Caray, Caray!

Excellent detail and yet right to the point. Thanks also for adding the idiom translations!

I have to agree with Urban A that nobody plays a quirky nutcase fishwife type better than Adela Robinson. Even Gabriel Soto is believable in this one! A good cast and even a decent script so far. Let's hope it continues. So far I have no mercy for the elder Bustamonte. Looks like he just might deserve whatever Josefa's got in mind for him.....
 

JdesdeNYC, thanks for this eagerly awaited comprehensive recap. For me particularly your vocabulary help.

"Jacinto looks like a vulture as usual"

Josefa is crazy, she bit Isela twice, no wonder the girl is a mess.

I got kinda sick, MD and Danny going at it and all her I love you's, but it was funny the guy runs right over to Ivana to seal that deal too. Daniel had a good day.

Clever of Max to leverage he and Ivana are dating siblings to broach the subject of the firings but I also like how Ivana didn't become angry, gave a little on the severance, but deferred to legal the remainder. Ivana isn't stupid and I like that, well except for she and MD want the same man.

Honoria smells a rat, this is twice she queried her ex if he knows something of the people that robbed and killed Rudolfo.

Interesting Julian is an accountant.

 

JdesdeNYC thank you for the great recap! Loved the vulture line Too.

I enjoyed Josefa's nutty self here. Poor Isela growing up with that woman.

Many jobs ask you to put your photo in your CV here so it's odd when people don't include it.

I think Ari was initially shocked about Maleny's family being broke since he was pushing for a more formal relationship but he liked the idea of staying in the shadows and living off of Max.

And I must shamefully admit that I understand the attraction to Daniel. There's something about Flavio Medina that I can't help but like.

 

JdesdeNYC- So good to read one of your recaps again. Great job!

Dan was having a good day. This is the most "work" we've seen him do-- going to MD's mom to apologize, and sending flowers to Ivana.

I also like that Ivana seemed willing to do what was fair when Max told her the two women didn't get their severance, but there was something both naive and cynical about her tone when she seemed to think MD leaving for more pay was disloyal and that they shouldn't offer to pay her more. Obviously NONE of the women working in that taller are getting rich from working there. And MD is their star seamstress and she can barely make ends meet. Ivana needs to take an actually look at her salary scales.
 

Josefa's abuse is so vile and realistic in the way they showed how she bites Isela in places people can't see to cover the abuse. That poor girl! And she wants Isela to remain a virgin to offer her virginity up to the judge. I'm still not convinced he's done anything to deserve a decades long vengeance scheme, but Isela sure as hell doesn't deserves this life.
 

Great work, JdesdeNY. Just the facts, ma'am. Just the facts.

Providing a photo with a resume is required in some areas of the world. I was told that this is to prevent fraud, especially in places where there are fewer surnames than in the US. I'm not buying that.

Ho-sefa is far past "quirky"; she needs a padded room and a giggle jacket. As to whether the elder Bustamante is in any way at fault for her daughter's suicide I'm waiting for the evidence. Ho-sefa could be as self-delusional as those hypocrites in Santa Lucia. We will see.

Ari might be looking to social-climb and dig for gold, but with empty coffers Melany won't be his gravy train.
 

JdesdeNYC, Good detailed recap, nice to meet you.
What the hell is wrong with this woman biting her child? And why does this grown up child (woman) let her ....eh.....mother bite her?
whatever the circumstances were that led up to this woman's daughters death has really affected her mentally and it looks like down through the years she has really really abused her daughters with this whole situation. She wants her to seduce this man and destroy him somehow because she blames him for killing her daughter. I would really like to know what led up to that death. Josefa is insane with revenge. Who the hell bites their child? josefa the crazy heffa.
That jacinta guy reminds me of the wicked witch on the wizard of oz( the old one not the new one with James Franco), with that gigantic mole on his face. That thing probably scares the women more than he does.LOL!!! They should sue it. LOL!!!! take him and his mole to court and sue them both for harassment. I hope this show gets more interesting this week because aside from the growing attraction between Max and Maria Dolores everything else is kind of sleepy.
 

Julien has those bulging eyes. I wonder if he has a thyroid problem. Also, what is his physical problem? Is he physically disabled?
 

I've never seen the Maleny actress before, but she's perfect sister for Flavio Medina. They're both so good at playing spoiled little brats in adult bodies.

But what the heck does Max see in her? He's so much more mature (as is Gabriel Soto's performance so far- Yeah Gabe!), he can't possible think she'll be a good wife for him. She's certainly not her true self in front of him, but what has she done to draw his attention? Did I miss something, or do we just play along for now?

Kelly
 

Thanks for the love guys! Nina: Isela is a classic case of Stockholm Syndrome and guilt. She's the only living child and she feels sorry for and obligated to her abuser.

I only became interested in this novela because of the first actors: Azela Robinson, whom I loved in El Manantial, and the bits of Cañaveral of Pasiones I saw; Maria Bianchi, whom I loved in La Mentira and made El Fuerzo de Destino somewhat watchable; and Alejandro Camacho whom I loved in Cuna de Lobos and Imperio de Cristal. They are all putting in work as demanding parents to make this novela work really well. They're not just there to provoke nostalgia and are completely believable in their roles.

I think Juez Bustamante may deserve the venganza but for Josefa to pimp her daughter to do it is reprehensible. I thought Ari was a bit taken aback by mooching off Max. Not too much to not sleep with Mal but enough to be shocked by it. I also want more Doris in this tn. She has this confidence and vulnerability about her that I love; and I love how her eyes pop when they put her in green or her hair in an updo. Ari does not deserve her AT ALL.

Vivi, I agree with you on Ivana's ability, she gave a little on the severance issue but wants the courts to sort out the rest. Ivana is a lot smarter and stronger than most take her for. But I can see her get supremely witchy when she finds out Danny is with MD and her.
 

I know it's only 4 down but I like this one.

Max did call Maleny out when he saw her raise the tennis racket to hit Ari and she brushed it off as the heat of competition.

I've known new CEO's that think just like Ivana, she also wants to prove to her aunt she can do this so the conversation between she and Gerry and she and Max believable.

The sick part is Josefa isn't even Isela's mother, I don't know the relation or if there is one.

I believe there has been some references to Julien's legs and that he tires easily.

 

This wont end well for Isela if she doesn't get some much needed rescueing from her desperately twisted mother. I could see suicide attempts by this girl. And loosing that law suit wont help either. Poor baby a psycho momma at home and a sexual predator at work. She needs a victory somewhere down the line.
 

Thank you for the recap J.

Anonymous at 11:55am, I agree about something about Daniel is attractive. For me I think it's that he's such a great actor. His facial expressions are so dead on that we know what he's thinking just by that. When he was sort of courting Ivana at he beginning after learning that his family is broke, you could see it in his facial expressions that he really didn't want to do it but he knew he had too. I think this actor is going to be one of the greats, if not already. And also, I think he has a certain charm to him too, which I find attractive.

Nina, Ivana's mother is dead. The woman who lives with her is her aunt.
 

Nina, never mind what I said, I misread Isela for Ivana. Why do they have to have two I names that also end in A. I always have to stop and think about which one it is, ugh!
 

First of all thanks to UA, Jardinera, Countx and J for your great recaps they were all uniquely fun to read
And thanks to the commenters too, I've been reading but haven't had a chance to comment before but your comments and recaps make the watching more fun

Now, I'm afraid I have to rant a little bit (or a lot) about the story so far. I'm liking this show so far but I'm so mad at the protagonista that I keep wanting to throw things at my tv or reach through the screen to shake her
Maybe if I express my disapprobation to the internet I'll be able to relax and enjoy the rest of the tn

The supporting actors in this are good enough to keep me watching despite my exasperation.

But.

 

I am fed up with Maria Dolores's attitude!
She should have stuck up for herself against Jacinto when their altercation first took place - she's in a better position to stand up to him than any of the other women working there; she has specialized skills and his bosses know her by name, she is pretty and personable and seems to have fairly good verbal skills. Instead she's letting Isela do all the heavy lifting and only after everybody begs her she agrees to maybe help, but only because Isela is getting beat up.
How on earth does she think she will get another job without references? She must know what they will say about her at her last job if any future employer calls to ask about her, what is she thinking?

One of those women should have gone over Jacinto's head and complained long ago, Jacinto is quite obvious about his sexual harrasment, and there are what 20+ women working there. At least one of them must have a phone with photo if not video capability. so when Jacinto is sliming all over one of your hapless co-workers you pull out your phone and take photos/videos of him. When you feel you have amassed sufficient evidence (which should only take about a day from what I've seen) you take the evidence as far up the ladder as you can get and make a formal complaint about his behavior. Any company run by anything other than soulless trolls would fire this guy, and whoosh, problem solved.
This scenario is assuming one person working alone without the overt support of her co-workers. If the women working in that shop would stick up for each other and if MD, or any one of them could count on the others to back her up, then there is an even better chance of getting rid of Jacinto. (In a fired kind of way, not in a throwing him down an abandoned well way)
I have little idea what the laws in telenovela Mexico are about sexual harrasment, but I'm fairly sure that sexual assault is a crime even there, so MD should have told Jacinto's boss ' yes call the police' and then she may have even been able to get Jacinto arrested, and her co-workers could have testified as to a pattern of behavior -and bam - no more problem. By letting herself be cowed by the threat of the police she is just making herself look guilty.

You can't really blame Jacinto's bosses right now though, because they have no idea what's really going on, I'm sure he acts perfectly acceptably when he's around his superiors and since nobody has complained before they have no way of knowing. People can't know stuff if you don't tell them, and assuming they won't help you without trying is unfair to them. MD should have gone straight to Gerry as soon as she got fired, any five year old knows that the one who tells their story to the parents/bosses first has the best chance of being believed, but by meekly allowing herself to be fired MD is not only doing herself a disservice, she is hurting all the other women in that shop. They will all think now 'well if Maria Dolores got fired by that creep and couldn't do anything what chance do we have' and they will go on suffering at the hands of Jacinto because MD was too scared or meek or telenovela heroine to do something for herself and put an end to this situation.


The greater protection against workplace harrasment women have in the US didn't just happen by itself, somebody had to do something, women had to make it happen and I am disappointed in MD when she says 'some things are just that way and you can't do anything about it'
There are things you can't change - your father getting stabbed by robbers, you can't do anything about, but this situation she could totally resolve and should have done so sooner.

I swear I'm not expecting the heroine to be perfect, I'm totally willing to accept her bad taste in loving Daniel (though Flavio is much more charming here than I've seen him before, I'll admit)
But I do expect her to have a little sense, and a backbone. Is that too much to ask?


 

Ok rant over
And yeah I know that was way long

But I do feel a little better.
I can't promise not to do it again but I'll try not to do it very often and I won't rant about the same thing twice.
 

Good casting job on the family from Hell; they do look related.

Maleny isn't All That in close-up. Her age isn't listed on IMDb but she may look older than she is. She is not pretty with her hair pulled back into a pony tail and she doesn't wear adequate makeup.

She will also have to find out that money isn't everything.

As to the sexual harassment in the design studio I think you guys have said it all. If they're all afraid to do anything about this nothing will get done.
 

Sneaky2Shoes- Good rant! I was also really annoyed with MD after she not only had a top lawyer offering his services to help with the sexual harassment suit, but also saw her best friend going it alone. Surely she must have known that Isela wouldn't have much of a chance without some backup. She kept making it sound like she couldn't job hunt and bring suit at the same time. Plus, after that job interview, she must have known that having that unexplained gap in her resume was going to be a huge impediment, so she better do something about it-- at least have it on legal record.
 

SneakyShoes, ITA with your rant. MD should have been more supportive and the women at the job should speak up. I give MD somewhat of a pass because her father died and she's not thinking straight while mourning. But now that she gets that not fighting will hurt Isela with Josefa she's game.
 

Well, at least after Isela was bitten twice MD has agreed to join the lawsuit and will talk to Max. Better late than never.
 

Sneaky two shoes, MD told the head guy and do you know what he said, ( I went back to check), he (the boss) said," jacinto has worked here for years, I have heard nothing against him, you on the other hand are wearing the dress, take it off and leave you're fired, and don't expect severance pay it will go for the ruined dress.( The dress that jacinto tried to rip off of her so he could rape her).
That boss is not very smart or hes as dumb as jacinto. I think they're crooked in dirty dealings. They're writing these ladies as thoughtful women. Nobody has a phone with a camara?
Come on people somebody get some brains here. maybe the writers just wrote it like this for effect for the show. But come on people somebody's gotta have some brains here what about some cameras in the dressing room, somebody mentioned that in some comments a while back. MD's friend gets bitten by her mom, and then she (MD) decides to fight back? Hum.....makes you wonder.
 

UA, respectfully, Maleny is fea to me. Her facial muscle tone is near nonexistent so she looks as if she has no teeth. Doris is beautiful in comparison looks and personality wise.
 

Ooh, cameras in the dressing room? Sounds perverted and illegal to me.
 

they're writing these women as not being very thoughtful→→→→↑. Thats what what I meant to say above.
 

J- I agree about Maleny. I don't find her the least bit attractive.
 

not if it's for the protection of those women with somebody like that working there they need some witnesses
 

Yeah, cameras in the dressing room would not fly. Jacinto would just use it as private porn. Now, cameras in the work room is another thing entirely. He'd then just move his harassment to his office, I'm guessing.
 

Yeah, that guy is a piece of turd with a mole.
Yeah, camaras in the workplace is good. But that jerk would figure out another way to tamper with them. We'll see what happens with the lawsuit.
 

Sophie Alexander (Maleny) is 37, same age as Flavio Medina and three years younger than Gabriel Soto.

I can't get too upset at Maria Dolores because I get her way of thinking, most people here don't like to sue because they don't believe it will get them anything but trouble. And she's looking for a new job in the same field so she is afraid that new employers might think she is problematic if she is in the middle of a law suit. Besides, her father was just murdered and her money is going through financial trouble after the expenses of his death so in her mind getting a new job would be a quicker solution than losing time at the tribunals. But now that she has seen Isela's troubles and how difficult would be to get a new job without the Vera Duval reference she is willing to sue too.

Jarocha

 

I meant her *family* is going through financial trouble.

Jarocha
 

Jarocha- I totally get why MD and the other women kept quiet. It was more annoying to me that she was leaving Isela to face it all alone. But I will cut her slack for having just lost her father and being under a lot of stress.

I had to laugh when they said MD was trying to smuggle the clothing item she was stealing under her clothes. Obviously no one passed on the word that it was a big old wedding gown. Not exactly possible to put on anything over that, an the train, and casually sneak out. Sheesh!
 

I can understand MD being reluctant for the reason Jarocha stated. That's an issue in the US as well.

Just a head's up that my article for tonight's episode might be very late. The heat here makes my computer shut itself down in less than an hour so it will take a while to produce tonight's recap. It might be a "just the facts" type for this reason.
 

Hey guys you know what I found out, they put this novela on twice. At 2:00 in the afternoon and 10:00 at night. The one thats on at 2 is a rerun from the night before.
Yall knew that right, on this coast anyway. I
discovered It while chanel one night.
That's good cause I get to see some of the parts that I liked better than others again.
Thanks for the heads up Urban, I do understand the heat situation, its super hot and muggy here in tropical north florida. I'll read whenever you get it up, I know you'll do a superb job.
 

I discovered it while channel surfing one night.→→→→→→↑ thats what I meant to say.
 

Sorry for being late to the party and I thank you for a wonderful recap Y! I was molested when Daniel got off so easily with MD's mom . I honestly would never brush the fact that he has never tried to meet them before when not under pressure. I also felt bad for Julian but the scenes that got on my nerves the most featured Jacinto ( I am going to start calling him EwCinto but I also have other ideas in mind) , Hoe-Sefa and the Daniel scene in the end ( Because of his incredible bad manners , he acts as if everything is a comfortable sofa to sit on. I would never invite someone like him in the house if that was my daughter) .

I truly detest how no one can touch EwCinto, not even a single suspension or witness declaration . I was the one with the camera idea and while it wouldnt be such a bad idea to include cameras in the office or the dressing room. I think that there are some cameras out there which cannot be tampered with meaning that the video feed cannot be edited or cut by a random person. I thought that everything went to the encrypted cloud nowadays so that you would need an outside person to access the feed. Or maybe I am just dreaming.

What also boggles me is why not a single person has called authorities such as Social Services on Hoe-Sefa. Isela seems very scared of her mad non mother so she must have hid it all due to social pressure. Hoe Sefa needs to be stucked in a locked room with the keys thrown away. You cannot possibly freaking live with such a lunatic person. Living with Rosario ( Daniela Castro) from Mi Pecado might not be such a bad idea after all !
 

Thanks guys for your patience and support of my rant - I know its not the best way to introduce yourself to new people, but I'd been stewing for 4 days and since my family now just rolls their eyes and tunes out when I say telenovela y'all are my only outlet

Jarocha thanks for your explanation of MD's motivation - that makes sense

\

Josefa reminds me a little of Miss Haversham (from Great Expectations) with her plan of raising up her- what - granddaughter? niece? baby she found on the doorstep? to be an instrument of revenge on a man, except Miss H wanted revenge on all men and Josefa has only one man in mind (can't decide if that's less, or more creepy)
Also I always envisioned Miss H's hair as all crazy and wild like Josefa's
 

@JdesdeNYC - thank you for the great recap, and for your comment about my "editing skills". You have those skills too, and I definitely think you are detail-oriented, not longwinded at all.
 

Thank you JdesdeNYC!

"Maleny and Ari meet up for their skeezy rendezvous at his apt in the hood and Maleny complains about his place. Ari says he's giving her a taste of her own medicine for treating him like a cheap stripper."

-Encaje Rojo
 

JdesdeNYC
Just curious, where do you post on Telemundo novelas, here or on another blog? I'd be interested in reading.
Your recapping style is great and we'll detailed.
Look forward to more.