Caray, Caray!

Welcome back, Jean! I'm looking forward to reading your take on tonight's episode.

You're right -- Marrero got even crazier while you were away. Now even our boring quasi-hero Santi looks as if he is joining the ranks of the certifiable. Ay ay ay.
 

Here is the link to last week for anyone who needs to catch up from Mon to Fri - don't miss a minute of last week's exploits!

http://caraycaray.blogspot.com/2014/01/telemundo-y-mas-santa-diabla-week-of_20.html


Thanks for the thumbs up for my recap....



 

I watched Friday's episode and I don't really prefer scowling Santi over weepy Santi. I'm underwhelmed with Aaron Diaz's abilities as an actor.
 

Jean (and all) After Monday's episode, we better get used to SAnti's "Diabla" look. So SAnti has some sort of dark past personality? WTQ? Can this get any crazier?
 

Monday – Part 1

We open with a repeat of the end of Friday’s episode. In the basement of torture, Ulises has gotten partly free from his bonds. He hears someone, is happy to see that someone and then that person shoots him dead. The writers seem to be suggesting that the shooter is Pancho because who else, besides Vicky, would Ulises be so glad to see?

Ivan wakes up when Vicky brings him a cup of coffee. He asks where she found him and Vicky tells him that Tránsito found him completely drunk in a bar. Ivan says to Vicky, “then what I discovered wasn’t a nightmare.” She admits that she has cancer and that he has to go on with his life. Ivan’s publisher calls and wants to schedule a press conference to introduce his book. Vicky is excited but Ivan doesn’t care anymore. He just wants to stay in bed and drink himself to death.

Barb, mother of the year, demands to know why Daniela is hugging Willy. Daniela replies that she hasn’t exchanged a word with Barb since she left the rehab center and the only thing her mother is interested in is her relationship with Willy? Lisette comes in to see what is going on and Barb starts to spew her usual venom. She asks if Lisette is aware that Daniela is pregnant by her own cousin. Barb accuses Daniela of always being jealous of her. When Lisette comes to Daniela’s defense, Barb turns on her and says that everyone knows that she had an affair with Bert for many years and had his illegitimate child. [This is really old news but maybe she thinks Willy didn’t know about it.] Lisette retorts that she raised her child alone and he turned out a lot better than Barb’s kid. Lisette then hustles Barb out of her house. Willy tells Daniela that he is sorry that he caused her more problems and they should talk later. Lisette says that she will help Daniela even if her mother won’t.

Outside the house, Willy tells Barb that he didn’t come to see Daniela for romantic reasons but because Daniela is Barb’s daughter and he thought that Barb cared about her daughter. Naturally, Barb claims that she does care about her daughter but if Daniela won’t talk to her, what can she do? She wants to move on with her life – with Willy…

Rene is leaving Paula’s place and she asks if he is going to come back. He says that he will come back to Marrero because of her. He likes her. She reminds him that she is pregnant. He replies that he knows that and he likes all of her including any babies she is carrying. Paula is surprised and flattered. Meanwhile, someone is watching from the bushes. It’s Alicia. She says that she knew this “infeliz” would come back to see Paula.

Tránsito comes to see Lucy in the hospital. She tells Lucy that the doctors have said that she has made it through the worst. Lucy half wakes up and says, “Pancho.” Tránsito doesn’t know that Pancho is alive and she is a little confused. Lucy tries to say something else but fails.

 

Monday - Part 2

Alicia follows Rene to the Trebol del Oro. She doesn’t know why he is going in there. Rene gets a temporary reprieve when Alicia gets a call from Ines who is in the park with willy.

Santi goes to see a lawyer and says that he wants to file a suit against Bert. Bert is the administrator of their father’s estate but he hasn’t provided any accounting to the other heirs and Santi thinks that something is going on. The lawyer says that is no problem until Santi discloses that his brother is Bert Cano, el tiberon blanco.

Alicia comes to relieve Ines of childcare duty. She has given willy a bike and promises to give him more gifts but first they have to talk about his mother. While Ines records them, willy, who now talks really well, is prompted into saying that his mother doesn’t care for anyone but herself and that he hates her.

Pancho, Begoña and Santa get together to discuss the progress of their plan to make Bert confess that he murdered Vicente. Pancho reports that some friends of his are following Bert and that should lead them to where Ulises is being held. Santa doesn’t seem to be 100% in the “Bert is evil” club and Pancho and Begoña question whether she is committed to getting Bert to confess to murder. Santa assures them that she is onboard with the plan. After she leaves, Pancho wonders whether Santa is defending Bert because she is in love with him.

Santi brings some boxes to the crummy room he rented and says, “Por fin,” “Finally.”

Padre Milton drops in to see Mara and Arturo and he has brought Lisette and the baby. Arturo thinks that Lisette wants to get a court order keeping him away from the baby because of the attempted kidnapping but the Padre says no, Lisette wants to reach an agreement with Arturo about custody of little Felipe. Lisette admits that she did bad things, too, like pretending that the baby was ill. Mara offers to leave but Lisette asks her to stay. She says that she is going to divorce Arturo right away so that Mara and Arturo can get married. Mara can’t believe that Lisette doesn’t want anything in return.

Arturo asks if he can have the baby come and visit even if he moves to Canada with Mara. Lisette replies that it will be hard but she will accept that provided Arturo doesn’t try and keep the baby. She says that she is willing to abide by a visitation schedule set by a judge. Mara and Arturo are happy with that idea.

Padre Milton announces that he wants to hand over administration of Horti’s fortune to Lisette and Arturo now that they are all such good buddies. All he needs is a DNA test that proves that little Felipe is Ivan’s son, so that Horti’s last wishes are respected. Lisette and Ivan have no problem with that. [Hmm, I don’t recall that Horti actually verified the paternity of Felipe, which is rather strange. Lisette was also having sex with Bert right around the time the child was conceived. Could Felipe not be Arturo’s child? That would be interesting.]

 

Monday, Part 3

Bert comes to see Fran. She asks him if he knows where his brother is. Bert replies that he doesn’t want to be responsible for his brother again and refers to some incident in the past. Fran thanks Bert for being a wonderful brother when whatever it was happened in the past. Bert tells her that he called Dr. Muller and asked him to come to Marrero. Fran is happy and tells Bert that he is the best brother in the world and thanks him for all he has done. [Why do I think that whatever he did wasn’t really to Santi’s benefit?]

Santa goes into her bedroom and finds that someone has redecorated it with photos of Ines and Santi apparently taking a shower together. This type of behavior has crazy Ines written all over it but Santa concludes that Santi did it. He has conveniently returned from his mysterious rented room and Santa confronts him. They both go to see Ines who denies everything. Santi asks Santa if she thinks that the photos were intended to make Santa jealous. He says that he will give her something to be jealous about and kisses Ines. Santa tells them to get a room so Santi tells Ines that he will take her someplace where they can be alone.

Daniela has come to a very wrong conclusion about Willy’s visit to her at Lisette’s house. She comes over to Paula’s house where Willy is feeding his daughter. She tells him that he has to fulfill the promise he apparently made when he was her music teacher to take her away from Marrero. Willy replies that things have changed. He has a newborn daughter and can’t leave her. Daniela is rejected again and leaves. Meanwhile Paula has overheard part of this conversation.

Alicia takes up her unfinished business with Rene. She surprises him sleeping at the Trebol del Oro and pulls a gun on him.

Patricio finds Ulises dead on the floor of the torture room and is really pi**ed off. He doesn’t know what to do since Bert told him to keep Ulises alive. He says that no one knew where Ulises was except Bert…

Santi has taken Ines to the cabaña. He proceeds to have sex with her. She is ecstatic that her dreams have come true and is oblivious to the fact that Santi is acting very strangely. Afterwards, Santi gets dressed and leaves Ines in the cabaña.

 

Monday, Part 4

Bert comes into Santa’s room and sees the photos. He asks who did it and Santa replies that she doesn’t know. Bert asks if it bothers her to know that Santi has been with Ines. Santa replies that it doesn’t bother her and Bert asks her to prove it and kisses her. They start making out on the couch. Bert ignores Patricio’s calls but unlike Santi, he doesn’t get to go all the way. Santa stops the proceedings and tells Bert that he hasn’t done his part in mutual confession time and asks him if he killed Vicente. I would think that even someone not nearly as smart as Bert would begin to get suspicious of Santa’s continual harping on Vicente’s murder. But they are interrupted by the unending calls on Bert’s phone and then by Alicia who barges in and accuses Bert of murdering Franco.

Ivan keeps on hitting the bottle. Vicky tries to get him to get his act together but he refuses. Finally, Vicky says that she doesn’t want to spend the little time she has left with a guy trying to drink himself to death. She packs her bag and confronts Ivan one more time with no response so she leaves.

Alicia has tied Rene to the bed and gagged him. She says that she thought he was Franco when he threw her out of the Cano house but now she knows that Franco had a double and she wants to know who he is. Of course, he can’t answer because he’s gagged. She says that she was going to shoot him but she had a better idea. She has brought a can of gasoline with her, splashes it all over Rene and lights a match saying that she is called Diabla and therefore she likes fire. Does Rene want her to turn the room into an inferno? Rene manages to convince Alicia that he is not Franco so he doesn’t get the burning bed treatment. Alicia tells him that her beef is now with Bert. She leaves him there and suggests that he get himself untied quickly since being covered in gasoline is not good for the skin.

Vicky goes back to her house looking for Ulises. He’s not there but she finds his cell phone. The doorbell rings and it’s Begoña, whom Vicky doesn’t really know. Vicky can’t understand why Begoña is looking for Ulises and finally Begoña initiates Vicky into the “Pancho is alive” club. Vicky is happy that Pancho isn’t dead but she is alarmed that Ulises is apparently missing.
Santi goes to his crummy rented room and says, “let’s get to work.”

When Bert and Alicia are alone, she accuses him of having Rene pretend to be Franco and throw her out of the Cano house. She concludes that Bert had Franco killed. Although she didn’t want money when she first contacted the Cano’s, now she expects Bert to pay her for not telling the police about his killing Franco. Bert gives her a check and Alicia makes it clear that she will be back for more thus inviting Bert to kill her.

 

I think I am about to join the crazy club, lol. Aaron Diaz can only do constipated face Santi, oy vey. I've never seen worst.
 

Great recap, Jean! I liked all your observations, too.

It was funny to me when Alicia spoke to Bert outside Santa's bedroom door, accusing him of killing Franco. Santa just stayed inside, apparently not hearing this at all (usually, people overhear everything!).

I still have no clue as to who shot Ulises. We also don't know for sure that he's dead, maybe just in a coma, or lost his memory.

Santi really is acting weird these days. And Santa thinking SANTI put up those photos? Please.
 

thanks Jean,
fabulous recap!

I too am curious about Felipe's dna test.

ah, so Willy's baby is a girl, does she have a name?

and didn't we see some of those Santiago shower pics on Ines' phone before she recorded willy saying what Alicia was prompting him to say.

I was a little suspicious of Begona bringing Santa to meet Pancho, but she is her mother, etc. etc., but now bringing Victoria into the club as well, Victoria has always been a liability to EVERYONE, this is just too suspicious, or stupid.

it's kind of interesting watching real time people running their sailboats past the Trebol de Oro while Telemundo is filming our one-eyed girl.

 

Jean, welcome back! And thanks for the terrific recap. I loved many of your remarks, and I was especially intrigued by your pointing out that Felipe could be Bert's child, not Arturo's. That would fit well with all the rest of the chaos in Marrero.
(Oh, speaking of Arturo, a couple of times you wrote "Ivan" when you meant "Arturo.")

I totally agree with your pointing out that "even someone not nearly as smart as Bert would begin to get suspicious of Santa’s continual harping on Vicente’s murder." Then again, this telenovela parted company with The Real World several months ago.

Just about the only thing interesting me at the moment is who killed Ulises and why. As far as I can tell, Bert and Patricio are the only ones with a motive, but Bert wanted to keep Ulises alive long enough to find out who his accomplices were, and Patricio wanted to keep Ulises alive because Patricio didn't want to incur Bert's wrath. Alicia and Inés are crazies without a motive except their madness, but even in this trainwreck of a plot, that seems to me too much of a stretch. (Hmm...how many metaphors got mangled in that sentence?) I've also ruled out Pancho's killing Ulises in an attempt to put an end to Pancho's sexual identity crisis. Though almost nothing is truly improbable in Madhouse Marrero.

BTW, I've been unhappy with Aaron Diaz's performance all the way through this telenovela. As Jean said, there's just "scowling Santi" and "weepy Santi," and I got pretty tired of both early on. Adding crazy Santi to the mix doesn't add a new dimension either to the plot or to Diaz's uninspired performance.
 

This is just fabulous, Jean. You really came back to Marrero with a bang.

When we were recapping "El Talismán" (arguably one of the worst novelas ever made), we amused ourselves one day by making up Dr. Seuss titles for the story. I believe it was Julia who came up with "The Thorax" for Aaron D. I thought of that last night when he was lying on the couch, his bare back filling the camera frame. That is really his best angle.

I am completely at sea. I know longer know who the good guys are or even if there ARE any good guys. (I do hope someone finds Rene and rinses him off.) And yet I can't stop watching …

Hey, anon, welcome to the club!
 

Jean, Thanks for the recap and handy analysis.
Maybe the writers were taking tragos with Ivan in-between takes. There is too much now that makes no sense as we have all pointed out in assorted comments...

Such as ...
Why does Santi care if Santa liked him if he thought she was evil?

How did Alicia "decide" Rene wasn't Franco - a special head nod and wide eyed look?

How does letting Vicky into the "Pancho isn't dead club" necessary

Isn't the cabana ever going to be treated as a crime scene by some random police department?

When were the shower pics taken or photoshopped?

Could Transito have shot Uly in defense of Lucy? Just a stab in the dark, but with this TN it could happen.



 

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Thanks NovelaMaven. I've lurked for years now. Great job and bravo for doing a great service. I stopped watching SD and only follow the recaps. What if Santi has multiple personalities? Anyhoo, he's a nut job now.
 

Mena, I don't think Tránsito would harm Ulises because he's Victoria's brother and she (Victoria) loves him.
 

Great recap

Just wondering how Aaron Diaz's acting was in Teresa? he is blah here. His looks don't do a thing for me either.

I've just convinced myself, there are no good guys in Marrero. Humberto is just the best bad guy.
 

Thanks for all the nice comments. Sorry for the Ivan/Arturo confusion. After all this time, I still mix them up.

I reread last week's recaps after watching Friday's capitulo and recapping Monday's.

It seems to me that Ulises' killer has to be an apparently "good" character who is really bad and I am putting my money on Pancho. He had people following Bert that could have told him where Ulises was being held. There will be some crazy explanation about why. His sister Ines is crazy - maybe it runs in the family. There are just not that many people that would have provoked Ulises' happy reaction. Of course, I could be completely wrong.

I think it's too early (we're still only in ultimas semanas) for the Lisette/Arturo/Mara situation to be resolved. If Felipe isn't Arturo's child, Lisette could go bad again and Mara could have a telenovela miracle pregnancy that would give her baby the right to Horti's money.
If everyone has accepted Felipe as Horti's grandchild up to now, why the sudden need for a DNA test?
 

What if Lucy is faking and SHE shot Ulises? Not impossible in this show. And what happened to the pizza delivery guy theory? If any town has a secretly evil pizza place, it's Marrero.

I don't think Humberto really killed Vicente. he's covering for Santi for some unknown reason. Gotta root for someone and he's not the worst guy around!

Kelly

Side note- I just got an iphone and it doesn't want to let me publish to Caray. Anyone else had this issue?


 

I just submitted this comment from my iphone.
 

Kelly, some months ago I tried to send a message to Caray from my Nexus 7 tablet. The tablet is Android rather than iOS, but I thought I'd mention it anyway, because I had a terrible time trying to post to Caray. Eventually I gave up and reconciled myself to not being able to post while traveling. (But that wasn't as bad as when I was in China in October--I found that many blog sites were blocked, including CarayCaray, so I couldn't even follow the recaps.)
 

Thank you, Jean, for the awesome recap and welcome back!
Just a few random thoughts aftre all your pertinent comments:

Big bro Bert should take a page out of little bro's Santi seduction book and take the lady of his choosing OUTSIDE the house where half the cast leaves and teh other half regurarly comes to demand stuff/ exact revenge etc...
Even if Santa hadn't turned him down, they would have still been interrupted by Alicia. The guy needs a love shack fast!

The look on Ines' face when she realized Santi was actually willing to sleep with her - priceless!

If Felipe is Bert's son, Lisette has no idea, yet. I temember how we commented the fact that she was sleeping with both guys at the same time.
Maybe Felipe is Bert's, Lisette turns crazy again and declares that Ivan is, after all, Arturo's child.
It's not like Ivan has any kind of connections to the Canos, anyway. he's never been involved in theri crazy schemes, apart from some spying he did for Santa back in the day. A big waste, if you ask me, pairing him with boring Victoria.

Santa is totally falling for Bert. I don't understand what the writers are trying to do with him in all this new Santi story. He keeps mentioning how much he had to sacrifice for his brother and he comes off as totally unbelievable, because Santi has been nothing but a boring goody tow shoes for more than 100 episodes and Bert has been awesomely evil and amazing.

Begonia has got to be the worts secret plotter in Marerro; everyone she comes in contact with finds out that Pancho is alive. Who is next, Humberto?

I agree with everybody else that noyhing makes much sense anymore; but you have to hand it to the writer: he keeps us glued to the screen and the Grand Final is still a wild card.
 

My last post has a million typos! Never hit send BEFORE spell check!!!!
 

Kelly, I was wondering about what Bert was covering up for Santi too....

Re: Aaron in Teresa, he was a little more animated - note I said a little. Mr Mena remembers him in Teresa and in his words 'he was a wimp in that TN too!"
 

Well, after watching Tuesday's episode, I'm thinking that the DNA test on Felipe's parentage will indeed be significant. Lisette and Arturo were so excessively happy with each other last night...surely that signifies trouble ahead, at least for Lisette.
 

SANTA, Martes, Part 1

As usual, this will be out of order, and additions and corrections are welcome.

Ulises is dead. We see Pat bury the body. He thought no one else but Bert knew where Ulises was being tortured, but Bert remembered hearing a noise. I’m going to join with the wild predictions here by saying it might be Begoña! Yeah, I know she’s Santa’s Mom, but at least she 1) knew Ulises was involved 2) has a motive, as follows: She still hates the Canos. By being discovered, Ulises was screwing up Pancho’s plan, so she had to remove the loose lips. And the main reason she hates the Canos is that she still loves Willy! Okay, a bit of a stretch. But there it is.

Ulises’death is also bad for Bert. Not only does he not find out who’s been threatening him about Vicente, he also might get blamed for the death. In fact, Victoria, after finding out that Pancho’s alive, agrees to help, and goes to see Bert. She runs into Pat outside the house, and immediately realizes Pat and Bert are working together. And since Pat hated Ulises, Bert must be involved. She bursts right in and tells Bert that, even though Fran tells her to get out, and Bert tries to deny. When Pat calls from outside, asking permission to off Vicky, Bert says forget it! I’d be blamed. So Vicky can live (except for the cancer).

As someone pointed out, Lisette and Arturo are just so happy, their teeth so white, their smiles so bright.....that you know the DNA test will prove Felipe is NOT Art’s kid! Lisette even offers to let Art have full control of the money, all she needs is a little stipend to care for the baby, and Art can decide. Awwwww.

Daniela is royally pissed at Willy, and she leaving. She won’t live at Lisette’s, who knows where she’s going? Not me. And do I care?

Alicia wants a new makeover. She consults Elisa, make me look just like the woman in this picture. But Alicia, says Elisa, why would you want to look exactly like your SISTER BARBARA? Alicia ain’t sayin’. But she’s got another plan. Elisa won’t do it. Alicia says she’ll do it on her own. Elisa asks, are you firing me from my job? Oh no, says Ali, you’re my only friend. Can’t you just do it as my friend? That apparently makes it okay, and off they go to the beauty salon. Ali’s gonna pay for it with money she got from Bert (she conveniently doesn’t tell Elisa it was hush money).

Rene gets out of his ropes, cleans most of the gasoline off the floor. Tránsito arrives, what’s up, it smells like gasoline, that could be dangerous. Oh, yeah, well, replies Rene, a “friend”of mine asked me to watch his gasoline for a while, and I like, spilled it, you know. Hmmmm.

Fran has invited Dr. Murray, a big fat old doctor with white hair and glasses, to help with Santiago’s “problem”. I happened to be opposed to this, because I finally find Santi interesting. The whimper look, the outrage look, they weren’t doing anything for him. But the crazed look - this one’s a keeper. Apparently, in the past, Santi went “off”. Such as schizophrenia, or bipolar, something like that. And he’s getting there again. Santa notices it. So does Fran. Bert, too.
 

SANTA, Part 2

Santi has his new apartment, and he’s pleased as punch about it. Why? No clue. He gets his attorney, and they go to confront Bert at the law firm. Santi’s suing Bert for an accounting of the family fortunes. For the first time, Bert will have to answer for what he’s doing. Santi knows about the money from Franco, but Bert says it was from “Sebastian”, and how was he to know? Santi gives his new crazed look, saying see you in court.

Santa is not getting anywhere with willy. He pulls away from her, calls her a murderer, the usual. She half overhears Inés sort of coaching him about this, goes into a RAGE, screaming at Inés for poisoning her child’s mind, but this outburst sort of makes willy even more distant from her, as calm Inés reassures the little tyke. Alone, the two ladies face off, and Inés snidely fills Santa in on her night of love with Santiago, as Santa sinks deeper and deeper into despair (or her version of it, which is sort of half befuddlement).

Paula wonders what’s up with Willy and Daniela, having heard Dani berate Willy for not complying with his promise to take her away. Willy also has to kiss Barb a few more times, his plan is getting a bit messy. Willy also seeks out Alicia, and they have sex, I guess this takes his mind off Dani and Barb.

Pancho is very sad about the fact that he involved Ulises, and fears the worst. As I indicated above, Vicky’s now on the team, which may help a bit, as she has nothing to lose. She tells Pancho that Pat was out there, and Pancho’s surprised, thought Pat was in Federal prison. I guess he hasn’t been keeping up with the department’s twitter feed.

Okay, I’ll admit it, this was a slow night. Nobody’s in the hospital, there was no murder last night, nobody’s in jail, what’s up?

But we still have LOTS of secrets. And are they really going to make Alicia look like Bárbara? Stay tuned.
 

wow, thanks Hombre!

so no one tells Victoria that Patricio is on the loose (and Pancho doesn't know as well) and she runs into him outside of the Cano's, where the (not so secretive police) are staking out Humberto, which lets her blast right in and accuse Humberto, and lets us see those faces he does. I was impressed, she's good for the team.

haha, Alicia wants to look like Barbara, (and I'm trying to imagine 2 Barbaras walking around, wow, this should help Daniela a lot. (but shouldn't she be going to Rene's doctor instead)

I cracked up seeing Rene on his hands and knees cleaning up the gasoline, and Transito's puzzled look.

wow, and Willy's commitment to take Daniela away, but that was over two years ago, he tells Paula, (yeah, give the guy some slack) but then Paula reminds him, yeah, but she was a minor and you were sleeping with Begona and married to Santa at the time.

did Willy really sleep with Alicia, I thought that was her Barbara interruptus dream that prompted her to get the new makeover, Willy who seems to genuinely want to turn his life around and care for his new family, is just falling into one hole after the other.

I actually like the Santa / Santiago characters, alone they would be worthless, but their across-the-room romance seems to anchor all of the other stories so well.

 

Great recap, Hombre. I agree that it was a slow night.
Pancho didn't know that Pat escaped from his prison transport?
Pancho's idea of following Bert is to put a regular police car outside the Cano house but with its lights(and siren, presumably) off??

Your usual telenovela hero doesn't have a mental illness. How are they going to get past this one to have Santi and Santa live happily ever after (and I believe that they will)? I suppose it could be a brain tumor or something.

After making a big deal about the fact that no one must know about Santi's problem except her and Bert, Fran tells Dr Murray (I swear that yesterday, they called him Dr. Muller) that she wants to commit (internar) Santi and Santa overhears.

At one point, Vicente wanted to commit Inés. Maybe she and Santi could go to the nuthouse together.
 

Deb and Jean, thanks for the corrections. Yes, I forgot, Alicia just dreamed of sleeping with Willy.

I'm not sure if it's Dr. Muller or Dr. Murray. One thing I am sure of is, despite the fact that Fran said no one must find out about Santi's secret illness, I'm guessing EVERYONE will know in 4-5 episodes, tops!
 

Many thanks, Hombre. Great recap of a so-so episode. I'm interested to hear that Santi's crazed look works for you. It doesn't do a thing for me, any more than his whimper or outraged looks did. Indeed, I sometimes find it hard to tell them apart.

In a way, I guess Santa and Santi are made for each other. They have very similar looks: whimper (or, as you put it so well, half-befuddlement), outrage, and crazed. I think Santa's his real twin, not Alicia.

As for Alicia, I agree with deb's great comment: if Alicia wants to look like Barbara, she should go see Rene's doctor!

Jean wrote: "Your usual telenovela hero doesn't have a mental illness. How are they going to get past this one to have Santi and Santa live happily ever after..." I'm wondering whether this is going to turn into a PSA about the importance of taking one's meds. Blech.


 

Thank you, Hombre

The last few days Humberto has been acting like he is some sort of saviour of the Canos and "it was all Santi's fault".
What is this talk about him becoming a lawyer because of Santi?
Are they trying to completely turn around everything we know about these characters? We've seen Bert kill several people, not to mention all his other evil deeds.
Is Santa really falling for him? This seems like such a stretch.
Could Santo have someone locked up in that room of his? Did Francisca have triplets? One was ugly, so she gave it away, one was beautiful, so she kept it , one was crazy, so she kept it locked in a cellar. This could totally work.
Now Santi's other twin - SantiDos has managed to kidnap Santo Uno and is keeping him in that room, while he wrecks havoc all over town. And Bert only thinks he was helping SantiUno, because he doesn't know that SantoDos exists.

 

Martes

Great job, Hombre. I actually thought this was one of the more interesting episodes.

This writer is a bit of an armchair shrink and likes playing with psychiatric diagnoses. Didn't we have an evil, crazy twin show up in a recent show (LCDAL) when we were all speculating about multiple personality disorder? I'm liking periodic psychotic breaks here -- either schizophrenia or severe bipolar disorder in which the mania is psychotic.

Bert tells Santi he is tired of taking the rap for him, that Santi is the true rotten apple in the family. So how do we reconcile that with with terrible things we've actually see Bert do? Cause if Bert is the good one in the family -- oy vey.

The kid is making up for his -what, 4 months - of silence now. He's very convincing as a horrible brat. What an actor!
 

Tks Hombre

Ja, ja Adriana Noel
This thing is totally nuts, but I love it.

I agree S&S will end up together, but on the funny farm.
 

If Alicia wants to look like her sister, how are they going to disguise the missing eye? But hey, I'd like to look like Barb too.
 

SANTA, Miércoles, Part 1

Here we go, off the rails again! We finally find out a little about Santiago’s past. Apparently, Bert HAS been covering for him his whole life, getting him out of situations. In fact, the other day, when Bert (without admitting anything) said something to Santa like “all the things I did, I had no choice”, I ‘m almost starting to believe him. Almost.

We see a flashback in Bert’s mind of Bert and Santi, about 8 years old, not much older than willy, as Fran gives Santi a (black) cat. Bert gets no present. Next day, Santi is sitting down outside, holding the cat, which is DEAD. Little Bert says, you killed it, right? Santi goes, yeah, we’ll he scratched me, I had to. Hmmm. When Fran comes on the scene, Santi tells her, Bert killed my cat. Bert stays silent. Whoa!

And it continues to the present day, as Bert replays the scene of his murdering Vicente in his mind. Yes, Bert did chop off the head with a samurai sword. But Santi was there, too! He goes, thanks, bro. Bert says, I did it for you. That guy was causing too many problems for you. You know I’ll always protect you. Double Whoa!!

Meanwhile, Inés is up to some more of her sick tricks. She observes that Barb is going to get dressed up for a hot date (with Willy). As Barb goes into the shower, Inés sneaks in with a big scissors, and cuts all Barb’s expensive dresses to ribbons!! She then sneaks right out with willy, time for another walk in the park. No one else even knew she was in the house. So Barb comes out of the shower, and goes bananas upon seeing all her ruined outfits. She screams, runs downstairs to complain to her Mom, and since Santa is the only other person around, blames her. I’ll KILL you, she roars. Santa thinks she’s nuts (we agree). Fran doesn’t even say that Santa had been talking with her for the last 10 minutes. Santa had been trying to get Fran to open up about why Dr. Murray might have to commit Santi. Fran stayed mum. After Santa leaves to ask someone else about Santi, Barb tells Fran, you know what I’m capable of! Apparently LOTS of the Cano’s have murders in their past!

Inés calls Alicia to gloat, telling her the idea of cutting up Barb’s dresses worked perfectly in their plan to destroy Santa (and Barb, too). We also see Barb applying some make-up gel to her cheekbones. I think Inés messed with this, too, because later, it’s all red! Can she blame Santa for that, too?

But not all is smiles for Alicia. She DOES get that Barb makeover, but is it me, or doesn’t she look the same except for slightly puffier hair, and a slightly sexier dress? I mean, Barb is 6 inches taller, way curvier, and has dark hair. Well, Alicia’s still feeling pretty good about herself, telling willy she looks just like Barb now, right? Little willy sort of agrees, but he wants to see under that patch. Oh no, replies Alicia, it’d be too scary. Willy says of course not, nothing scares me, and we’re pals. C’mon, show me. So, reluctantly, Alicia moves aside the patch, and oyyyyyyy, willy is horrified. So much for that plan, as Alicia fights back the tears.
 

SANTA, Part 2

At Pancho’s house, Tránsito, Begoña and Vicky are there, Pancho says to Vicky, I’m really worried that something happened to Ulises, please forgive me. And sure enough, some kids find the body, and Pancho gets the call. He’s dead. Shaking, he tells Vicky, who is hurt, of course, but it sort of makes her stronger. She’s lost her mother, her father, her brother Carlos, and now Ulises. She leaves with Tran and Begoña for the morgue. Pancho curls up in a little ball, covers himself with his jacket, weeping, saying I’m sorry Ulises, I’m so sorry, I miss you so much.

At the morgue, it’s time to ID the body. Tran and Begoña tell Vicky it’s okay if she doesn’t want to look, but she does. She looks. It’s him. As Tránsito cries, and Begoña looks somber (I’m still a little suspicious of her, but I’m probably wrong), Vicky gets defiant. First she tells Ulises she hopes to meet him soon in heaven, and maybe Carlos will be there, too (don’t hold your breath). But before she goes, she’s going to get REVENGE on Patricio and Bert. She knows they’re both involved, and if it’s the last thing she does (it might be), she’s going to make them PAY.

Alicia cries on Elisa’s shoulder again. Yes, the makeover was cool, and she’s going to get lots and lots of money from Bert. But it’s not enough. She needs to do something about the eye. Hire the best plastic surgeon in the world, she’s going to fix that problemito that’s been dragging her down all these years! As others have pointed out, Rene might know someone.

Lisette tries to drag Iván back to the world of the living, telling him he’s like the walking dead, is this what Vicky would want? He’s got to get himself together, and LIVE with Vicky, even if it’s not that long. Iván continues to be a baby.

Lucy is waking up. She keeps repeating Pancho’s name. This time the nurses also hear her say “chief of police”. “He’s alive.” What can it all mean? Since the nurses are not on the weekly payroll, we’ll have to wait.

Santiago goes to his mysterious rented room, No. 8, and talks to someone, who doesn’t seem to answer. Huh? Later, he shows up with a big bruise on his cheek, as if he was in a fight. Santa wants to know what happened. Did he fight with Bert? Bert enters (they’re in the mansion at this point). Santa asks Santi about Dr. Murray, which REALLY sets Santi off. He’s here? And who knows?!!! Santi turns red, grabs a fork, and JAMS it into Bert’s shoulder! He then staggers out. Santa is shocked, wants Bert to go to a hospital, but he won’t. After she pulls the fork out, he’s still not answering anything, even though earlier, Santa had really kissed him passionately, and almost got him to open up. But so far, all he’s saying is, cure me, Santa. Cure me. Is that even POSSIBLE?
 

Thanks Hombre -- wonderful, as usual!

" Fran stayed mum." Yeah. That's the only kind of "mum" we're going to see out of Fran.

But seriously -- Santi FORKED his brother? And apparently not for the first time?

I absolutely love the insane direction this is all taking --

Tough vigilante Victoria, who of course is going after the wrong man (though both of her targets have left a trail of bodies -- just not Uli's)

Lucy back in play (loved your line here: "Since the nurses are not on the weekly payroll, we’ll have to wait."

Barb is so awful, even Fran is appalled by her self-involvement

Alicia uses willy as a test case and confirms her worst fears about her appearance.

I feel kind of sorry for Willy. He should take his baby girl and get out of Marrero. hell. Everyone should get out of Marrero. It has become a psycho-criminal Love Canal. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY, PEOPLE!
 

wow again Hombre!

I didn't really get who killed the cat, thanks for breaking that down, and for the after chat at Vicente's farewell. Whoa is right, [this reminds me of Catherine Siachoque in ¿Dónde Está Elisa?, she was so bonkers but she had me thinking, well, what choice did she have] and now here I sit with Santa, could Humberto be... (love it when an actor can pull off the many layers of crazy)

and that Francisca can really come up with the faces, especially that twist she had when Barbara says, "and you know what I'm capable of".

and Carlos Ponce does the fork-in-the-shoulder thing better than I've ever seen it (not that I have ever seen it before)

I was thinking Diabla (willy's favorite name for her) has been coaching Ines on Barbara, she said once, "Barbara is so predictable", and then later when Barbara, in a dress from Francisca that was so not Barbara, was latching on to Willy, he noticed her face getting red, and she took off, not able to let anyone see her not being perfect,

maybe there is something in Marrero's water.

 

"and Carlos Ponce does the fork-in-the-shoulder thing better than I've ever seen it (not that I have ever seen it before)"

HAHAHAHAHA

Deb, you kill me! Well not literally, of course. (Can't be too careful around here.)
 

Can't be too careful what you say here in Marrero!

I'm impressed with Ines' scissor skills. That was a lot of fabric to go through in only 5 minutes. Wonder if the looney bin has a seamstress program. Without actual scissors or needles or anything sharp of course.

Poor Willy. He looks like he'd rather be back in Vicente's basement. It'd be safer.

But thankfully Victoria is done being a wuss. Because that is exactly what this show needs: More vengeance!

Kelly
 

"Because that is exactly what this show needs: More vengeance!"

[Snort]
 

Wow!! Super recap, Hombre.

Maybe Babs takes really long showers but I agree that Ines didn't have much time to cut up all those clothes AND do something to Babs' makeup to make her face turn red.

I love your suggestion about triplets, Adriana Noel. I think that must be the case. I don't see how any failure to take meds can excuse being an accessory to murder. There has to be a bad Santi who scowls and forks people and a good Santi who is weepy and plays the saxaphone.

The only way that I thought Alicia looked like Babs was the dark lipstick and more eye makeup. Why didn't she dye her hair? I'm surprised she hasn't considered plastic surgery before.

We must be heading for a time jump here. Plastic surgery takes time and Paula hasn't even begun to show yet. I assume that she will have her baby before this ends.

But who knows. This novela is so crazy.
 

Hombre, Thanks for the great recap - funny and informative. I had a hard time catching some of the dialogue.

Santa Diablitas-- All the comments are hilarious and insightful for a pathologically un-insightful group of characters.

Bert and Pat did torture Uly, so if Vicky mistakenly offs one of them, she might get off the karmic hook for unjustifiable homicide.

So, let me get this right, we are supposed to believe that Mr Morality Santi, after Vicente's death, was really a sociopathic witness to his murder by Bert at the same time? I am beginning to wonder if Santi really did kill Franco's wife in Guatemala in one of his psycho rages. And if Bert became a lawyer because of Santi's psycho-ness, maybe it helped because he couldn't be required to testify against his client / family.

Someone please slap Ivan - snap out of it already!

I really like the twists and turns. If they weren't writing as they go, they could have made it a little more believable and it would be a terrific novel novela.
 

Thank you, Hombre, recapping all this campiness and trying to make it have sense is not easy.

Mena, I agree with you that if they would have built up to Santi's double personality from the first few episodes, things would have been more realistic now. We are supposed to believe that Santa's betrayal triggered this, but it really makes no sense.
Could this be a huge rewrite done because Humberto was much more likable? Normally, I would be sure of it, but this writer always goes for the unexpected/ illogical, so who knows...

I loved the scene at the end when Humberto asked Santa to cure him, since she is a nurse, after all.
I think he was going for flirty, but Santa just had the same stare she always has - slightly shocked and 100% NOT on top of anything that is going on around her.

So, Alicia changed her hair style and now she's practiacally Barbie's twin? She didn't even change her hair color, for God's sake!

 

Gracias Hombre,

" So, reluctantly, Alicia moves aside the patch, and oyyyyyyy, willy is horrified. So much for that plan, as Alicia fights back the (tears)." Hombre, that s/b tear (one eye).

We saw Humberto holding the sword after the beheading Of Vicente, but maybe he had just taken it away from Santi.
 

They are contstantly rewriting the great beheading, so I have no idea what is what anymore.

I distinctly remember Humberto's face when they all found the head in the Cano dining room. He looked truly horrified - like he actually had nothing to do with it being placed there.
Has he thought about why he placed the head there or told anyone about it? If not, I'm guessing that Santi, in his twistiness, did this to shock everybody. I think part of his desease is being a sadistic freak ( the cat killing, stabbing Bert with a fork - not life threatening, but surely painful).

I haven't yet watched last night's show, so I don't know what happened, but I hope we find out the whole truth sooner rather than later because all this guessing is giving me a headache.
 

SANTA DIABLA... Thursday (epi 119)
part 1

*casa Cano

"Cure me"
Humberto says to nurse Santa,
as she patches up his fork wound.

as he is working on Santa to see the real Santiago,
he reminds her of the earlier photos she saw,
when he had a gun.

*casa Diabla
mother Elisa and Alicia chat,
she agrees to find the best plastic surgeon in Marrero.

*casa Victoria
Begona and Transito don't want to leave Victoria alone,
but she insists,
and after they leave, Victoria picks up a shirt of Ulises,
breathes in his smell,
and breaks down crying.

*casa Cano
Barbara rushes in, hiding her face,
Ines smiles.

*room 8
Santiago slides through the door, making sure no one is watching,
and we hear a one sided conversation,
this is for your good, and mine, no one must ever know about this place, blah, blah...
what?

*casa Cano
Santa finishes patching him up as Humberto tells her,

everything I have said is true,
and everything I have done I did because I didn't have a choice,
believe me,

Santiago is violent, dangerous,
but you choose not to believe me,
get away from him, get him out of your head.

and he leaves her bedroom,

she follows leaning against the closed door,
he stops, turns, and leans on the other side,
te amo, Santa,
I love you with all of my heart,
I want to spend the night with you,
open the door, Santa, he quietly pleads,
slowly her hand turns the...

but falls away.


*casa Lisette
oh happy days!
Arturo and Mara pamper the baby and Lisette flutters around,

the Padre with the estate lawyer arrive, with the good news,
but the Padre hesitates,
and everyone leans in awaiting to hear what he has to say...

aaa...

Felipe's dna is not compatible with Arturo,
what,,,, quietly gasps Lisette, tears and confusion fill her eyes,
(not a good day for this crowd)

*casa Diabla
Willy arrives, it was YOU, he accuses Alicia,
responsible for cutting up Barbara's clothes, and then her face,
Alicia smiles,

but it's not permanent,
it's a resin from a poisonous plant,
(and we see Barbara at home smearing tons more on her face to get rid of the rash)

but later it will be acid, says Alicia.
this gets Willy's attention.

*casa Ivan
Transito walks in on Ivan's binge
and let's him know about Ulises death,

*police station
Ines drops by to file a child abuse complaint against Santa,
she begs/pleads for help,
and uses the recording of willy saying he hates his mother as proof,
this will be anonymous, right, she asks,
and leaves the station with an eye roll and a smile.

 

SANTA DIABLA... Thursday (epi 119)
part 2

*casa Cano
Santiago rushes into Santa's bedroom,
red eyes and tears, HELP, he pleads,
they are planning to hurt me,
they?,
it's Humbero, he hates me,
and my mother,
I just don't want to be like them,
does this have to do with Dr. Murray, Santa asks,
yes, please help me, he begs,
(is Santa buying this)
(are we buying this)
then she gets a call, and breaks away,
it's Begona, Ulises is dead,
it has to be Humberto who did it.

*casa Lisette
when asked by the Padre, Lisette admits,
she was with Humberto the night before the wedding...
(and did she also say, but I was thinking of being in YOUR arms)
and runs to her room,
Mara follows, we need to talk, woman to woman.

and you need to tell Humberto.

*casa Diabla,
so Willy makes a deal with the Devil,
he, his son and Alicia, will be together,
but...
Santa will always be his willy's mother,
of course,
the Devil smiles and she seals it with a kiss.

*casa Victoria,
Ivan arrives,
Victoria is blunt, your father, Humberto, is responsible,
ok, a quiet/confused and hungover Ivan,
offers to go with her to the viewing,
while she is out the door, he is still standing there.

*G-Cano
Humberto, on one side of the big desk,
meets with Francisca and Dr. Murray, on the other side,
they discuss Santiago, with strong overtones of not letting IT happen again,
Humberto wants to grab Santiago now, by surprise, and get him under the doctors care,
Francisca hesitates,
are you going to sacrifice the whole family for one son, Humberto wants to know,
Francisca wants time to think about it,
any blood spilled will be your responsibility, Humberto warns her.

*hospital
Elisa and Alicia meet with the plastic surgeon,
at last you will have the face of your dreams, mother Elisa tells her,
things don't always turn out 'optimum', the surgeon reminds them, what?
(like that Barbara makeover she got)

*casa Cano
Francisca arrives home,
finishing a chat with Dr. Murray, on her phone,
she drops her purse and phone on the table and walks off,
Ines slides in and redials the doctor on Francisca's phone,
I'm the wife of Santiago, we need to talk,
and they arrange to meet.

*church, Ulises viewing,
(I would think by now someone would look in the coffin to see what's in there)

Ivan is confused by Victoria,
Transito tells him she is fighting the cancer for REVENGE,

Santiago arrives,
(all in black anyway, he didn't have to change,
like most of the town)
he gives Victoria his condolences,

next Santa and (I'm with her) Humberto arrive,
ut oh,

Victoria calmly walks up to Humberto's face, and announces to everyone,
"here is the reason for the funeral",

"he KILLED my brother!"

(is that a smile on Santiago's face?)

 

Thanks, Deb, for the great recap.

I'm taking credit for calling the Lisette/Felipe DNA development. Now we'll see if my further prediction - that Mara will have a miracle televnovela pregnancy - will happen.

Willy's face as he realized that he has hooked up with a nut job was priceless. He has to humor her or who knows what she will do.

I figure that Alicia's plastic surgery will either be total success so that you can't tell that she ever had a problem (I don't know how they could fake someone having a glass eye, though) OR it will be a total disaster and she will have to wear a mask over her whole face.

So something happened 20 years ago that convinced Fran and Bert that Santi is dangerously crazy. They weren't too concerned about it when he came back to town.

The attempt in last night's episode to fill in this gap with the flashback to Bert showing Santa the pictures of Santi with a gun was a nice try except that we know that Santi was just trying to deal with the threats from Franco and was hardly homicidal.

Mutiple personality disorder seems like a definite possibility.
 

This comment has been removed by the author.
 

Thanks, Deb, another super recap! I love your subtle comments, too.

Yes, I think there's no one else in Room 8 but Santiago. And Santiago. And he's talking to himself. But did he hit himself in the face the other day?

At this point, we have all sorts of villains, but besides Pat, none of them are all bad. And Pat is sort of weakened.

We have Bert, but he's turning over a new leaf, and always HAD to do his evil;

Fran, but what has she ever done, besides kept a lot of things secret (and they always seem to come out);

Alicia, but she keeps crying and never seems to be tough anymore;

Ines, bonkers, killed a few people, but none of the main cast;

Barbara, but she's really getting payback these days;

Lisette is nice now.

Vicente, Horti, Franco, Carlos, all major villains, are all dead.

The biggest problem now is who Santa is going to choose: flawed Santi or flawed Bert. Looking at her blank expression, this could take a while. She is beautiful, though. And when social services takes away her kid, you just know she'll react totally wrong, and make things worse. As usual :)
 

Loved your recap, Deb. I was especially happy to see you included this last line:

"(is that a smile on Santiago's face?)"

I was yelling at Santa to look at Santi at that moment, but for some reason, she paid no attention to me.

Yes, Jean. You guessed the DNA results! But how about this?

--Since there is no grandchild, Horti's estate reverts to Arturo

--Arturo loves Felipe and still wants joint custody with Lisette. They work out a deal. (Or alternatively, Lisette GIVES Felipe to Arturo and Mara.)

Alicia could die (young) on the table and leave a beautiful corpse.

I bet Santi DID kill Margarita. In fact he probably only got involved with her in the first place because he knew who she was.

I want to see that raspberry pink smirk wiped off Ines' face. I wonder who will get to do it...
 

I totally don't agree that Bert is "turning over a new leaf" or that he was somehow forced to do evil things. I bet Bert did whatever was the bad thing 20 years ago and blamed it on Santi. Bert let Franco get buried alive! He didn't have to kill Franco that way even if you argue that it was no big deal to kill a narco like Franco to get money for the Cano's.

I'm just not buying that that the hero of the novela can be a murderer even if he has multiple personality disorder.

Novela Maven: My recollection is that Horti left her estate to her grandchild - if there is no grandchild, the estate doesn't necessarily revert to Arturo. It might go to some charity or something. I agree that Arturo might end up with Felipe and the miracle telenovela baby that I still think that Mara will have. Instant family.
 

Jean:

"I'm just not buying that that the hero of the novela can be a murderer even if he has multiple personality disorder."

I don't know. Showing Santi as a sadistic kid was pretty convincing. I'm not buying into Humberto's innocence, but I'm seeing more of a folie à deux kind of thing going on -- two wild and crazy brothers :)

As for Horti's estate, I suppose she could have named another heir (like silent Petra, say), but that would be news to us. In the absence of a specific bequest, wouldn't her money revert to her next of kin?
 

I think the insanity of Marerro is rubbing off on me because I chuckled reading about the "fork wound" and checking the coffin. I'd normally be against open-casket funerals, but they should be standard practice here, just in case.

I don't think Santi is the good guy anymore. He's evil, Humberto is flawed, but the good guy is now Willy. All the crap he's gone through and he's still not fully on board with his own revenge on Barbara plan and Alicia's addition to it. And he's still more concerned about his child than any other parent here, except for Lisette and Arturo. Not concerned enough yet to go get willy out of that house, but hopefully that's coming soon.

Do Ines and Alicia realize that even if CPS takes the boy from Santa, he still has a father to go to and neither of them have any claim on him? Does it matter? No. Why let reality spoil a good plan?

Kelly
 

Kelly, I loved your line
.....I'd normally be against open-casket funerals, but they should be standard practice here, just in case

NM, agree that Santi may very well have killed "Gloria" (Margarita was Franco's unrequited love back in the slums before narcosuccessfulness. Loved your line
...I want to see that raspberry pink smirk wiped off Ines' face. I wonder who will get to do it..

LOL
 

great comments all!

I guess the jury's still out on Santiago, awaiting new evidence,
who killed Ulises?

an interesting point I read at TW,
did Santiago return to Marrero just to ruin Humberto's wedding?
and has he been stalking Santa all along,
just to twist the knife a little more into his brother.

 

I still say Humberto didn't kill Vicente, Santi did it & Hum took the sword away from him. Now how do I excuse burying Franco alive or killing the 3 guys that had sth to do with jailing Willy Sr.? Tough, we saw him shoot one of those guys, or did we? He hired s/b to kill the other 2 or did he? I so want to have Hum come out a good guy, but it's difficult. I don't know why he would kill Ulises.

Killing the cat makes Santi a psycho, so if he is capable of that, he is capable of anything.

I wasn't too impressed with Aaron Diaz' performance begging Santa for help, it was just an acceleration of his usual teary, red eyes.
Carlos Ponce can do low key & convincing acting.
Espino is so low key that she isn't trying to put on a convincing performance, she can't act so she doesn't.
 

I wonder if Santi had anything to do with Ines' mom"s "disappearance? There was never a real back story on what happened to Ines's mom. I wonder if Vicente would have known this, or, was told something else, or the Cano's covered up the story of Ines's mom and somehow Vicente took over the care of Ines. The writers left that story line completely open.

Just another crazy possibility from those crazy Marrero kids.
















 

It wouldn't be that much of a surprise if our story didn't have the traditional telenovela happy ending. If fact, many of the Telemundo ones from recent years have not. Besides the drug ones, we had Alguien Te Mira, in which, while the main bad guy died, the guy and girl did not get married, and were sort of just friends, and there was a hint of a new generation of evil.

In La Casa de al Lado, the ending was quite mixed, with one of the main bad guys going right back to his old tricks.

In Relaciones Peligrosas, I think the main woman had to spend years in prison before she could restart her life with the young guy.

So, forget about Santa and Santi with a big wedding. Won't happen. I have no clue what will happen, and the writer always surprises us. Besides, after last night, Santiago looks as if he was strongly involved in Vicente's murder, and in the placing of the head on the dining room table, which ended up convicting Santa, right? If he was so innocent, how could he do that?

The mysteries continue!
 

Interesting comment, Hombre. I confess that I never saw Santi as the hero and had no expectations of a happy ending (though I do hope that it doesn't go too dark with willy -- these guys seem very fond of The Bad Seed theme).

I have always seen this show as Santa in CanoLand (or maybe Santa Does Bert, but that's stretching it. In any case, Santa and Humberto are the major presences for me.

I have a hunch that Lázaro will be the latest victim. In fact, now that I think of it -- this show doesn't have a single hero, but a series of them, each one getting to wear the Burger King crown for a set number of episodes. Then the hero of the moment becomes the martyred hero and the story moves on.
 

NovelaMaven, ITA agree with your opinion about the ending of the tn - from early on I had my suspicions that this might not have a regular happy ending.
And then, as I fell in love with Humberto and got every day more turned off by Santi's wippy eyes, I started rooting for the bad guy to end up with the heroine.
Now, with a few episodes left until the gran final, I would say anything is possible for the trio and for many of the other cast members.

Take Victoria, for example: she has been nothing but a boring character ever since the beginning and now, as we're waiting for her to die, she gets her revenge on and starts threatening the great Humberto Cano in a room full of people.

I think we've lost Lazaro, too. RIP
 

How did Lazaro happen to be listening outside Santi's apt, I missed something important and/or deadly.
 

This is a great site. I read the wonderful comments and I just wanted to put my two cents in with regards to this crazy novela.

I really believe that Franco came back and is now the evil "Santiago". I also think he kidnapped the real Santiago and is holding him captive in that room. Humberto, in my opinion, is the one with the mental illness and is hallucinating seeing Santiago in the room with him when he killed Vicente. It could be that all the flashbacks of Humberto as a child with Santiago are what he thinks happened instead of what actually happened. Humberto maybe hated Santiago so much because their mother seemed to prefer Santiago. The tragedy they refer to in the past could be about the cat and who killed it. I say it was Humberto but he blamed Santiago. Who knows, I may be way off but that to me would make sense in the end. If the evil Santiago we see is Franco returning from the dead , he is there to exact revenge on Humberto, Santiago and maybe think he can win Santa's heart in the end.
 

Variopinta, Alicia asked Elisa to spy on Santi, see what he's up to, because she knew that Fran was planning to get him in the nuthouse.
Because of all the problems that Mara is having with Arturo and Felipe, Lazaro offered to spy on Santi for Elisa, both thinking that Santi is so harmless, nothing bad could really happen. Also, I believe Lazaro didn't feel quite right letting Elisa do the job - no matter the reasons, spying on someone is wrong.

Anonymous at 01:07 - your idea is interesting. Franco inpersonating Santi - another plastic surgery, you mean?
Most of us really prefer Humberto to weepy Santi, so the fact that Santi might be evil after all and Bert not all bad, but rather grey, is kind of interesting to watch.
 

Tks Adriana Noel ,I totally missed that, must have dozed off.
 

Adriana,

I too prefer Humberto to Santiago but I just cannot see them ending this in any other way but to make Humberto the real villain. I do hope I am wrong though. We'll see.
 

Santa Diabla Capitulo 120

Part 1

Friday’s capitulo was choppy, choppy, choppy….

As Viewerville’s couch and the screen warm up, Vicky starts up accusing Bert of Uly’s murder. Vicky has developed a convincing mad dog stare in Bert’s direction.

Ines is on the phone with Dr Mystery Murray claiming she is Santi’s wife and has the right to know what is wrong with Santi. Dr Mystery agrees to meet Ines to talk.

A knock at the Cano Castle leads to greetings by a court officer and the delivery of a letter (likely Santi’s promised subpoena) to Bert. Fran puzzles over the letter. She hollers for Barbara – albeit clearly not for Barb’s keen sense of business – and climbs the stairs to her room to discover a very red-faced Barb. Barb’s entire face has a raging fiery irritation – a result of Ines’ dastardly tampering with Barb’s expensive face cream – and a devastated and mystified Barb cannot bear to see herself.

Back at the funeral Santi studies the scenario, glancing at Santa and Bert and Vicky. An unexpected guest arrives – the undead Pancho – and shocks the attendees. Pancho begs for forgiveness to Uly’s coffin and expresses his regret for being so selfish in his quest to find Vicente’s killer. Predictably, Pancho swears he will find Uly’s killer – adding to his killers-to-find-to-do list which includes: Vicente, Uly, Franco, George, Ricardo, two random town hookers, Carlos and a small black cat.

Ines meets Dr Mystery in local park and demands to know what is up with Santi – or, quien es mas loco Santi or Ines. Dr Murray tries to exercise proper medical confidentiality while Ines exercises proper medical crazies and threatens Dr Murray. He capitulates just enough to warn Ines to get as far away from Santi as possible!

Slipping out of the funeral, Bert calls Pat to report that Pancho is alive. They surmise that it must have been Pancho working with Uly trying to prove Bert killed Vicente.

Freshly humiliated Lisette heads out for the day to look for the alleged baby daddy, Bert, at the Cano Castle.

Back at the funeral Santi offers to help Pancho find the killer i.e. trap Bert. He tells Pancho that he knows all about Bert’s secrets and proceeds to list a variety of Bert’s alleged bad deeds (money laundering and narco dealing). Santi suggests that the newly discovered Franco2 is really Franco1 and that Bert is using this to his advantage. Santi informs Pancho that Franco2 is living at the Trebol del Oro.

 

Part 2

Pancho takes the info and quickly organizes the Marerro PoPo and stages a raid at the place. Franco2 tries to make it out the door, but the very clever Chief Pancho reminds Franco2 that he knows there is a back door to the Trebol del Oro. Chief Pancho is no fool. Franco2 is hauled off to jail while the real escapee Pat stands in the shadows and watches. Franco2 demands he be allowed to make his one phone call. Franco2 has seen American TV and he knows that every prisoner is allowed one phone call.

Back at Cano Castle, Bert and Santa chat about the afternoon’s haps. Bert suspects that Santa knew Pancho was really alive. Just in the knick of inquiry-avoiding-time, Lisette shows up demanding private time to talk to Bert. Having no convenient interruptions or diversions, Bert is forced to retire to his office to discuss possible paternity with Lisette. Their discussion evolves into a Murray Povitch Show style exchange complete with “How do I know you weren’t with anyone else?” Bert is livid at the possibility that Lisette is creating this situation to ruin Bert’s retread on his relationship with Santa. Lisette regresses a little into a less spiritual version of her new self and threatens Bert to go along with the DNA test ASAP or she will make his life miserable. Santa finally barges in with the excuse of asking if everything is okay. Lisette flounces out the front door and Bert dismisses the conversation as an irrelevant detail. Luckily a convenient interruption by way of a phone call from Pat gets Bert out of explaining more to Santa. Pat has called to announce that the undead Pancho has raided the Trebol del Oro and arrested Rene. Bert and Pat worry that Rene could spill their frijoles to the police. Bert hangs up, throws the phone and in a hilarious moment of dark humor asks “Can’t I get a little peace?”

Ines returns to Diabla1’s place to report the news that Santi is supposedly a dangerous and crazy man. She is having difficulty believing this because Santi is the most sensible, sweet and sane person Ines knows – which is not the best reference Santi could be given if you know what I mean. Ines asks Alicia if she knows about the Dr Mystery from the lifetime of videos that George provided. Alicia is as unaware of the veracity of this possible plot turn as is viewerville.

Santi has returned to the Apartment 8. Santi slips into his new man cave and closes the door. Viewerville hears his one-way conversation that Santi won’t let mystery person ever leave Apt 8 and do anyone any harm ever again. Mystery person will stay locked up for sure! Hmmmm.

Elisa pays Diabla1 a visit. They talk plastic surgery and her possibly insane twin. Diabla2 manages to convince Elisa to follow Santi to learn if Santi is really crazy. Elisa goes along with the plan.

Lucy is alive and loud as ever sitting up in the hospital. She and Transito discuss the newly discovered undead Pancho. Lucy reams Uly anew (over his part in her accident and breakup and whatever else she can think of) until Transito tells her that er, Uly was murdered. Cara impactada.

 

Part 3

Post Trebol del Oro raid, Pancho talks “suspects” with Vicky and Begona at the police station. Pancho dispels the idea that Bert killed Uly because the autopsy proved he is the wrong suspect. In fact, “Bert was in his house at the same estimated time Uly was shot. The police in the cruiser planted outside Bert’s house can prove this. Vicky – no dummy that gumshoe woman –suggests that Bert had Pat do it for him. Chief Pancho considers this might be a good idea after all. Virtually no discussion occurs between these genius gumshoes about Uly being beaten to a pulp or electrocuted to ashes. But, Chief Pancho now says he has a foolproof way to get Bert to admit his guilt. Finally?!?

Back at Cano Castle, Fran wonders to Bert about Barb’s trials and tribulations. Bert nixes the idea that it could have been Santa’s doing. Fran hands Bert the letter that was delivered. Cara impactada and a lot of groserias pass through Bert’s mind. He shuts himself in his office, whiskey in hand and ruminates. He remembers the night Vicente was whacked. Bert slices, Santi claps and Bert says he did it for Santi. Santi tells Bert they must now proceed to place Vicente’s newly decapitated head on the dining room table for all to see. Bert cannot escape because he is part of this plan. WTQ?

Over at Paula’s house, Willy worries about Barb?! Paula gets a call – Franco2 has used his one call to call her?!

Chop chop scene shows Dani at Lisettes, standing in the dark. She hears someone. Gradually the gang of five that assaulted her emerges from the shadows. They surround her, all of them asking about their bebe. Viewerville expects Dani will wake up to this nightmare, but maybe the writers will pull a switcheroo this time!

Over at Mara’s she tells Elisa and Lazaro the news that Art is not the father of little Felipe. Lazaro and Elisa fret. Mara and Art retreat to rest and ruminate. Elisa gets ready to go spy on Santi. Lazaro digs this plan out of Elisa and volunteers to go spy in Elisa’s place. Elisa thanks Lazaro for being such a galan. No one has ever spied, er, protected her like this before. Smoochies between spies. Elisa stays to comfort Mara and Art.

Santi has left Apt 8 and returns to the Cano Castle. The visit is short after being warned by Santa that now would not be a good time to talk to Bert – Bert would basically like to kill Santi at the moment, that is. Santi drives home and returns to Apt 8. Lazaro tiptoes down after Santi and listens at the door.

Unfortunately, Lazaro knocks something off a nearby table and freezes in anticipation of being discovered at Santi’s front door.

 

thanks Mena,
that was a wonderful recap!

I thought that funeral was intense, especially with Pancho's resurrection, people are coming back from the dead faster than they can bury them.

but all of the funerals are great, in the way they bring so many conflicting people together,

and of course there was the first one when Patricio buried his imaginary brother.

I agree too that Willy may be the last of the good guys, but alas, Marrero has a low tolerance for good guys and I don't think they are done punishing him yet.

Transito is another person with a golden heart, it's interesting that no one ever questions her about the goings on at the Trebol de Oro, and she never seems to get caught up in any of the police sweeps.

 

Tks Mena,
I'm beginning to think that is "The 2 faces of Santi" & the good Santi is talking to the bad Santi.

Maybe Santi killed Ulises, I don't believe Ul would have greeted Bert like that.
 

Great recap, Mena! I loved your humor as usual.

Variopinta, I said the same thing the other day, Santi is talking to himself. Your idea that he has a split personality makes good sense (by telenovela standards, that is).

I think Dani's attack has to be a dream.

Rene is definitely in trouble, I'm sure Bert and Pat want to eliminate him. But I sort of think that 1) he is Rene, 2) he and Paula will actually find true love. Is that even possible for this show?
 

Nice work, Mena. Thanks!

Vario and Hombre, I think the writer wants us to believe

--that Santi is responsible for Uli's death and maybe others as well

--that he is in a room talking to himself in the guise of different personalities

That doesn't mean we should get smug. Things have a way of turning on a dime in Marrero.

What's with the boxes in #8? Wigs, make-up, disguises? Weapons? Videos? Fritos?

About Daniela -- definitely a PTSD-like flashback or a nightmare.

About Rene -- jail is the most dangerous place he can be if Franco's goons are indeed still around and gunning for him.

In general -- it is hilarious how everything is a matter of urgency (e.g. Lisette has to see Bert RIGHT NOW to tell him their roll in the hay 18 months ago may have had consequences) except for truly urgent matters (people bleed out while our characters freeze up and the camera lingers endlessly on their beautiful blank faces.)

About Fran -- What a harpy to blame Santa for slashing Barb's dresses when she knows very well that Santa couldn't possibly have done it since she was talking to Fran herself at the time.
 

I'm glad I found this group. :) I watched all five of last week's episodes over the weekend and was so confused over Santiago's transformation to loon that I started Goggling to find some comments on it. Here's my speculation/question: Is it possible that the horrible thing Santi did that got him committed was disfiguring Alicia when they were both small children?
 

Sue
Hmmmmm, Santi killed his cat, so maybe you have sth there.
 

I haven't been able to post for a few days, so belated thanks to the terrific recappers.

At this point, I don't have much to add to all the fascinating comments. But Sue, I don't think that Santi disfigured Alicia. If he had done so, Francisca's confession and public plea for forgiveness would make no sense, nor would Santi's being her favorite child. (Then again, so little about this novela makes sense!)