what caused it, how did it just “happen.” Do you know?
--TC-It could have been a short circuit in the electrical wires. I remember the “sparks” that flew when you were rewiring the restaurant in your piyamas.
--TC-And, oh, by the way, isn’t it a little unusual that the owner of this restaurant didn’t show up for the grand opening?

Reinaldo returns to let her know that the staff is willing to hear her out. TC tells them she has decided to pay them what she owes them. Oh, and one more thing. She’s decided to open a restaurant right across the street and call it Gourmet Palmer, after all it is a registered trademark and she owns the rights. Fred, the sous-chef asks who is going to be the new chef at her place. She hasn’t decided yet. She sweeps out leaving all of them with their bocas abiertas. Simon wants to know if she can do that. Customers will get confused. Besides, no chef can match Rei’s talent except Fred.

On her way out Gris taunts TC a bit by assuring her that she’s going to end up in jail for all the crimes she’s committed, beginning with arson and attempted murder. She swears she’ll discover all TC’s crimes. That way, in jail, TC will leave them in peace. TC warns that peace could be dangerous, RIP, ha ha, and she departs.

Reinaldo and Griselda talk about what just happened. Gris tells him not to worry, TC knows nothing about business. Reinaldo wonders why TC showed up at the restaurant. Gris thinks it was just to upset him and destabilize the staff. Rei wants to know why Gris showed up at the restaurant. She wanted to get a besito. She gets it and another and she’s off. Meanwhile, Fred is in the back daydreaming about what TC said and forgets about some sauce he was supposed to make.
 

MARIDO En Alquiler – Wednesday, Part 6

>>FF>>Griselda has returned to her shop, greets customers and talks to Gigante. He’s surprised TC asked about the new owner not showing up. Does Gris think she suspects it was she? Gris is sure that if she believes it, she’ll run right to Rei with the information.

Barbara is back at work, but not for long. José overhears her resigning her position. She gets her severance pay and is almost out the door when José grabs her. He’s suspicious of her actions. She swears she got a letter from her dying aunt in New Jersey who want her to spend time with her while she dies and even sent her an airline ticket. He doesn’t believe her, but has no recourse when she shows him a real letter from her aunt in NJ.

Fernando drops by This Old House to find Elio there alone. José is back at the hotel for a few more days. Fernny is pithed and Josie had better not be spending any part of his take of the treasure. Elio assures him Josie wouldn’t do that.

>>FF>>TC returns home. Manuel has the chisme to share about TC dropping by Rei’s new restaurant, but not making a scene. Then Vanessa calls Ro to tell him about TC’s own new restaurant. She found out because as a former employee, someone called her to let her know about her back pay. TC has overheard Ro and tells him she wants to destroy Rei’s new business and started by sowing seeds of discord among the staff.

Paloma is asking Mama Iris how well she knew Marcela. Paloma knows that TC has victims and wants to know who and why. Iris tells her straight out that if she keeps this up she’ll be the next victim. Forget it all, sweetie and let’s concentrate on your marrying a man who loves you and let’s go get that wedding dress.

We’re back at Fashion Motors. Iván wonders what to do about “Carol.” He calls her back. She informs him that she’s arriving. Iván tries to tell her she can’t stay with him but she hangs up on him. Max, who’s sitting with him, hears him say that they’ve been divorced for years and wonders what she’s up to. Max thinks maybe she heard about his up-coming marriage and wants to wish him well? That line of thought is interrupted by Lenny’s arrival. He's ready for practice.

>>FF>>At the Tacos Bar, Berto, Carla and Diosa argue about the fights and whether Lenny is ready.

Gris arrives back at her mansion with the whole Maridas crew and Quique in tow. They are there to repair the smoke damage from the fire. She leaves them in charge while she goes upstairs. She rummages around in her closet and gets out her overalls. (Wait a minute—I thought she had them framed and they are hanging in the shop; maybe she had a pair and a spare?) Celeste shows up and teases her about putting them on again.

The phone rings at TC’s mansion. It’s Fred, the sous-chef. He’s interested in the job at her new restaurant and he has lots of ideas and suggestions for her. TC tells him to come to the house. When she hangs up, she smirks to herself, “The Fish Took the Bait.”

AVANCES
Patricia finds José in TC’s bed and goes nuts.
 

MARIDO

El lunes que viene, we go back to 1-hr. Maridos at 8 o'clock.

Remember to find a recapper for Wednesdays. If you don't find a regular, I can still do Dec. 11 & 18.
 

MARIDO

Utah--I agree now that Rei and Gris's love (?) scenes are very vanilla. Juan Soler has always been a touchy-feely, really good kisser and very active in bed (especially with Silvia Navarro). I believe Sonya Smith is a hot number, but the two just don't strike those "sparks" TC was talking about. Maybe because they are an "older" couple they don't get to cavort? Too bad. They could do more in bed than snuggle.

Those of us who watched Amores Verdaderos, remember with glee how Big Ed Yanez tossed Erika Buenfil around in their first coupling. Nothing vanilla about that romp.
 

MARIDO

Anita, thank you so much for the detailed recap, I didn't have the time to watch the show this morning before going to work, so THANK YOU for keeping me so up to date.
Thanks God that we're going back to one hour!
For Wednesdays recaps, I think we can swing it one way or anther, if nobody offers full time. We already have you for two days in December :)

I agree with all of you about Gris&Rei = Vanilla..
I'm starting to have doubts about the longevity of this couple. This is a tn and they are the protas, but the original is from Brazil and back there they like to play around with endings... so who knows what might happen.

I see a few issues with the couple already - Gris is a one woman show, she had to learn the hard way that she can only count on her and even if Rei can/ wants to be a partner, she might not be able to accept his help the way he'd like.
The big investor secret is sure to cause a huge problem for them down the line, also.
And, on this episode it dawned on me that Rei practically jumped from one relationship to the other with no space in between. That is never a good thing.
I haven't yet seen the episode, but when Anita was writing about the talk between Gris and Rei (he has to go shopping before going to work), it screamed deja-vu for me.
And, as I said before, aside from all the mega crazy antics, TC and Gris are not that different and the fact that Gris is always taking the bait when it comes to TC, doesn't sound too good.
Actually, I could even go as far as to say that Gris isn't so likable anymore (to me, at least) since she has her money. Going behind Rei's back, stooping to TC's level every chance she gets, the simple fact that she bought her house just to spite her enemy... this spells trouble and I'm not sure Rei won't balk when he sees that indeed, grass in not greener... at the next door neighbor's house.

JP is a jerk, the actor who plays him is a dream.
I'd lobe to see JP and Esther (the actors, I mean) in another tn together, playing a couple - I think they have the best, most realistic chemistry in the tn.

Pati is sooo going back to Tony, the question is when and will Tony have any kind of moral revelation before that happens?

K, rant over!
I'm so busy these day, I rarely have the time to comment too much, so when I do, I'm all in :))
 

MARIDO

Oh, and the most important part: Deb and everyone else who added info about yesterday's show, thank you for the help.

Novelera, when I don't have the time to take notes, before I write the recap I put down the names of all the characters - it's easier to remember things like this. I write a first draft in Word, anyway, easier to keep track.
Spreading yourself thin when it comes to recapping teaches you a few tricks :)
Now if I could only learn the biggest trick of them all: recap Corazon Indomable without actually watching it!!! Any suggestions out there? :)
 

Marido

wow Anita!


so Elio hints that Griselda is the anonymous backer to Barinsky, but doesn't he already know that she was the backer in buying the restaurant, hmm,

and didn't TC mention to Gris, Barinsky as the owner of Rie Gourmet?

I'm not sure but wasn't that some kind of truth drug that Elio used,
that was SO strange that they were drinking from the same glass.

I'm thinking Barinsky, if he ever comes around, will know who stole the knives, but since HE stole them, he won't be able to say anything.

so cool, Amalia's making love in an open field of flowers, a dream come true.

I thought Fred was going to chop off a finger when he was thinking of working for TC.

so Barbie had a real letter from her aunt, hmm, I'm thinking she should have had two tickets, one for kiki, but I guess she is flying to NJ, then train to NYC to sell the knives, then back, to be the third rich lady in town, poor aunt,

Carol?
(and Paloma's radar seems to be jammed while she is worrying about TC)

(Adriana, good morning, it was Fred the chef working for Reinaldo, that "took the bait" he may switch to TC's new restaurant, across the street from Reinaldo's, her plan first is to disrupt his employees)


 

MARIDO

Deb, I got the Fred part, when I was talking about Gris taking the bait, I was mainly referring to the fact that whenever TC pulls one of her stunts, Gris is right there with her, paying it back.
I know it's funnier like this but taking the loral high ground is not exactly a bad idea when it comes to someone as disturbed as TC.
 

La reina del sur

According to People en espanol, starts 11/11, 9PM E
 

MARIDO

I'm becoming increasingly disenchanted with the character of Griselda. (Actually, "desencanto" in Spanish or Portuguese is a technical term from my line of work. God, I love my job.) Seriously so. She's just too cartoonish for my taste, whether it's being the perfect working-class put-upon mother to pulling childish pranks like buying the mansion across the street from her enemy to destroying a dinner table to spraying someone with water.

About that last one, honestly, Griselda, do you have any sense of proportion? Teresa Cristina is standing there, cackling over the fact that your daughter nearly died a horrible death in a suspicious fire, and you've been warned that she's "dangerous crazy" so unless you're a complete idiot you've got to be thinking that she had something to do with it. And what do you do? Spoil her hairdo and dress by spraying her with a garden hose. Right. That'll show her. "Gosh, I'd better not try to kill my neighbor's family again. She might throw water on me." Unless your enemy is the Wicked Witch of the West, not too effective.

I haven't read the recap beyond the first couple of sentences or watched last night's episode yet, but the more appropriate reaction would be to immediately look into hiring private detectives or putting moneyed pressure on the police (hoping that Miami police detectives are better equipped than the Miami fire department and that they exist unlike the invisible EMTs and their invisible ambulances) to look into TC's possible connections with the arson.

But back to Griselda, and her lack of depth. When I see her with Jose I keep wanting to see a flash of weakness of her part, some sign of what attracted her to him. A flashback would be really nice here, and you know Sonya Smith could play twenty- or twenty-five years younger at the drop of a hat and the teentsiest blurring of the screen. We could see some vulnerability, the young girl pregnant and married too soon. Or we could see just some real weakness in the present--perhaps when Jose first came back, perhaps in a scene where he reminds her about the past. But no, instead her present relationship with him has to be played on such a broad comic level it would fit into a five-panel strip in my morning newspaper just below Dagwood and Blondie's antics. She might tease him or Antonio that she's giving in on this or that, but there's never a moment of doubt in her head--we never see her thinking.
 

SANTA DIABLA, Míércoles, Part 1

Santa has gone just outside her house to speak to Santiago. After swearing nothing happened with Bert, she professes her love for Santi, and they kiss. Willy is hiding in the bushes, sees this, and is NOT happy. Santa wants to know if Santi also loves her, and is willing to leave Inés now. They could have a perfect life together. Santi pauses the requisite length of time before telling her Inés has issues at this point, so....see ya!

Iván does not snatch back his black book from Hortensia. Maybe he’s written it in a way which doesn’t identify the subject. What ends up happening is that Horti reads it, thinks it’s great writing, and tells Lisette, I’m going to get your son’s work published, and he’ll be a famous author! (beanie tightening, anyone?)

Lázaro visits Elisa’s house, she says Mara isn’t there. She tells him they both know something was going on between the two of them, but she’s Mara’s mother, and sorry, she can’t be the shoulder he wants to cry on because, because.....he swoops in to kiss her! She pulls away at the last minute, he says it was just going to be a kiss on the cheek (yeah, right), she says we really can’t meet anymore. I’m thinking Lázaro is a nut!

Which is fine, since Arturo and Mara are back. Yes, after he showed up at her café, she then showed up at the posada, and they’re upstairs, and they’re taking off their clothes, and they’re making love, and it’s better than ever! I’m not sure how he can do this but needs crutches for walking, but we’ll let it go. Love blooms again. Unfortunately Vicky comes home, and almost catches them, but Mara tiptoes out, barefoot, holding her heels, smiling. On the way out, she bumps into Ulises, but when he comes into the kitchen, Art winks a few times to get Ulises’ complicit silence.

Vicky’s world had been rocked when she saw Pat in the bordello with the babes. She wanders to the bookstore, where she meets Iván. She’s not sure what to expect, but he’s hardened now. He tells her that in prison, he refused all visitors for six months except he told the guards to admit her. But she never came. And then, he gets out, and she’s in her wedding dress? And then she says I do? You have every reason to hate me, she says, tears streaming down. Oh, I don’t hate you. I could never hate you. But I’m starting a new life. She staggers out, and when she gets home, that’s when she almost caught Art. As usual, Ulises senses her distress. As usual, she doesn’t talk about it.

Vicente tells Inés that she’s to be taken to some clinic until she has the baby. Then they’ll give it up for adoption. She’ll tell everyone she lost the baby. No way will she have a baby of Willy Delgado! Santi arrives, wants answers. Vicente won’t supply them. But Inés blurts out, why don’t you tell him about the guy you locked in the basement for two years, Daddy? She may have told him even more, I can’t remember. Vicente continues to act as if Inés is making things up. But Santi isn’t so sure.
 

SANTA DIABLA, Part 2

Neither is Pancho, who confronts his father about Santa’s accusations that he knew about Bert’s putting Willy in jail, having him killed. Vic gets indignant. How dare you accuse me! You’re not my son anymore. He leaves Pancho sputtering, mumbling that he’s just trying to get the truth. Pancho had also told Santa that although the cellphone recording shows Bárbara trying to seduce Willy, and Willy rebuffing her, that doesn’t prove that he didn’t abuse Daniela, because abusers often go after young defenseless girls, and rebuff others. Santa accuses Pancho of being a traitor, a Cano lover, too. What’s an honest cop to do?

He goes to the jail and asks about “Pedro”, the guy Lucy and Tránsito were talking about. Lucy says there was no guy who was shot, Tránsito just made it all up! Tránsito thinks a bit, and then agrees. Sorry, she’s right, I did make it all up. The two of them are still in the cell, and after Lucy scolds her for almost revealing too much, Tránsito says sadly you have Pancho. No I don’t, says Lucy, he didn’t even care that I might have had a boyfriend. Yes, but he cares about you, replies Tránsito, full of emotion. No one cares about me. No one misses me.

Paula tells George that Bárbara threatened her, that she could have an accident, could lose her baby. Are you going to just stand around and let her say that? Do something! So George goes downstairs, confronts Barb and Sebastian, and tells Sebastian to lay off Bárbara. Upstairs, Paula can only roll her eyes. George continues, telling Sebastian “You don’t know who you’re dealing with, bud.” (Hah!) He wants Sebastian out. But Barb (looking very hot with her hair pulled back, eyes gleaming, beautiful dress) laughs at “Jorge”, and she and Sebastian stroll out. Paula confronts George. You were supposed to protect me from Bárbara, but I can see all you were was jealous! Can you look me in the eyes and tell me you have no more feelings for her? He can’t, and he walks out stiffly. She’s distraught.

Bárb’s riding a high. Back at Sebastian’s place, she sees the portrait of Gloria, asks him about it, he says it’s “nobody”. He goes to do some business. Barb accidentally knocks a blanket off a trunk, sitting in the bedroom. She opens the trunk, and it’s filled with semi-automatic weapons!!!!!

Dani asks Francesca to let Iván live at their mansion. As if that’ll work.

Bert takes a bouquet of flowers to Santa, telling her he can’t help it, he loves her. Earlier, Santi had confronted him in the law office, asked for his version of what happened at Santa’s house last night. His version? He loves Santa, and will fight for her love. Back at Santa’s she won’t hear of it, she could never love him. Even after he tells her that two pieces of paper which bound them together are both null and void. He tore up the prenup. And the marriage contract? Void, too, since it wasn’t a real wedding, he hired an actor to do the nuptials! So they should just start from zero. Hi. My name is Humberto. Pleased to meet you!

Santa asks willy, why did you run off for hours? Who did you go with? The kid pauses, then says, my father! She doesn’t believe it, but that night, she does dream that he’s back. And we know Begoña suspects something from her talks with Padre Milton. So what’s up with Willy? As Vicente is getting into his car, Willy pops up. I’m back. And you’re going to PAY!!!!!
 

MARIDO

deb--you said...and didn't TC mention to Gris, Barinsky as the owner of Rie Gourmet?

She may have used his name and I didn't catch it, but TC certainly knows Barinsky is the one that handed her the check when she sold it to him. It had to have been his name on the check (or a certified bank check), but he handed it to her.

TC may have doubts as to whether Barinsky was really interested in buying the restaurant and was probing a little. It probably seemed too convenient to TC that all of a sudden a buyer is found who rehires Rei as chef and everything is like it was before. She's probably that type of operator herself, so it's a no-brainer to muse out loud that a new owner, supposedly so interested in "restoring" the restaurant, wouldn't even show up to its grand re-opening. She wasn't surprised to see Gris at the funtion, but aside from herself, Gris was the only millionaire there. Certainly not Rei, whom she left penniless.

I'm giving TC too much credit for thinking. She's very impulsive and talks and acts before she thinks, but ni modo, we'll find out soon enough.

Barinsky may not know who the "secret" investor is because he was dealing with Gigante as the intermediary.

Elio has no clue Gris had anything to do with buying the restaurant. He was just playing loose with Griselda's name, trying to make it look like he had a client with endless amounts of money. Barinsky, of course recognized the name, probably from the media after she won the lottery. I would't read too much into that little exchange. At least not any more than I've spent writing this comment!
 

SANTA-
Super recap, Hombre, como siempre!

Almost any of the last few days on the novela could be titled, "Vicente and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," with apologies to Judith Viorst. And I'm ok with that. Did Vicente really think that he could "disappear" Ines without her husband and brother asking questions & making a fuss? And then, Vicente is confronted by Willy!

Beanie tightening is definitely in order to accept Ivan's almost certain upcoming literary success for an unedited, handwritten novel. For one thing, it will be a very short book when it is printed if all he has written is in that one notebook. But whatever, it would be nice to see something go right for poor Ivan.

It was also nice to see Arturo and Mara get back together. I'm not sure I understand why it has to be such a secret even if he is married to Lisette.
 

SANTA -- miércoles

Thanks for another terrific recap, Hombre.

And yes, Jean, things are certainly not going Vicente's way these days.

The two documents that Santa signed as "Amanda Brown" -- I think Humberto was reassuring Santa that she couldn't be criminally charged for using a false identity. (The prenup is no longer in existence and the marriage contract had no validity to begin with.)

About willy and his elective mutism: The kid may not say much but he sure knows how to stir up the pot (and the plot) when he opens his mouth.
 

Marido,

I agree with Rei and Gris being very vanilla. I thought so since the first night they slept together. I thought maybe it was because it was her first time after so many years. But they continue to look like an old couple about to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, passion stage long gone. Hard to believe they're a new couple.I also loved Arriaga and Victorian in Amores Verdadero. They were an older couple with a lot of passion, sometimes gentle and sometimes wild. Great couple!

Josie
 

MARIDO:

Great recap Anita! ITA with all that you said about the Elio-Barinsky-Gris-TC connections. Barinsky does not know Gris was the one he bought the restaurant for.

Utah Desert- LOL about the invisible EMTs and their invisible ambulances.

ITA with you all about how vanilla they are directing the love scenes between Rei and Gris. We know both these actors can bring more to bedroom scenes, so I wonder why the director has chosen to do this. Actually, I feel that this director seems to only have two ideas for sex—slow, vanilla, uber romantic (Rei-Gris, Tony-Pati, Rafa-Amalia), or animalistic and wild (TC-Jose, Quique-Clara, Elio-Alba). I feel like JP-Ester and Paloma-Ivan have been the only “in love” couples who have brought real heat to their love scenes, and we were shown very little of them.

Speaking of Paloma-Ivan, it looks like the writers are all set to implode their relationship like they did with JP-Ester. Thanks, Writers!

 

Santa,

great recap Hombre!

"My name is Humberto. Pleased to meet you!"
wow, the audacity of this guy, Santa discovering that Humberto knew who she was all along really kicked the chair out from under her clever scheme, and now hearing the details, like the judge at their wedding being an actor, is driving home how he played her all along, this was really hitting deep.

and now Willy, seeing his reflection in the window on a dark-and-stormy-night, and turning around and seeing him for real, wow, WOKE her right up, but where was her mom, and why was the door opened and the plant on the floor, as the lightening was flashing and crashing.

I thought she would remember when he called her.

I agree on Vicente, this guy's life couldn't get any worse, and yet it does, he has been lying through his teeth, and when he gets caught red handed, he lies through his teeth some more, and he pretty much shut up Pancho for now by acting insulted.

Lucy and Transito sure make a pair. I think Lucy reminding her that Pancho would be going to the Trebol de Oro to investigate the guy with the bullet wound, got her to change her story, and there was NO one that came to help her in her jail cell.

George is working pretty hard to get on Franco's hit list.

I'm not seeing Hortensia doing anything good for anyone, will she really help Ivan, she does seem to love her books, something we haven't seen before.


 

MARIDO

Thanks so much for your fine and very detailed recap, Anita.

I've done a complete turnabout regarding Gabe now that he isn't following Gris around and whining. He's adorable caring for Victoria. Please, please, writers! Don't have Juan Pablo reform and Gabe lose out.

It's nice to see that Iris DOES care about her daughter, Paloma.

I don't really feel the same about Griselda and Reinaldo's love scenes. They have a deep and soulful love as well as a teasing, joking friendship. If we don't see wildly suggestive bedroom scenes, I'm fine with that.

TC's plan to upstage Rei Gourmet took me by surprise. They did set the framework for this a while back by showing Fred as very ambitious while Gourmet Palmer was still up and running. Even if Fred jumps ship, I doubt the rest of Rei's terrific staff would follow him. And I don't think Fred has the same terrific management style and employee motivation abilities as Reinaldo Ibarra.

I do feel that Griselda is making a mistake taunting TC. But, isn't that what brave female protagonists always do? Speak up and put themselves in the soup for plot development.
 

MARIDO:

Novelera- I’m not really bugged by the tame Gris-Rei love scenes. Like I said, it’s par for the course in this tn. Plus, I like the easy-going vibe between the two of them. Things are simple and uncomplicated and they click with each other. This is how it’s supposed to be.

I think Rei and Gris are headed for troubles in their relationship because: 1) Gris is lying to him about the restaurant; 2) she can’t show vulnerability and let him support/help her; and 3) Rei has unresolved baggage from his marriage to TC, including issues around the woman holding the purse strings.

I also love Gabe with the baby. But every time I watch a scene with him and the baby I think, well at least he’s the godfather of the baby, and no one can take that away from him. Because he will eventually lose Ester to JP—who is being beyond immature right now.

 

Hombre de Misterio, Thanks for the very fine recap and the effort it requires...
Santa's character was on my last nerve last night with willy.... She got hysterical, guilt tripped him about her almost heart-attack, then told him it was cruel to say what he did about being with his dad. How old is this kid? Give me a break!! Besides, she has contributed to this kid's trauma as she asked him to go along with a fake marriage, a fake father, a looney grandma etc.... The Santa character is more neurotic and self-centered than noble and maternal as of late. I do hope she gets over herself because I want to like her as the protag!

Vicente is a pretty cool cucumber considering the number of people that suspect him of serious ethical and legal acts.

I still hope that Ivan really is embraced by Horrible Horti for his well-being and a smidgeon of redemption for her (we can only hope in her case!).
 

SANTA

Not sure Hortensia can get full redemption since she's the one who caused the accident with Arturo. but it's interesting seeing something in her other than racism and overbearing motherhood. But I hope they check with Ivan before sending that book out. he may be less than excited about being published.

I wish I had some of Humberto's confidence. But what's with Willy getting angry at Santa for kissing someone when he's supposed to have been dead for the last couple years? You don't get to get mad buddy, especially after making the moves on Lucy as soon as you got free!

Kelly
 

MARIDO

I don't mind that Gris and Rei are a little laid back about the relationship. hasn't it been 6 months or so since the break up of Rei's marriage? Can we assume that the first few months were crazy passionate, and now they've settled into a nice routine?

Recap will be up in the am, west coast time. I don't think I can stay up tonight.

Kelly
 

SANTA DIABLA... Thursday (epi 65)
part 1

*Paula's old house
Pancho tries to explain that he needs proof,
Santa says if I'm making this up then arrest me,
and jumps on him for his policework,
Pancho puts his head down and walks away,
Santa is more and more frustrated, that no one is doing anything.

*casa Vicente
Willy confronts Vicente, as he is about to drive away,
Vicente pleads his case, it's Hunberto you want,
Willy says he already has a surprise planned for Humberto,
but I saved your life,
money, you want money,
you are going to suffer like I did, Willy says, give me the keys,
but Elisa barges in, Willy takes off,
Vicente explains, the guy wanted to steal my car.

later Elisa explains, in round about fashion, she wants his help to...
(is she trying to get some distance from Lazaro?)
no way, Vicente says, and marches off,

*casa Franco
I think it's the next day, Barbara is dressed in one of Franco's shirts,
he is getting ready for work,
after opening the box of guns, Barbara is putting the pieces together,
he comes back, asks for a kiss, she is shaking, he catches on that she saw the guns,
as she tries to explain,
did he say, women shouldn't talk, they should be like dolls,
and when she doesn't say anything, he says, that's my girl.

*casa Cano
Daniela pleads with Francisca to have Ivan stay there,
somehow her stern look finally cracks into a smile,
and says she'll look into it.

Humberto has Paula in the home office,
he wants her to help him get Santa to love him,
no, she hates you,
Humberto lists all of the illegal things she did at G-Cano,
misrepresenting herself, stealing documents, copying phone calls, etc....
do you want your baby born in prison?
as he walks closer, putting his hand on her shoulder,
George walks in,
is something going on, he asks,
Humberto moves back to his desk, Paula says no, nothing!
as Paula follows George out, he motions her back,
so George doesn't know you are Willy's brother / Santa's sister-in-law,
ahha, he smiles, Paula doesn't,

*police HQ
Pancho returns, Santiago is waiting to see him, now what?
Santiago goes into the tall tale of the cabana, and chains where someone was kept,
Ines confirmed it too, let me show you, he says,
Pancho plays with the pics of Santiago that Humberto gave him,
you always tell the truth, right?, Pancho asks, as Santiago goes quiet,
do you own a gun?
no,
I don't believe in solving things with violence, Santiago says,

they get up and leave,

*casa Victoria,
Patricio forces a morning kiss, Victoria cringes, squirms,
she asks about his work (remembering seeing him at Trebol de Oro, kissing two girls,
he wants his breakfast,

*casa Hortensia
Hortensia talks up Ivan's book, Lisette is thrilled,
but Hortensia makes it clear, this is between Ivan and me,
Lisette gets a call from Humberto,

*Paula's old house
the Padre has come to see Santa,
he suggests she have Willy dug up and have a look.
Santa freaks, Begona doesn't know what to think,
Santa says, her memories of Willy are all she has,


 

SANTA DIABLA... Thursday (epi 65)
part 2

*G-Cano
Lisette arrives, and sees Humberto is the only one there, (everyone else quit)
bing! she realizes what he wants, sex, and after not calling her for 6 months,
he takes her into his office,
pushes her back on his desk, but she breaks away,
he offers her money,
she leaves, Franco arrives,
he is from Guatemala, no he doesn't know Santiago,
Franco shows Humberto a case of money,
he's looking for an established business to invest in (money laundering?)
they talk business, (no need to have there deal in writing).

*casa Cano
George and Paula have moved to the living room,
Paula is concerned that he still loves his wife, and George's silent answers aren't helping,
Barbara walks in, visibly shaken from her Franco revelations,
she goes to George, for a hug,
Paula heads up stairs and starts packing,

*police HQ
Lucy and Transito are set free,
they have bonded and return to Trebol de Oro to check on Wil... er Pedro,
he is on the bed reading, he wants food, their eyes twinkle,

*casa Vicente
Pancho and Santiago arrive to pick up Ines,
Pancho insists that she come with them to the cabana,

*Paula's old house
Santa leaves, doesn't say where to,
but runs into Vicente at the gate,
he rips on her for what she told Pancho about him,
she jumps on his case,
he grabs her,
the Padre comes out, is there a problem?
Vicente leaves,
Santa decides to dig up Willy,

*casa Hortensia
Hortensia is making arrangements to get someone to read Ivan's book,
(hmm, maybe Ivan wrote this story?)
Arturo hobbles in, and hobbles out with the baby in a carriage,
for a walk, (he knows his rights)
Hortensia follows, leaving Petra in charge,

*the cabana
Santiago shows Pancho the hidden door,
Ines is being the nice little girl she is, "I want to go",
and in the basement, (wow, everything is like they left it)
this is shaking Pancho's world,
he asks Ines, did papa chain someone up here, or are you an accomplice,
Ines says, it's true,
who was it, he asks, I don't know, she answers,
Santiago edges her on, it was the guy that got you pregnant,
no,no,no she tells Pancho, you are the police, you investigate,
just then Pancho's phone rings, it's Cifuentes
they have located the store in the pic where Santiago shot the pandillero (gang member)

*casa Cano
Barbara is dressed super nice, hair in a tight bun, she answers the door,
it's two goons but only Franco walks in,
he wants her to move in with him,
where he will treat her like a queen, if she lets him,
Barbara looks very nervous, but doesn't say anything,

*Trebol de Oro
no one is around, Willy pours himself a drink at the bar,
(and what would Patricio think about all of this)
in walks Humberto, (is this because Lisette cut him off), he looks around,
Willy ducks around the corner, watches, "Humberto Cano" he says to himself.


 

SANTA-

I love your blank verse recaps, Deb.

I guess that Bert needs to have sex and if Santa is gone (and she wouldn't let him touch her anyway) and Lisette won't oblige, high-class Bert is will settle for a low-class hooker at the Trebol del Oro.

I think that Elisa wanted to have Lazaro see her with Vicente to cool off his intentions. However, she told Lazaro how Vicente dissed her in public and how she threw water on him so Lazaro would be very surprised to see them together. Elisa picked a bad day to ask a favor of Vicente.

Who thinks that Arturo is planning to meet up with Mara so that she can hold the baby, etc.? Horti won't like that!

You might feel sorry for Babs if she didn't shack up with anything in pants.

Francesca seems to have forgotten that she shouldn't ask Bert about Ivan living in the Cano house - she should ask George.

Should Pancho be investigating cases involving his father, sister and brother in law?








 

SANTA:

Loved your recap, Deb, tons of fun as usual, perfect for our wacky show.

Jean, great comments, you took the words right out of my mouth.

I still think Santiago should tell the truth to Pancho, but I guess if you're the strong, silent type, you have to be silent.

Barb sure goes from high, to low, to high to low a lot.

Paula has really messed up her life. She's got so much going against her, she might not survive this novela (I have no clue how, of course).

In contrast, Bert seems to have a new energy. Even though Lisette rebuffed him (and since she was dressed very sexy, that must have been disappointing), he seems to be getting his mojo back, with plans for Santa, against Santiago, using Paula, and now this new guy (who could be Bert's downfall AGAIN).

I also was surprised that nothing had been touched at the cabana. Typically, they'd arrive there, it would be spotless, and Pancho would think Santi made it all up, or was nuts. But Vicente must not have read the telenovela 101 villains script.

Lucy and Transito are a great pair. If there's any way they can solve this whole mess and save the day, I'm all for it.
 

SANTA -- jueves

Thank you, deb. Your recaps deserve to be read aloud!

Jean
You might feel sorry for Babs if she didn't shack up with anything in pants.

…and if she weren't quite so vicious!
 

MARIDO, Thursday, part 1
Rei talks to Fed because the kid wants to leave early. For what, we wonder?

Ro sucks up to TC in the usual way to find out who she was talking to on the phone. She lets him be nosy and tells him it was MARCELA! No puede ser! Ro asks if she can hear the dead. Yes, and she heard her and attends their requests. She asked that this nosy pajarraca (big ugly bird) to enjoy hell by her side! Because telling Ro to just butt out would be too easy.

Gris comes down the stairs in her overalls- La Original- to work with the maridas on her house and teach them all kinds of new stuff. Kike thought she’d just be there to supervise, but no senor. She’s the same hard worker as ever. It’s in in her soul, in her blood.

Amalia gives a deliver to the delivery guy and tells him to hurry because because she’s starving and they’ll go out to lunch when he gets back, and then Rafa walks in with food. He’s turned in to quite the good boyfriend. Then they kiss in the store, which would be a little awkward if a customer wanted to walk in.

Kike gets to the shop and Gigante asks after Gris, and he tells her she’s at the hosue working. Even now while her money is safe in the back and “teniendo mas hijos que un conejo”. Yeah for ompound interest. They laugh and Barb shows up laughing too, and the mood is killed. She wants to talk to Kike in private. Gigante warns him to be careful of her; she’s a serpent born in human form. The Vibora is slithering around Kike asking to change her days with Kikito so she can go on this trip to “fix a little family problem”. Kike needs to start carrying pepper spray. Or bear spray for this. But he’s able to get her out of the office.

The fire was more smoke than fire and didn’t cause much damage, but since Gris already know who did this, she is determined to find proof. The comadre (whose name I am totally blanking on) fixes lunch and the maridas get about a minute to eat something before they’re sent back to work.
TC calls Paty to check on her relationship with Simon. Paty can’t believe it. She tells her it’s just fine and she’ll call mom back later. Tony overhears this and asks about it. She accuses him of becoming a stalker and he tries to convince her that he loves her. She asks what he wants. He wants to be the best plastic surgeon and then marry her. And then Simon enters, He’s on his lunch break and wanted to spend it with Paty. She tells him he arrived at just the right time.

Esther coos over her princesa, Victoria.

At Fina Estampa, Marcia asks about the next seasons design. But not to worry, Marcia. Jp tells her that Vanessa will be finished with her design class and can do it. Everyone who studied design is bummed to learn that they really only needed one class to become a designer. But Marcia knows better. She pushed to have JP hire Esther even though it’ll be hard for him. She suggests paying her for what she did to save their butts for the show and to design the next one. She already has the check ready for JP to sign.

 

MARIDO, Thursday, part 2
Vanessa chats with a woman at Rei Gourmet and aks about what happened with TC. Pobre Reinaldo. But the chef assures Vanessa that he’s happy as can be with Gris, and then asks how things are at Fina Estampa. Vanessa lies and says, “Muy bien”. The chef asks if everything is ok with the job, because she’ll always be welcome back since they need a hostess and she was so good at that job.

Beatriz visits Esther and the baby. Beatriz holds the kid and sees a birth mark that gets her all flustered. No puede ser. It’s the same shape and on the same leg as Guillermo, and she knows that Guillermo donated at Alba’s. But she’s sure it’s just a coincidence. Right.

The maridas finish up at the mansion and are about to head out. Deb asks if she can take a shower before she goes, she brought clothes to change into, and another marida calls her caradura (translated as shameless, or cheeky if you’re a Brit) for even asking. But Gris says fine, you can use the one in Kike’s room. You already know the way. Rafa bring Amalia home and is invited to stay for dinner. If he’s not part of the family now, he soon will be. Kike comes back in a bad mood and Gris knows why. It begins with “Barba” and ends in “Ra”. Gris wants to know the end game of Barbara. She never went to New Jersey to visit anyone while they were married. Gris is very worried about Kike, but then Deb comes down to help him forget the Vibora.

Fred comes to see TC and give her his resume. But no need. She’s already chosen the new chef for the new Gourmet Palmer. He’s bummed and thanks her, but asks who it is. It’s him! Now he’s happy. But there’s always a catch with TC. He needs to put Rei’s place out of business. They talk.

Barb checks in with the lawyer to make sure the trip won’t hurt her case. She’s only going to be gone for a day, and she’ll make sure Kikito knows that she’s not going to abandon him again. Then she goes back to the old house and gives Elio a hard time about how good he looks for his vieja. No, he says, madura sounds better. He tells her that Jose is going to stay in the hotel for a few more days, and Barb looks concerned.

Jose is meeting with another antiques dealer about the knife. It pure Chinese jade from the dynasty Pin Sin, Tin Chin, Pon San Ton, whatever. Chinese. Jose presents the knife. She looks at it and then hands over two stack of cash for it. If you want to rob someone, rob an antiques dealer. Apparently they all walk around with cash.

Kike and Kikito check in on Tony to tell him dinner is ready. He’s not hungry. Kikite asks if he wants chocolate? No. Caramel? No. Palomitos? Nooooo. “Que estres”, says Kikito. And Tony chuckles as they leave. Gris goes up to his room, knowing that he can only be worried about three things. School, but that can’t be it since he has good grades. Or the car, but this face looks like a Paty problem. Gris asks if this is really love he has for her, or if he just feels this out of pride. But he knows it’s love. So then sacrifice her, says Gris. She’s made her choice and if he lets her go, it’ll be better for both of them. He goes down to eat, and it’s big happy family. Gris is thinking about how much life has changed and yet they are all still there together (but with a couple additions- Rafa and Deb).

 

MARIDO, Thursday part 3
TC has finished telling Fred what he has to do to get the job. He’s not sure he can do this to Rei. It would be cowardice, but TC syas he can keep being in second place if he wants. His ambition is stronger than his honor so he takes the job.

Gris retires for the night, Amalia and Rafa offer to take Kikito up to help him with is homework, and Tony sits with Kike and Deb and asks “what’s up”. They give him a look and he laughs. Fine, he gets it, he’ll leave them alone.

Rafa talks to Amalia about how he’s going to look for a job the next day. It’ll be hard given his situation, but he wants to do it. Amalia offers him a job in her store but he doesn’t think that’s a good idea. He’d rather be her novio, and then her husband when everything is worked out.

Gabe and Esther talk about the mystery birthmark. She chose someone anonymous and Gabe tells her to relax. Even if she chose Alba’s brother, she is still the mother of Victoria. JP shows up at the door to talk to Esther. Gabe takes the kid out of the room because babies are sensitive and know when they aren’t loved. JP giver her the check for the last collection. She considered it a gift for Victoria, but he tells her that the check had nothing to do with the baby. She wants to know why he hates the baby so much. Celos. He’s jealous of the baby since the criatura took her from him. They don’t get anywhere about the personal stuff so he asks if she wants to return as an designer and tells her to think about it. After they talk, Gabe talks with Esther. He knows the situation with JP isn’t resolved and he leaves her for the night to think. He’ll come back tomorrow.

Alba makes a booty call to Elio who is standing right outside her door. She looks a little guilty about getting it on with him, but not enough to stop.

Ivan is with Paloma at his place for dinner, and he gets a call from Carol. Everyone is having lasagna tonight. First at Gris’s and now these two. Maybe they got a deal at Costco? Carol says she’s coming over and then hangs up. Ivan looks concerned. He explains it all to Paloma off screen and she’s all upset that Carol is coming over to his house. Are they still married or something? If she’s his ex, then what’s the problem? Ivan doesn’t owe her anything so just don’t open the door. But Paloma leaves in a huff, not wanting to interrupt their happy reunion.

At the restaurant Fred shows up again. Rei and Simon blame his weird mood on his “family" problems.

Gris remembers telling Gigante about talking to TC, and worries what will happen if she finds out. Nothing escapes her, notes Gigante. TC remembers the same conversation, and the light goes off. It’s her! TC hires a private detective to get proof of this.

Jose shows up at TCs and they do their flirting thing. He gives her a “nalgada” according to the captions. A smack on the butt. Spanish has a single word for this. He heads upstairs with his pants around his ankles and she is both repelled and turned on.

 

MARIDO, Thursday part 4
Ivan tries to call Paloma but she deosn’t answer. Ines comes in to find out what happened. Paloma tells her she knew something was wrong when she couldn’t find a dress. But she cries that the Ivan’s ex (EX) is back and Ines is shocked. And upset that they don’t get the meal ticket they thought they’d have in Ivan. I still don’t get it. EX!

Carol is back and wants to rest and talk to Ivan in the morning. But he’s not having that. She shows up after so many years and he wants to know why. She’s dying and doesn’t have anyone else in the world. This still shouldn’t be Ivan’s problem.

Rei and the team at the end of the night talking about the successful reopening. He has some stuff to do before the end of the night, but Fred offers to do it since he was gone during the day. Rei says ok, and Fred repays this trust by bringing a box into the back room. He’s carrying it very carefully. He puts it down, opens it, and steps back while four rats scotch out. Blech.

“La Misma Luna” with Kate del Castillo is showing this Saturday evening on telemundo, if anyone is interested. It was pretty good.

Gris invites Rei to live with her. Everyone comes down for breakfast, Rafa and Amalia, Kike and Deb, Tony and his ego, and Gris and Rei. Big happy sinful family. Rei offers to make panqueques voladores for everyone. Barb comes over to get Kike and starts sliming Kike when Deb comes in to let her know that Kikito is finishing his pancakes. The boy runs out to meet Barb and she takes him to school.

TC gets a call in the morning from Fred who tells her about the rats. She heads in to the bathroom while Paty comes up the stairs to try a reunion with her mother. She says “madre” to the lump on the bed and Jose shows his face, scaring her and she falls, hits her head and is out cold. Ro go across the street to get Rei. He, Gris and Tony (because he’s practically a doctor) goes over to help her out, and Kike is pretty sure this won’t end well.

Jose runs down the stairs, again with his pants at his ankles, and into the kitchen to head out the back door. He gets in Elsa’s face to tell her that this is just an illusion, a GRAN illusion (as he gestures to his groin). Elsa and Manuel lose their appetites as Jose goes out the back door.

Everyone else gets Paty in a bed and Tony attends to her. They want to know what happened and Ro lies that she suffered a fright, but not a word about Jose. But Gris knows better, even as TC tries to quiet her when she starts to mention him. Tony tells her she’ll be ok, kisses her head, and takes advantage of her inability to leave. The so-called grownups goes downstairs and Rei demands to know what happened to scare Paty.

Jose is at Tacos Bar having some juice. Why are they STILL serving him anything? He watches Diosa leave, and thanks the Mexicano for the juice before leaving without paying. And then pokes his head back in to ask that it be sweeter next time. Esther calls Gabe and wants to talk to him. She’s made a decision but wants to talk to Gabe before JP.

 

MARIDO, Thursday part 5
Vanessa asks what will happen if Esther comes back to Fina Estampa. She’s referring to their personal relationship, but Marcia doesn’t want to get involved in that. Antenna fuzz.

We’re back at TC’s where she’s trying to kick out Rei and Gris, unsuccessfully. Paty tells Tony about her mother and his father. They’re amantes. Downstairs TC is still trying to kick out Rei. Gris points out that she and TC’s ex are together, while TC and Gris’s ex are together. They are about to leave but TC won’t let them have the last word. Tony and Paty are upstairs still stunned about the switch. Paty is also mad that her mother made her life impossible about finding a boyfriend from a good family, and look who she’s with! The subjeto that even Tony doesn’t respect (which must be why Tony doesn’t point out that that’s his father she’s talking about). I’m not sure if Tony really feels shocked by this or if he’s just mirroring Paty’s feelings. I still don’t trust him.

TC is being rude, and Gris tells her that just because she’s the girlfriend of a fisherman doesn’t mean she has to behave like a caulquiera. TC flips, calls her a machorra, naca, sabadija (dyke, peasant, ?) and they yell at each other. Rei breaks it up, but Paty and Tony are sick of them all and how they aren’t considering how their actions affect everyone else. They leave. Meanwhile in the kitchen, Elsa, Ines, Ro, Marco and Manuel (lined up in that order one behind the other) are listening through the door. Ines and Marco step out of line putting Manuel behind Ro, who makes some crack about this and says “Viva Mexico”.

Rei and Gris are back at her house and they decide to give Paty and Tony some time, and talk about how their relationship is different that the one between Jose and TC. I hope Gris tells him about the restaurant soon because this isn’t boding well.

At the restaurant, Fred is still acting weird. Simon finds out about what happened with Paty. Tony is escorting her to her room, saying he feels the same about this, but she tells him all this makes anything between them impossible. He tries to convince her that they loved each other before their parents all switched things up, and he goes in for a kiss. But no. She says she’s fine but wants him to leave. She needs to talk to someone a little more distant from the situation. He gets snippy and leaves her, and runs into Simon on the stairs, telling Simon that he left her in her room.

Ines goes to see TC about getting more money to keep quiet about the marino that everyone already knows about. Everyone except the society pages that is. TC pays up.

And we end with TC calling the health department to report an infestation.

Sorry this is a little late today- Kelly

 

Marido

thanks Kelly, great recap!
you guys are absolutely fabulous for taking the time to recap 2 hour shows!

I think they should bronze that hat Griselda always wears.

So Beatriz holds HER baby, the one she has always wanted, but it's Esthers! (wow, does this ever put a twist in the ivf story)

and Fred takes TC's offer, to put Gourmet Rei out of business in exchange for the top chef job at a non existent restaurant, this guy needs to go down the river for lack of brains.

I wonder where Barbie has the jade knives stashed, and will Jose share the money from his jade knife, (I think he spent all of the last money on his hotel room, which he had during the 6 month time jump)

hmm, so if Esther returns to Fina Estampa, won't Vanessa be out of a job and maybe a boyfriend as well,

and doctor Tony was sure taking advantage of Pati's confusion.


 

MARIDO

Thanks so much, Kelly. Fabulous recap!

I've got a bad feeling Pati is weakening about Tony.

I hope they discover Fred's betrayal soon. I want to see him out on his ear with NO chef's job.

Well, they went with the telenovela cliché about a hereditary lunar being on Victoria's little leg. I've seen that one before. Any geneticists on the blog? Are moles in the same spot hereditary?

I was away when Esther was implanted with the fertilized egg. I assume it's Beatriz' egg and her dead husband's sperm. That really wasn't very ethical of Alba. If Beatriz finds out ...

I agree that Paloma's reaction to Carol's arrival made no sense at all. I would have stayed there to stake my claim and/or scope out how Ivan might feel about Carol. But it's probably a standard TN plot device to keep loving couples apart. Plus, she seemed to have had one of her paranormal insights when she didn't want to buy a wedding dress, so who knows if things will work out.

I LOVED it when Griselda pointed out to TC who came out ahead in the "partner swapping". It drove TC absolutely nuts.

Esther will probably go to work for Fina Estampa. I hope I'm wrong because I really don't want her back with Juan Pablo. Plus, she would be leaving Amalia in the lurch just when she's in the process of taking advantage of Esther's great ideas.
 

MARIDO:

Great recap Kelly!

Looks like most of us are fearing that Pati is weakening to Tony (who was totally taking advantage of Pati's shocked state). Ester going back to FE will for sure put an end to Van-JP, but since JP is still so hateful towards the baby, I don't see how he and Ester would get back together, even if they both still love each other.

I just knew the writers were about to throw cold water on Paloma-Ivan. This Carol thing is lame. I sure as heck would stick around to see what this EX is all about, and to let her know there's a CURRENT.

Novelera- It wasn't totally Alba's fault. The eggs and sperm aren't labelled with names. They just have numbers, and Ester randomly chose Bea's eggs and Alba's brother's sperm based on the characteristics of the donors. Alba later realized who Ester had chosen, but there was nothing she could do about it.

I still don't understand why bro's sperm and Bea's eggs were available for donation, and not just banked for their use if they wanted them later.
 

MARIDO
Kelly--You left out absolutely nothing. Congrats for the stamina, while delivering a topnotch recap.

OMG--The Televisa rats have been hired by Telemundo (or whichever production company did Marido). Actually, these may be different ones, these are brown and actually kind of cute. Poor little things, they looked quite disoriented. I'm sure they will find plenty to eat and leave evidence behind of their having been there.

I hope Fred has a change of heart and fesses up before Rei's new restaurant is ruined. As they say in every tn, Mentiras siempre sale a la luz.
 

...that should have been Mentiras siempre salen a la luz (can't blame it on iPads).
 

MARIDO--
Alba was very wrong in going ahead with the donor egg and sperm Ester chose. She should have told E there was an ethical problem and she should rechoose either or both donors.

She refused to use Bea's deceased husband's sperm for Bea because she thought it would be psychologically weird, wrong and too soon after he died. Please, tell me she isn't trying to play god (with a small "g")?

Where did she meet Elio anyway?
 

Santa
Super recap deb

Haven't watched yet, I do that during CI. Reading before watching helps me understand more.

I rate this novela very high. Favorites are El senor de los cielos, Amor Bravio, Amor Real, Alborada.
I plan on watching La reina del sur.

telemundo is making a believer out of me. Just hope they stay a million miles away from anything Mejia.
 

MARIDO

I know Paloma had one of her premonitions, but she only went to one store. Sure, I'm the kind of person who would check 20 places before buying a, say, flashlight, but still. You don't go to one store, discover they don't have a flashlight you like, and assume the universe doesn't want you to see in the dark. Silly hippie chick.

Maybe she can rat whisper the infestation away before the inspector gets there.

Kelly
 

MARIDO:

Two thoughts after watching tonight's episode:
1) Amalia really needs to stop going home in the afternoons.
2) Am I the only one who finds it creepy the way Tony stares at Pati...without blinking? I'd be freaked, if I were Pati.
 

MARIDO

Oh thank God the 2-hour episodes are done!

Recap will be posted later today.
 

MARIDO

I am so grateful to this week's recappers. There's no way I could watch three days' worth of double episodes today, so I might be giving up on this show at this point. (I wonder how many viewers they lost with this double-episode thing. A single double-episode "special" now and then can build interest, but weeks of this?)

I tend to get frustrated when characters act illogically and don't take advantage of obvious solutions. Don't get me started on Reinaldo's refusal to ever consult a lawyer. And no one has ever mentioned the words "restraining order" in connection with Teresa Cristina? Given her personality, she should be trailing restraining orders after her like a train, and that should have been Rei's first thought months ago, if not his first phone call (to his nonexistent lawyer) when she showed up at the restaurant inauguration.

One sentence: I love Elsa. I hope someone is putting together a YouTube video with her best scenes.

Treatment for head injuries in this bizarro world: Don't do a single basic test for a concussion and leave the patient alone with her stalker. These people make my daughter's cheer coaches look like geniuses.
 

Marido

Exactly why does Griselda tell Deborah and only Deborah to go to the kitchen and help Reinaldo? Why not Antonio? Why not Quique?

By the way, Deborah is lot less obnoxious as Quique's girlfriend than she is as an excessively sexy employee. She's almost likeable.
 

General

Does anyone else watch on the Telemundo website? Sometimes I can bring up subtitles there and sometimes I can't. Earlier today I skimmed through Marido en Alquiler episodes 95, 96, 97, 98, and 99, and able to see sub-titles for the first time in weeks. The viewer seemed to be different from what it had been, and with this different viewer I could actually get subtitles. Now, a few hours later, I'm looking at episode 100, and it's back to the same viewer of the last few weeks, and when I click on subtitles I get nothing. (And when I went back to the episodes I viewed earlier, it's the same as with episode 100.)

Anyone else have trouble getting subtitles on the Telemundo website?
 

SANTA. Writing up the recap now. Last night was a series of brief scenes and replays of people's memories. Writers must have needed some time off.... Nonetheless, the story keeps its twists and turns.
 

General
I always watch Santa Diabla on telemundo. Sometimes very annoying. I've only tried to get Eng CC a couple of times to no avail. Most of the time the site works great, but I have had it revert to a previous episode. The commercials are intolerable, always louder. But at least it is less time than the actual episode, due to commercials.
 

MARIDO

Taks your time on the recap, Sue. Since I'm 3 hours behind the East Coast viewers, later recaps leave more juice there for commenting. Especially Friday. I always sleep in on Saturdays!
 

MARIDO

Take...not Taks. Novelera, read before you post!!!
 

SANTA DIABLA CAP 66, NOV 9, 2013

Part 1

The episode opens to brief scenes of each of those crazy kids in Marrero.

Willy wants revenge against Bert and Vicente.
Santa wants justice.
Bert wants (in the biblical sense) Santa, or Lisette, or a hooker that looks like Santa.
Santi wants answers about the blood in the basement.
Padre wants Santa to dig up Willy’s grave.
Narco Franco wants to do business with Bert.

Trebol de Oro: Bert arrives to an empty bar. Where is everyone? Transito emerges from the shadows. He asks her for a girl – one who looks just like his wife, Santa. Transito says no problem, we aim to please.

Police Station: Santa has changed her tune with Pancho and is pleading for his help. She needs to dig up Willy’s grave. Pancho is “what the que?” impactada.

Park: Arturo is out for a limping stroll with his bebe. He limps to the park and meets the ever faithful Mara. Mara worries about being seen in public. After all, Art is still a married man. Art says “no worries” reminding her that everyone in town knows his marriage to Lisette is a farce. Horti can be seen hiding behind a tree spying on the pair with her smoldering glare (no redemption for her today!).

Bookstore: Dani comes to visit Ivan and invites him to return to live at the happy Cano, er.. Jorge house.

Trebol de Oro: Transito agrees to find a Santa substitute for Bert. Lucy overhears and wonders what the married Bert is doing paying the hooker house a visit. Willy swears Lucy to secrecy about “Pedro” being at the house.

Cano House: Narco Franco and “his associates” pay Barb a visit and invite her to a party at his place. He wants to celebrate his new business partnership with Brother Bert. Nothing like a briefcase of cash to get Bert to shake his hand. Now nervous Barb hems and haws about needing to talk to her family, find clothes and get all dolled uo blah, blah, blah. Narco Franco overrides her excuses and says all that can be taken care of at his house. And, to prove his point, he pulls out a black velvet box and opens it to reveal a glittering diamond necklace. He puts it on her. Knowing Barb, viewerville suspects he has made his case with Barb – at least for tonight. Nothing like a crazy huge diamond necklace to put her nerves on hold.


 

Part 2

Police Station: Pancho wonders if Willy is alive. Santa begs his help – she doesn’t know for sure – as she has been a “little out of it lately”. Viewerville nods in agreement. Pancho has a chin scratching minute considering the request. Meantime, he wants Cifuentes to find and interview the informant in the jail that “found” Willy dead.

Horti’s House: Horti returns fuming mad. Sonny and Mara have made a mockery of her by sneaking out together and spending time with her nieto. How dare they! This is war! She orders up some evil potion from her evil nurse – something that will make people sick after ingesting it. She plots to use the potion to make Mara’s café clients sick.

Robledo’s House: Ines rips into Santi for telling Pancho about the basement mystery. Santi wants to know why she is so afraid of the truth being revealed. Ines collapses with abdominal pains. Owwww and the subject is changed.

Park: Art and Mara canoodle and play with the bebe. Mara worries about Lazaro seeing the two of them together. After all, they are still novios and she needs time to call it off.

Trebol de Oro: Bert sits in bed, waiting to see the full face view of his requested “Santa look alike”. He thought bubbles snippets of his wedding night session with Santa. Returning to reality, the look alike is a poor substitute and he kicks her to the curb, so to speak.

George’s House: George and Paula argue while she packs. Paula sees the writing on the wall that George is still in love with Barb. George works on sweet talking Paula. They are having a baby together and he wants her close. Paula seems to capitulate and they hug. George has cara that even he doesn’t buy what he told Paula.

Drugstore in Sketchy Neighborhood: Pancho and Cifuentes go to the scene of the crime as seen in the pictures that Humberto gave them. They interview the street thug about who shot him. He decides to tell them it was Santi who did it. Pancho considers that he has caught Santi fibbing again.

Hospital: Santi rushes an unconscious Ines to the hospital. Nurses seem to be running away as they enter. Concerned Doctor Somebody shows up and tells Santi not to worry.

Vacation House Basement: Vicente is (finally!) is cleaning the blood from the floor. His cell phone rings with a call from Santi. He mutters to himself and decides to ignore it. For now.

Sketchy ‘Hood: Pancho and Cifuentes interview the owner about his business of producing fake documents. They arrest grandpa and the gang of counterfeiters.

 

Part 3

Trebol de Oro: Lucy is still wondering what a guy like Bert is doing visiting. Transito tells Lucy to keep her mouth shut because “what happens at the Trebol de Oro stays at the Trebol de Oro” (she really said that!).

Cano House: Bert is dressed and back at home. Mumsy Fran tells Bert about the plan to have Ivan come to live at the house. Bert wonders what has changed? Is this the same GrandMumsy who rejected Ivan before? Fran says her life is different and that everything has changed in her life.

Horti’s house: Horti has the evil potion in her hands. Seems Mara will pay for defying Horti.

Park: Back at the park Mara and Art are agreeing that Lazaro is a swell guy. Art wonders why he and Mara need to be secret lovers, like in the old days. Mara says it is her turn to insist on being secret lovers (insert Marvin Gaye song here).

Trebol del Oro: Vicky arrives and confronts Transito on her lies. She knows that Patricio has been to the hooker house more times than Transito has admitted. She even spied him smooching up some of the girls in the hooker house. Transito starts to sweat and admits that yes, she is a lousy friend that Vicky should avoid her. She tells Vicky that Pat is not the person Vicky thinks he is. She warns Vicky to get her things and get as far away from Pat as she can. Flashback and a lighbulb goes off in Vicky’s head as she remembers the trial and realizes that Transito was Patricio’s “alibi” for where he was when Carlos was killed.

Graveyard: Santa arrives and yells at Willy’s grave while Willy spies on her. Willy shows signs of softening and starts to approach Santa who is still unaware she is being spied on. Her phone rings with a call from Santi. Santi tells Santa he needs her because he has no one else to call and he is afraid Ines may lose his baby. Santi agrees to run to his side. Buzz kill for Willy and he backs off from his big reveal to Santa. Willy has cara enojada about that darn Santi.

Bookstore: Dani offers to help Ivan close the store. She gives Ivan a smooch leaving both him and viewville scratching their collective chins. Kissing cousins? Hmm….

Vicky’s House: Vicky returns home in a daze. We see her upstairs rummaging through Pat’s jacket pockets. She remembers finding the mysterious passports in his pants pocket. Pat catches her rummaging in his jacket pockets and asks her if she is looking for something. She passes off the prying to preparing the jacket for the laundry. Pat warns Vicky to never ever look through his pockets again. Lucky for Vicky, Pat get a call. A client wants some “fresh meat” for his party. Disgusting Patricio uses the “meat” as code for his house of hookers. Ulyses overhears his phone conversation and is left wondering about it.

Jail: Cifuentes interrogates the informant about Willy’s supposed death. Informant admits that Willy was not dead after the stabbing in his cell.

 

Part 4

Hospital: Santa appears and comforts Santi. She tells him to be positive and they give each other huggies. Vicente, having finished mopping up the blood, manacles and chains in the basement (finally), shows up and is not happy to see Santa at the hospital. They proceed to trade insults and accusations of threats and lies. Santa tells Vicente she should do everyone a favor and kill Vicente. Viewerville wonders if the writers have just placed a BIG anvil over her head as Pancho walks into the hospital just in time to overhear Santa’s words.

Narco Franco’s place: Franco is having a meet and greet with a few of his gun dealer friends. The guests look over the product and are told not to touch. The guests retreat to discuss prices and products. Barb comes into the room looking stunning in a black gown and her new diamond necklace. Partyman Pat shows up with a few of the girls from the hooker house. Barb isn’t pleased to be mingling with these types. Narco Franco reminds Barb that her job is to shut up and smile. Pat is happy to be of service to Narco Franco and reaches to shake hands. Narco Franco ignores him. Narco Franco tells Barb to call brother Santi and invite him to the party as his special guest. Barb looks puzzled but does as she is told. Santi answers the phone and tells Barb he is at the hospital is not in the party mood. Narco Franco takes the phone from Barb and urges Santi to run and not walk to his party.

Our story ends for the week.

 

TELEMUNDO ONLINE

I watch Santa (and sometimes Marido) online, and haven't been able to get subtitles for several weeks.

It's also painfully slow to load... I have to keep pausing and waiting.... it takes me about an hour and a half to get through one episode (which is why I gave up on watching the 2-hour Maridos online).

I agree about the volume of the commercials... and good grief do they have to show the exact same ones everytime?
 

MARIDO viernes 8 de noviembre

I have a lot to do today so I’m just going to hit the highlights (or lowlights).

Pati is grossed out by the thought of TC and José in bed, and, during her mini-rant refers to Simón as “Antonio.” Simón points this out to her.

Esther discusses her plans with Gabe. They finally make love. Later, Esther reveals her proposal to JP: She will continue to design for Fina Estampa if she becomes his business partner. JP rejects the proposal.

Babs tells Kikito about her trip and promises to return.

Vanesa asks Reinaldo for her old job back if her new one at Fina Estampa doesn’t work out.

TC hires a private detective to find out who actually bought Gourmet Palmer.

Paloma sees Iván comforting Carol and rushes out without him seeing her. Max sees them too. Iván tells Paloma that Carol has returned because she is terminally ill and she has no one else to turn to. He proposes they all live together. Paloma is not on board.

TC suggests to Ro that they try Reinaldo’s new restaurant. While he’s changing, TC calls the Florida Daily News and gives them an anonymous tip.

Two health inspectors arrive at Rey Gourmet stating they received an anonymous complaint. Reinaldo can’t believe it since they’ve only been open for a few days. TC and Ro arrive and a few minutes later, Gris, who has put two and two together to figure out that TC is behind the complaint. The inspectors find rats in the pantry (they looked like pet rats to me) and ask to go into the freezer. Simón tells Reinaldo about the rat infestation as well as expired food. He feels it’s sabotage. At that point a reporter arrives. TC says she doesn’t have anything to do with the situation at the restaurant and leaves. Outside, Gris tells her that she is going to prove that she is behind this and the fire at her house.

Gris tells Reinaldo about her suspicions re: the fire. The firemen found evidence that it was arson. She just needs to prove that TC was behind it. Reinaldo wants her to call the police but she says that TC will try to manipulate the situation. Gris thinks TC will try to turn Pati against Reinaldo.

At home Ro asks TC if she really meant it when she said she wanted Gris and her whole family to disappear. “What do you think?” She looks at him with those menacing TC eyes. He excuses himself.

Reinaldo announces to the staff that the restaurant will have to pay a fine and cannot reopen until the Health Inspector comes back to reinspect. Simón says that the restaurant’s reputation has been damaged. Both are determined to discover who did this.
 

MARIDO 8 de noviembre Part 2

Since Reinaldo can’t cook at his own restaurant, he is going to cook dinner for Gris and her family. Gris goes on a mysterious errand.

Just as there is only one fine-dining establishment in Miami, there is only one casual-dining place. At Tacos Bar Rafa complains how hard it is to find a job when you have a record. Daniel suggests he go to Iván and ask him for a job. He says he started at Fashion Motors as a mechanic so what has he got to lose? He asks Eduardo who doesn’t promise him anything. Eduardo asks Iván who, although hesitant, gives Rafa a job.

The family is sitting down to dinner when Gris arrives with Pati in tow. Antonio is thrilled, Pati, not so much. He sits across from her and pretty much stares at her through dinner. Nice comment about Amalia taking lessons in making meatballs from Reinaldo.

Ro informs TC that he saw Pati getting out of Gris’ car. TC concludes that Reinaldo is cooking dinner for them. She demands her dinner in the dining room. She muses that Gris stole both her husband and her daughter and wants everything that’s hers. Embittered, she sweeps her dinner onto the floor. She swears that she’s going to finish off the entire family. Ro observes all of this from the kitchen.

Babs is packing her suitcase. Elio wonders how long she’ll be gone. She tells him she’s coming back. After he leaves she tells herself excitedly, “Not for long!”

At the Only Hotel in Miami, Barinsky sees José get off the elevator. He attempts to speak with him but José tries to put him off. Barinksky asks him where he got the jade knife. José makes up a story about finding it in some trash. Barinsky informs him that a set like the knife he sold him was stolen from his shop. José denies knowing anything about it.

Simón brings a huge flower arrangement for Pati but Paloma tells him Gris picked her up and she’s dining at her house.

Gabe tells Esther that he thinks JP will reconsider her offer. Meanwhile at dinner with Vanesa JP spends his time complaining about Esther. Vanesa finally says ¡Basta!

Beatriz tells Alba that Victoria has the exact same birthmark as Guillermo. Alba looks a bit guilty. Beatriz tells her that she told Esther about it.

Fred is drinking too many shots over at Tacos Bar and and says some interesting things to Gabe re: TC.

Gris and Reinaldo discuss what happened at the restaurant. Gris suggests that it was an inside job but Reinaldo doesn’t think any of his staff would deliberately sabotage the restaurant.

Next morning TC is extremely nervous because she had nightmares about Gris all night long. Ro can’t calm her down and leaves. TC calms herself down and comes up with a new plan. She calls Fernando and asks him to procure a very large, venomous snake.

Gris asks Reinaldo to move in with her.

TC is in a better mood now that she has a new plan. Ro remarks to Elsa that something bad is join to happen because he can feel it in his bones.

Paloma wants to know where Iris got the money she’s giving to Mario. She figures it’s TC. She has a feeling that someone’s life is in danger.

Fred calls TC who gives him the brush off again. ¡Estúpida! He knows way too much! Reinaldo announces to the staff that he thinks the rats and expired food were an inside job and he will get to the bottom of this. Fred is trying not to look too guilty.

Fernando deposits the snake in Amalia’s car. She gets a call from her store–it’s very busy and they need her to come down. She gets into the car and drives. She doesn’t realize she has a reptilian passenger right next to her.

**Feel free to fill anything in I missed.


 

commercials
I hate X-box, whatever it is, the same LOUD commercial, one after another, 3 times. I will never buy it, when I find out what it is, I think a game.
 

SANTA: Great recap, Mena, of an action-packed capitulo.

What kind of lousy cop is Pancho, anyway? Doesn't have have some evidence finding team that could "process" (CSI language) an obvious crime scene? At least, he could seal up the place so Vicente couldn't get back in. You've got to think that this is the first time Vicente has ever scrubbed a floor!!

After abandoning the cabaña for the sketchy 'hood, the cops also found records of a false passport (another one) being issued to Santi so that goes on the list of his possible crimes along with shooting the guy in the leg.

Horti is planning to poison a whole bunch of innocent people just to get back at Mara? She can't be sure the poison won't kill someone who has an underlying condition. Why couldn't she have just jumped out of the bushes and said that Arturo can't take the baby out again?



 

MARIDO

Sue, if that was a pared down recap, it was a fine one. You got it all.

I was not clear on whether TC meant the snake for Gris or for Amalia. Fernando certainly put it in Amalia's car. But I thought TC wanted Gris to be dead.

I'm hoping TC's treatment of Fred will cause him to 'fess up. If I were writing this novela, I'd have Reinaldo call the press to the restaurant, have Fred confess on camera that he was bribed with the offer of a Chef position to put rats in Rey Gourmet's kitchen and put expired food items there as well. And that said briber was none other than the jealous ex-wife, Teresa Cristina Palmer!

There was one tiny ominous thing I saw regarding Rafa. Iván gave him a mechanic's job, but Susana muttered something in the background. She'll probably try to set him up with a theft of something.

I do NOT want Bárbara to be able to profit from taking those jade artifacts. In a way, José does deserve it. He was apparently Chino's good chum back in the day. Chino, I think, is deceased. Gris doesn't need any money, so why shouldn't José have it. Bárbara deserves nothing.

If anyone would go along with living with the dying ex-wife, it would be the spiritually pure Paloma. She seemed to resist, but I think she'll eventually do it.

It was infuriating the way Antonio stared at Pati during that dinner. And he was also pretty nasty to Rafa in the conversation with Daniel and Rafa about his job prospects. He doesn't seem to own the fact that he participated and benefited from some of Rafa's less than ethical acts by driving someone else's motorcycle and later Ivan's car to impress Pati.

OK, the way Juan Pablo behaved when Esther came to talk with him about being a "socia" was awful. He'll probably go along with it when he sees the firm can't make it if she jumps ship with her designs. He also looked at Baby Victoria as if she were the creature in the crib in the Rosemary's Baby movie!
 

MARIDO

TC wants Gris and her family gone.

And yes, Antonio was an obnoxious twit to Rafa. I so do not want him to have a good ending.
 

Santa

Tks Mena for a great recap

Horti read all those books in her store???? Are they all romance novels, she didn't learn tolerance from any of them. Readers are usually very broadminded unless of course, they are locked into a particular subject.
 

MARIDO:

Thanks, Sue, and all the others who have recapped the 2 hour episodes. I haven't been able to watch, but these wonderful summaries have kept me up to date.



 

SANTA:

Mena, that was a super recap, thank you! I loved your observations.

It looked as if Santi was not the one who shot that guy, it was Navarro, who is now dead. But the guy only hesitated a bit in fingering Santi. Navarro would be able to clear up the situation, but he's dead. And now Santi has to go to Franco's party! He sure has troubles.

I'm not sure how well Barb or Santi know Pat, but maybe somehow Pat's being at that party would come out. Except that Santi is sort of sworn to silence by Franco, and Barb is now apparently sort of a prisoner there, Franco may not let her out of the house again without a guard.

Bert told Fran that he's working on getting the house back, with some new money (from Franco). Yeah, we'll see how well THAT works out.

Petra hasn't said much, so we have little insight into her character. But I was discouraged that she'd willingly procure a dangerous substance for Horti to put in people's coffee.

One thing which often ends up thwarting the bad guys in these shows is that they're all at cross purposes. And we definitely have that, with Franco, Pat, Vicente and Bert (and maybe Willy, we'll see) all having different plans, many of which intersect. Of course, Bert isn't so much of a bad guy anymore.

As usual, the only crime where Pancho's making progress is the only one we DON'T want him to focus on - Santi and the passport.
 

SANTA

Great recap, Mena, of a pretty terrific episode.

I have to say that the writer is doing a great job in keeping Bert just on the verge of turning completely unredeemable - although, I'm sure for some he's already there, he's not for me.

Aside from the way he's been protecting Santa from Vicente and how he went to see her, heart on his sleeves and all,there have been at least two key moments concerning him this week.

The first one: when he called Lisette to his office and she said no, I was sure he was going to rape her - there is no turning back from something like this - but, no, Lisette after Lisette walked out, he was just left there, hanging... kind of.

The second one, a noncriminal act, but still, pretty disgusting when it comes to telenovelas: when he went to the Trebol and asked for a woman just like Santa, but then couldn't go through with it - had he used that prostitute, he would have been tarnished in my eyes (yeah, killing some guy and ordering the murder of others didn't really impress me on the same level).

At this point, I'm not sure what the writer's plans are with Bert - the more I watch Santa and Santi together, in all their bland boring-ness, the more I think they are the end game, so if Bert won't have Santa, will he go completely crazy, be left by everyone and end up in a mental hospital somewhere? Or maybe in jail, after a heart felt apology?

 

MARIDO

Thank you for the recap, Sue. THANK GOD we're returning to one hour episodes!

Is it only me, or is Rei moving in with Gris and ALL her family a terrible idea?
Rei would again be living in a house that doesn't belong to him, and this time the family isn't his, either.
Is Gris supposed to live with her grown kids forever? Before they were poor but now, what is the reason? At the very least K could move out with his son and Tony should live in a dorm, anyway, since he's a student - or, why not, at Paloma's.
Amalia is still young enough to live at home, I guess, but when she and Rafa get married, will he come live with them, too?

What Gris and Rei need to do is buy/ rent something TOGETHER, something that they both pay for and go far away from TC and her constant spying/ meddling/ snake infestations.
Rei can find himself thrown out again, sooner or later - not that Gris is as crazy as TC, but his situation isn't all that different.
 

SANTA

One more thing - how come neither Daniela, nor Ivan mention the fact that they are COUSINS and shouldn't play the kiss tango? Was that a little smile on Ivan's face, after Dani kissed him? The other day Lisette looked like she was encouraging a relationship, too.
This and the fact that Horrible Horty managed to bond with Ivan, makes me think that Ivan might be Arturo's son after all, even if I'd prefer it if he were Bert's and they had a better relationship.
 

SANTA -- viernes

Thank you for the terrific and detailed recap, Mena.

Am I the only one who doesn't find Santa bland and boring? I think she is cool and tough. And gorgeous, of course. She deliberately shows a poker face to the world. I don't think it's a stretch at all to believe that for Humberto, Santiago and Willy, she is the object of their desire/obsession/love.

I have a little more trouble with Aaron Diaz's Santiago -- he just doesn't seem like a strong enough foil for the other two.
 

SANTA

NovelaMaven, I think Santa is ok, not boring and definitely stronger than I thought. The weak link here is Santi - I still don't know if it's the actor or the character is just not right. I tend to blame it on Santi, not Aaron Diaz because the few times he was allowed to play something other than weepy, stary eyed, he did ok.
This is Carlos Ponce's tn, anyway, but the others are holding their own pretty good. All, except the hero...
 

SANTA

Adriana, I think you nailed it when you wrote:

"This is Carlos Ponce's tn."

[I DO like the Carlos/Aaron duet in the opening credits.) :-)
 

This comment has been removed by the author.
 

SANTA

NovelaMaven, I love the opening song, too. :)) When it first started airing, I used to listen to it on repeat - great song, great voices, great duet!

Do you know the live version of the song?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw94HHoSegw

When Carlos Ponce shows up, he gives me the goosebumps - the guy can make an entrance.

And back to the story for a bit, most tns keep the classic idea of the two protas ending up together, but the writer loves to mess with our heads in this one quite a lot. Someone in here said it very well some time ago - usually the viewers know everything that is going on, here we're always kept guessing.
So, making Santa end up with Bert would be the ultimate twist, but Santi would have to get a new gf, too, since he's the only half decent creature in this show. Telemundo is starting to build up a reputation of having different endings - Flor Salvaje, Pasion Prohibida (although they only followed the original there), El Rostro de la Venganza. But maybe, because we expect/ want this to happen, we won't get to see it.
 

Santa

So far Espino's best scene is the opening one, in that red dress, smiling & looking gorgeous. No wonder Humbert has it bad. Aaron Diaz does not have it for me.

I have been trying to find a way to blame someone else for the murders that Humberto is responsible for. But I can't find a way. We saw him kill the one guy in cold blood. Sure they were bad guys, but they tried to kill Willy at the behest of Humberto. Murder is not redeemable.

I'm afraid the writers have decided that the ending couple will be S&S.
 

Santa
Great video Adriana Noel, tks
I watched twice, it was so good. Must be sth to do about clothes making the man, Aaron Diaz looks good there & his hair was in control.
 

SANTA

Variopinta, Aaron Diaz has great hair, but Santi looks like he's about to go bold half the time - I don't know how he pulls that off.
I've made a point of looking at Aaron while he sings - without those watery eyes, he looks quite good - the script does him no favors.
Gaby Espino totally nails that first scene, with the red dress - it's my favorite, too.
 

SANTA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sxB0-f1q8E

And here is a cute scene of Gabi Espino and Carlos Ponce in Mas sabe el diablo, her telenovela - he has a special appearance that serves as promotion for his telenovela, Perro Amor - Antonio Brando was handsome, but bad boy Humberto Cano is better looking.
 

MARIDO
Sue455--Ditto what everybody is saying about your very detailed recap. Detailed and a good read.

Adriana--Of course it's a terrible idea for Gris to have her adult children living with her in such a BIG house. I fault the location budget more than Gris. They already have quite a few places where they film the outside of houses but I'm sure most of the interiors are on studio sound stages (or whatever they call them now). But overall, how can you have family sturm und drang if they are all in different places. Maybe at the end of the tn, Rei will take Gris to Paris for an extended stay--or Barcelona--or Nueva York.

ITA with the sentiments from earlier and yesterday that Rei is jumping into one "kept man" situation into another without a pause. To give him a little bit of credit, he'd been in love with Gris for a long time and to be apart from her once they resolved his marital status would be cruel and unusual punishment.

I still say he's legally married, but voluntarily separated on his part. If he had any assets, TC could claim abandonment of home and bed and take him to the cleaners.

Hereditary birthmarks only make sense in telenovelas, like la llamada de la sangre and fainting to indicate pregnancy, IMHO.

Novelera--TC does need to be outted, but she can out right back since she had someone find out who really bought the restaurant. Not sure how that came about because obvio, Barinski had the funds in his account to pay for the restaurant.

Would said investigator be able to get bank officials to tell him of any recent deposits to Barinski's account and from whence they came? Oh, forgot, anything can happen in a tn.
 

MARIDO

I'm assuming that the adult children living with the parent is just a taken-for-granted cultural kind of thing. That's the way people do it in lots of countries in the world, and it may not be that unusual in whatever kind of Miami community this show's "generic Spanish-speaking community" is supposed to be. My sisters in Peru don't expect their kids to move out until they're married, if then. Two of my sisters and their mother were living together until the mother's death last year.

On the other hand, I agree that Reinaldo living in Griselda's house has disturbing similarities to his married life, and I agree with someone who pointed out earlier going directly from unhappy married life with TC to committed relationship with Griselda was not a great idea.

I'm assuming, by the way, that he and TC are officially divorced by now. It didn't sound as if TC was going to waste any time getting that done, and Reinaldo had no reason for delay. As for being taken to cleaners, TC already grabbed all the bank accounts and assets, so I'm not sure what more she could take away from Reinaldo? Put a claim on his future earnings since she supported him in getting his qualifications?
 

SANTA:

I continue to be in the minority, in that I really like Santiago, think he is a strong character, who's been forced into various difficult situations, but doesn't complain, keeps fighting back. I also think he's good looking, although I agree Bert has more pizzazz, magnetism, or whatever, which makes him a great villain.

I like Santa less, maybe because she is so misguided. She didn't really know what she was doing marrying Bert, and of course doesn't know Willy is alive. But she sure does have guts. And I feel the attraction between her and Santi is very strong.

BTW, Ivan and Daniela are only half cousins, since Barbara and Bert are half-siblings, right? I'm sure Dani knows this, and so does Lisette, I would think? So maybe that's enough distance so that it's not a no-no.
 

Santa
Even though I know it is a no no, even laws.
Marriage between cousins doesn't sound so bad to me, unless it is continues generation after generation.
The movie with Vince Vaughn is that he is the sperm donor to over 500 children. What would be the chances of intermarriage between a couple of them, if they are in the same local? That is 1/2 siblings.
 

MARIDO

Utah, I forgot completely that TC had cleaned out their joint account and cancelled his credit cards. Still, he earned his money by the sweat of his brow while she murdered for hers and she was the one that maintained him in "her" style at the TC Mansion and staked him to the restaurant. The profit margins on restaurants are notoriously slim, even on the most celebrated ones.

Yep, I remember now. He said he trusted her, silly boy. He should have known her better after 20 years of marriage--he should have had a private slush fund hidden away somewhere.

 

Santa

thanks so much Mena for the terrific recap!

haha, a "swell guy", yep that's our Lazaro.

I don't think Petra (Nury Flores) has said anything yet, has she?
[in El Fantasma de Elena, she was a women's prison guard, later hired by the good Elena, I think she saved the day]

does anyone remember the outcome of Navarro? Santiago found him with a bullet hole in his head, but did anyone else find him, was there an investigation? I see his pic in the passport camera along with Santiago's.

Vicente is cracking me up, he works so hard at his own downfall,

in DyO, same author, Tomás (Fabian Rios) regularly visited the local strip club to torment/have-sex-with an Ignacia (Ana Layevska) look a like, funny that it just doesn't work for Humberto. our down to earth guy.

I'm easy, I like all of the characters, and Santa/Santi, with there across the room romance, it's actually quite fascinating, (could this EVER work?), and the perfect setting to launch the other storylines, I think the actors are rolling out exactly what the writer wants.

I too like the intro, the whole music video is done SO well, it's one of my few novela favorites, like La Tracion. (btw, the only other time I've seen Virna Flores (Paula), such a bad girl.


 

Marido

thanks Sue,
you're the best.

not-to-worry this is a friendly snake, not like Fernando or TC,
and Ro, I hope his scorpion lover slaps him hard.


 

MARIDO:

Great recap Sue.

We haven't spoken about this, but I wonder what exactly Marcia said in her video. And if it's so disturbing to Paloma, why hasn't she gone to the cops with it? She's crazier than Gris to let TC walk around, free to commit other crimes. We know why Iris keeps quiet. And Ro has some sick codependence with TC. They all share the blame if TC commits any more murders.
 

SANTA

Re the kissing cousins story, Carlos Ponce played out the same dynamic, sort of, in Perron Amor. He had an ongoing affair with his supposed cousin throughout the story (Maritza Rodriguez). When it was revealed, it was not considered acceptable. Later she turned out to be adopted and more distantly related. But the relationship was somewhat taboo - it was a Telemundo TN too. I wonder how the story will play out here.
 

That is Perro ... Crazy iPad!
 

Santa
Watched late last night.
I noticed the Marrero police car said police not policía.

Pancho appears to be an honorable man/cop, but he is Vicente's son, as far as we know. Should Santa be trusting him, but I guess there is little choice.

Pobre Humberto, goes to the OWIM, only whorehouse in Marrero, finds a Santa look alike & nada. He is doomed to a life of celibacy.
 

MARIDO

The issue of restaurant profit margins has occurred to me more than once as I watch this show. If they're being realistic in this regard, then it means that Reinaldo will always be at least somewhat subject to the whims of a rich patron. (But a chef with his reputation should be able to pick and choose among potential rich patrons.)

I haven't heard a saying like this about restaurants, but this one about wineries may fit:

Know how to become a millionaire winemaker?



Start with a billion dollars and then open a winery.
 

MARIDO:

UtahDesert- LOL! So true. In Juan Soler's last tn, Cuando Me Enamoro, he played a winemaker, as was his enemy. Both of them came into the business already filthy rich, and their business competitiveness with each other had nothing to do with making money, but in making the best wine, and gaining the most prestige for their wines (as well as competition for the heroine’s heart). They both sunk a lot of money trying to make that happen. I can imagine that the restaurant business is similar.

I don’t think Rei is ever going to be a rich man, but I don’t think he cares about that. But he has to be better about assuring his own financial stability should things go wrong. That joint account with TC, where he put all his earnings, was just a dumb move. Every married person, man or woman, should have their own separate account, in addition to the joint account.