Caray, Caray!

Thanks Vivi. I appreciate all recappers and bloggers and have a great time always reading all your contributions. Once in a while I would like to drop in like now. Since this novella is coming to an end I just have to say and wonder if the writers are taking a break and have they ran out of ideas on how to end this novella by going camping? I love camping and the scenes brought back memories of my camping. But what I felt was happening here, was that the writers are only extending the show and nothing great really happened except Simona's plight. At least there was a one liner result of Alonso's evaluation of Rodrigo's mental stability. Please, writers: end it already. Anne
 

Gracias, Vivi! I'm crying with laughter! I'm glad it rained, because once it became apparent that everyone was headed for the same spot and NO ONE had any camping skills, I was afraid they'd burn down the entire state of Hidalgo!

"Carmen’s sixth (sex) sense is working overtime, and she catches them every time." Oh, yeah, Carmen's got her Virgin Alarm working overtime! I cracked up every time she yelled "Paolo!" Poor kids can't catch a break!

"Her two moms double team her and basically tell her to snap out of it and get over it....That’s like the pot and the skillet calling the kettle black, no?" I both giggled AND felt bad for Nat.

"Simona wins the “Good Sport” Award tonight." I can't believe he had the thought that she was crabby and Natalia would never have acted that way! He made Natalia schlep her luggage through five miles of jungle. I remember her being pretty damn cranky from thirst, hunger, and sunburn. And refusing to speak to him.

"The next morning, her boyfriend informs her they are staying another night! (Aww, hell no!) Unlike what I would do, Simona reacts with a (strained) smile." I'm right there with you on the Aww, hell no! I would have demanded we get on the road and stop at the first clean-looking hotel we found.

Eleazar channeling Aragorn and Prince Humperdinck reading the tracks and signs from the fire was one of the high points for me.
 

Kat- That was hilarious, wasn't it. "I see tracks- a group of adults, one child. Three cars-- Paolo's, the Mushroom's, and one other. The fire is cold, meaning they left an hour ago. They went this way." He won lots of points with those skills, and then lost them all when he sent up that flare and set Abdul's tent on fire (which really belongs to Big Abdul).
 

Anon 10:18- Hang on! We have just over one week to go. But it does seem like the writers took a week of vacay and sent the characters camping in the meantime. :)
 

Thanks so much for this great recap, Vivi.

Poor Simona. She truly experienced the camping trip from Hades. Diego wasn't on his best behavior and his thoughts were even worse. And after that horrible night, he wanted to stay another. Diego truly isn't worthy of Simona.

While I have never been a teenaged boy and I love Paolo, his plan to be intimate w/Mara WHILE on a camping trip with his mother seems like the craziest idea ever. And it was hilarious that Carmen had a sixth sense about his plan.

Anne, welcome. There are decisions the writers/producers makes that I don't understand. Like you, I want them to end this now. Why camping? What about the Will? And why drag out this foolishness w/Rod? We all know that if Rod gets the crazy verdict, he'll escape as soon as he gets there.
 

Anne- I read too fast and missed seeing your name. Anne, not Anon! Thanks so much for commenting.
 

Karen- Yes. Why are the writers wasting so much time on this camping trip, when they could be resolving real issues, like the will?
 

I totally forgot to include the one Brat scene. The Brat is doing her usual at work, filing her nails, when her coworker/supervisor scolds her. Brat then says she's pregnant and lies that she's not feeling well. She gets immediate sympathy from her coworker who wants Brat to take it easy and offers to take on some of her work. Brat smiles with satisfaction about being able to use the baby for her benefit. She hasn't changed one bit!
 

Vivi, that's right! And she pulled a total Diana and called it "engendro" :(

Karen, I agree! Mara's living alone now, from what I can tell, so why not have happy teen fun time indoors?

Anne, I'm glad you did drop in. We're nearly there! Hopefully they'll get back on track soon and actually tie up the loose ends.
 

Kat- It's funny because since Mara started living alone, we've seen Paolo hanging out at home more frequently. Maybe it's the excitement of possibly getting caught that floats their boat?
 

I think the camping trip serves several purposes:

1) to break up Diego & Simona and reunite Diego & Natalia.

2) to reunite Eleazar & Carmen

3) a PSA on teen sex

4) (maybe) to show Paul the concept of a family
 

All the respect I had gained for Diego, disappeared in this episode. He was so selfish and inconsiderate I nearly threw my shoe at the TV. Simona obviously wasn't prepared for the trip, did he care? Nope. It was freezing cold and the selfish clown never offered to give her his warmer sweat jacket. Not once! As a guy, and you're outside, the first thing you make sure is your lady is warm. Then she twisted her ankle, got bit by a spider, put her foot in some elephant dung(it was huge!) and he wanted to get him some?? Then had the nerve to question her temperament and say Natalia wouldn't have acted that way. What a dumba**. They should've left the moment she was bit by the spider, and after seeing that they basically had nothing they needed, why stay? His callousness really pissed me off this episode. She wasn't enjoying herself and was only trying to placate him and he couldn't see it. I've done a 180, I want them to break up because he really, really doesn't deserve her. He and Natalia deserve each other. I'm not even going to comment on Natalia's stupid comment about trying to ruin Diego/simona trip because it speaks for itself at this point. The preview showed Simona running to the car and I'm assuming she's had it and left, and Diego approaching Natalia in a lake. All I can say is run simona run, get the hell away from this mess.
 

I almost forgot, your review was on point and funny! Loved it and yes, the brat hasn't changed one bit. She gets what she deserve.
 

" With night falling, El decides to call it a day and set up camp for the night. Luz is disappointed, but mother and son end up bonding and reminiscing, and the woman El says I love you to that night is his mama Luz. As they snuggle down in their sleeping bags for the night, they hear the faint sounds of a cumbia beat floating through the air. El smiles."

That was just a beautifully written paragraph, Vivi. Set the scene perfectly and conveyed so much.

And as a mom, I have to admit I teared up reading "and the woman El says I love you to that night is his mama Luz."

It was a very sweet scene after their mutual snippiness in the car.

I'm on board with Bryan, Diego doesn't deserve Simona.

And Anne, welcome..at last we've found a gal who likes camping!
 

Fasten your seatbelts...the writers are going to have to wrap up a lot of loose ends fast. Or just leave them dangling. It's happened before.
 

Love it Vivi.

"Carmen’s sixth (sex) sense is working overtime"
"and the woman El says I love you to that night is his mama Luz."

Diego - cute has it's limits

Paul - they live like animals

Brigitte - if you had a dog you'd kick it

Nat - rest easy

Irene - boxers or briefs

El - fore!

Luz - my cup runneth over

Simona - I don't need this crap

Tent - it stinks in here

 

I can't wait to read this!

 

Morning amiguis! Glad you enjoyed the retelling of the camping trips. Poor Simona. ITA Bryan. She should run far, far away from this madness.

Judy- I'm glad you enjoyed the paragraph on El and Luz. They really were very sweet. I smiled as he zipped her up in her sleeping bag and made she she was comfy.

Tofie- LOL about the tent. :)

Anon207- Thanks for pointing out the ways the camping trip can move the plot. But three episodes worth? I have to say, I did enjoy the episode. It just seems odd to have such a lull with so few epis left, and so much to wrap up.
 

Vivi, you took this mishmash of events, molding and fine tuning them into this masterful recap.

Like Judy, I was so touched by the woman El says I love you to that night is his mama Luz". It tugged at my heartstrings. Seeing them sharing a tent with such overt love and affection made my eyes mist. You captured it perfectly.

"Paolo and Mara try a multitude of times to sneak off and obey their teen hormones" and "Carmen’s sixth (sex) sense is working overtime" were among my other favorites.

Simona’s unfortunate events list was spot on and exceptional. ITA with Karen in that "Diego truly isn't worthy of Simona", a sentiment that Bryan and others have noted as well.

The strong sense of family, of love and support is overwhelming here. There may be clashes and fights, but there is fierce loyalty, support and forgivenss. There is no doubt this a loving, close knit family. Ummm. Yes, with one exception - Brig. But there is a trace of dysfunction in every family, is there not?

Kat, your “Eleazar channeling Aragorn and Prince Humperdinck reading the tracks and signs from the fire was one of the high points for me” was excellent.

Rod's visions of Al are not insanity. They are guilt.

Vivi, thank you. Amazing.

Diana
 

"... such a lull with so few epis left, and so much to wrap up."

*cough*WILL*cough*
 

Forgot to thank you for the "caballona" translation. I had no idea what that meant. But I'd never say that Irene has a boyish figure. Very womanly actually. But hey, I didn't write this script and neither did you, Vivi.
 

Hi, Vivi,

Well, the way you recapped this shows that you enjoyed the episode. Such a good job and an enjoyable recap.

This camping trip reminds me of the movie "Memphis Belle" where a B-17 crew on its 25th and final mission undergoes very nearly everything that had ever happened to flight crews in the 8th Air Force. That didn't happen, but it made for great drama in the film. So, except for lightning strikes, tainted water and attacks by wild animals, our group has had to deal with it all.

El's scouting skills surprised me for an urban cop.

We used to have a camper and my sons and I would take to Oshkosh and live in it for a week for the big (actually HUGE) airshow there. It was a nice bonding thing for guys to do. My wife is not a camper, so we never camped as a family. And, like Judy's husband and his army experiences, I'd just as soon stay with my wife in a hotel as to go camping.

Boy, they are really dragging Simona through a lot of crap (literally). She really has kept a stiff upper lip, but by the avences, seems to have had enough.

I don't consider Irene's figure boyish.

Hi, Anne. Nice to see you here.

Thanks again, Vivi.

David
 

David,

I loved the movie "Memphis Belle"!! ...and, my family used to make the annual trip to Oshkosh, but it was usually minus me as I was away at some camp or some such.

Fatima
 

tofie, it was hard to decide but "Paul - they live like animals" was my favorite today.

Diana

 

Fatima, I like "Memphis Belle" a lot too. Although not factually accurate (the real crew came through unscathed) it succeeded in showing some of the horror that those aircrews had to put up with. As a measure, 8th Air Force lost more men over Germany than the Marine Corps lost world wide in the entire war.

And Oshkosh is wonderful. I met Chuck Yeager, David Hill (a Flying Tiger), and Pappy Boyington there.

David
 

Vivi: loved the recap. Really liked how you divided it into the three camping sites. Also, liked your list of what Simona went through.

I kept saying throughout that she was being such a good sport. I read the recap and find out Diego was being a thought bubbling d*** about it. And don't get me started on his not even offering Simona his jacket.

The writers made a mistake. Are we really supposed to root for Nat and Diego? I'm done with them. Simona has been great throughout and Nat and Diego are acting like the worst kind of highschoolers. Can't stand either one of them right now.

Loved the look Carmen gave Mara in the tent after Paolo's last attempt. And Mara closing her eyes and pretending to go to sleep. I wondered if Carmen was onto them.

Al giving Rod a psych eval. Major conflict of interest.

Nanette
 

I wonder why Carmen's sex sense didn't work on Brat. Brat was sexing 2 dudes. Brat's dresses weren't that short at the beginning of the show but all of a sudden got sky high.

Also, Carmen caught Brat gyrating in Natalia's wedding dress in "Diego's" office.

I guess Carmen couldn't have done anything about it because Brat was a grown woman but somebody's spidey senses should've gone off that something was amiss.
 

Maybe the writers are throwing Viewerville a bone and they're going to give us something we really want:
For Simona NOT to end up with that idiot, but because he would really be an idiot to give her up and we don't want anything bad to happen to her, SHE'LL get fed up with him and take off, leaving the two immature fools to each other. Stupid Diego and Stupid Natalia definitely deserve each other. I love Simona and she deserves to be removed, completely intact, and placed in a tn of her own where she ends up with a beautiful romance with a handsome Prince Charming.
 

Laura Carmine is so cute and as Simona, even when miffed or hurt, shortly laughs it off. Tonight guess we'll see a Simona that has had enough of the child Diego and escapes.
 

Anon207- Yeah, I don't think Carmen has a problem with premarital sex, just as long as you're an adult and you're not doing it in her house or on her watch. Teens Paolo and Mara are definitely on her watch list. But adults Nat, Brat, and Abdul are not.
 

David- I've never seen Memphis Belle. Should I put it on my Netflix list?
 

Irene's figure can be called boyish in comparison to Carmen's figure. Carmen first offered to loan her clothes to Irene. I guess calling her figure boyish was a lot nicer than saying to Carmen, you are way bigger than I am. :)
 

Bryan, that reminds me of what I said after the spider bite...there are any number of appropriate ways to react when your SO got bitten by something and now has a huge red spot, but "It's no big deal" is not one of them!

tofie, this "Paul - they live like animals" was spot on! He's been sneering and turning up his nose to everything that's beneath his standards, and what he likes he calls quaint. It's been bugging me.
 

Vivi, re:Memphis Belle. I don't know what your tastes are in movies, but I think you would enjoy it, unless you are put off by war movies. It does a good job of depicting the conditions that those aircrew members lived and fought under while mounting those raids in the bitter cold at 20,000 feet over Germany.

David
 

You aced it again Vivi. Thanks.

Now, on to my 2 cent's worth I’m going to play the devil’s advocate.
Granted Simona is a beautiful woman with brain's and lots of good qualities and strengths. That’s why I’m surprised that she didn’t ask Diego for a hint of where they were going instead of going along with his program and blindly packing. Yes, we can certainly blame Diego for all that went wrong, but for my rant, let’s keep the focus on what Simona could have done to take care of her own needs.

If the man I loved didn't offer me his jacket, I would have nicely asked for it. In Simona’s case, no matter how much we dislike Diego, he's not a mind reader and if Simona keeps that smile on her face it's concealing her true feelings. This naïve approach makes her appear a victim and we want to reach in bail her out of this situation that has gotten out of control.

I've been in relationships before where by the time I got the nerve to speak up for myself the guy really didn't know that he had offended me. First thing he'd ask was "why didn't you say something? “I can't read your mind". All along I thought that since actions are supposed to speak louder than words, he should have been able to figure out by my tone of voice and the way I was reacting that something was wrong and take responsibility for fixing it.

Well the good news is it looks like Simona is leaving. (Too bad that before leaving she doesn't confront Diego on his bad behavior. Otherwise, she'll take that same submissive behavior into other relationships.

 

Sue, she did ask for a hint, but he said he didn't want to ruin the surprise and she let it drop. I guess she could have just kept pressing him for an answer, but maybe it was more like a lack of imagination on her part. She thought it was a matter of which gorgeous resort location they'd be going to and what the dress code there was. That it would be a completely different kind of setting didn't occur to her. Diego doesn't exactly give off an "outdoorsy" vibe. Asking for his jacket...is there a polite way to do that when it's just as cold for him? And she did go raid her entire wardrobe and put all of it on, so she did take care of her own needs in that way.

But, they are both being very hesitant about being completely honest with each other. There's that veneer of honesty, but still a lot of things they're not saying.

Maybe there will be a confrontation/discussion finally. The previews have been more misleading than usual recently. I just hope her running for the car really is about the whole Diego/Nat situation, because the alternative is that she's being chased by a wild animal! Are there bears in Hidalgo?
 

You did a good job playing devils advocate Sue, but ive never seen a woman whos obviously freezing have to ask for her SO jacket. It goes without saying that a gentleman always offers in that situation, she shouldnt have to ask because it was obvious. I do agree she couldve maybe pushed for a hint so she could know what to pack, but from everything we know about her, shes doing her best to obvious placate this man-child and was just going with it.
I know 5ft, he was so unconcerned about her bite and then wanted to pee on it? Please bounce Simona, you deserve better.

 

@5ft, I do agree about the lack of honesty between them, but I think Simona is just trying so hard to bee understanding shes letting to much go. I cant watch tonight because im in D.R but ill catch it sunday.
 

The jacket thing is really coming from us (the commenters), though. We didn't get a thought bubble or anything to indicate that Simona had a problem with it. I can see how her behavior could be seen as passive, but I see it more as independence. She's a bit of a wild card, still, at this point, so maybe she's harboring resentment over the way this whole trip has gone, but until she demonstrates that, we don't really know. I will cry foul on her for sure if she gets pissed at Diego for not being a mind reader, but so far she's coming off more like she's trying to make the best of things.
 

Funny Thing- I was at home and my dad turned on the tv when this show was on; The Mushroom was up to his cray cray antics and such which resulted in him saying, "'Ta pamado ese maetro." I agreed and my mom asked his name; Paul Champignon. No the actor's name; Alejandro Ibarra. Dad- Ibarra? Me-Yes Ibarra and No it's not Arath de La Torre LOL
 

You're right, its odd to me Simona didnt even question Diego not offering his jacket. As a man he shouldve offered at least. I myself wouldve left way before nightfall anyway, the trip was a disaster.