Caray, Caray!

Great job, Urban! Lots of things going on this episode. Many things that I loved-- well, except for the ending.

Loved the lighter moments between Doris and Orlando-- them joking with each other and tossing pillows at each other, and the tender looks Orly gave her. Loved Doris shoving Orly and Ari apart, then backhanding Ari, telling him off ("I can sleep with half a soccer team if I want!"), and shoving him out the door. Woohoo! Go girl!

And of course, I loved the proposal dinner/fireworks/dancing, and the ring buying with Max, Clara and Leo.

The party Jenny is planning is not a birthday party, but an office christening party (the priest will come) for Julian and Andres' office. Really wish that Jenny would notice Andres totally likes her. He even invited her out for coffee, and she declined.

On to what I hated...Hated that Ursula has Jacinto on retainer (and Baldy on standby) to cause mischief. Hated the Ari seems to be open to plotting with Maleny (but happy that at least he still won't sleep with her anymore). Hated that Isela succeeded in getting MD to take a pregnancy test and will be reporting back to the evil ones. And of course, hated that the test was positive. Arrrgggg!!!!!

Was impressed with Claudio coming up with the erectile dysfunction line to explain his lack of sexual interest in Alma. Now she feels sorry for him. Very clever, Claudio.
 

A cute moment that stood out-- Doris denying to Orly that she was having an erotic dream of him, and mimicking what she would have sounded like if she had-- "Ooh! Orlando, give it to me!" LOL! I love that the two of them could joke so easily about it.
 

**Doris is getting better and better with each episode
**Maleny is coming unhinged
**One of the most romantic marriage proposal scenes of a telenovela I've seen
**It's a shame that Max proposed to MD and then immediately thereafter she finds out she is pregnant and thinks it's Weasel's. With this telenovela and it's twists and turns -- it could just be Weasel's.
**Of course, TN rules say there will be no wedding now, and we will have to wait until El Fin
**Ursula is so corrupt, it's scarey
**Seeing Claudio with Alma reinforces the old adage that Latin men always have a willing mistress on the side. Usually the wife knows but doesn't care because she has the "name" and the status.
**What's up with the Maleny / Arango storyline?

Love, love Doris.

Urban your recaps never cease to amaze me. Thanks for posting so quickly. Hulu uploaded early tonight for once.
 

Urban,
This was a great recap of Mondays epi. Even with all the things you have going on you managed to post quickly, effectively and with your signature flare.

I loved the way Doris handled Ari and set him straight. My hero Doris is good lotal friend with the biggest heart and she stands up on her friends behalf. I remember hiw she did her best to get Isela and Orly happily back together and married. I am so glad Orlando visited Ari to help him get Doris back (even thiugh you csnt tell he is really liking her). Orllando being under the impression that Ari really wanted Doris back and advising him to propose to her. When Ari said heck no, I not ready and besides I want a rich lady. The rat says not with Doris, Orlando was not expecting that and you coukd tell he felt bad for Doris. I am so glad he saw Ari still hasnt changed because now he won't feel bad for going after Doris. He knows she is a wonderful beautiful person inside and out.
The only thing I cant figure out is why Isela reporting to Maley about MD? Claudio set her straight about her threats to snitch to Alma and she already has Dad's file in her hands, so exactly what does she have over Isela 5the backstabber?

By the way, isela besides looking like Morticia, I think she looks like Ali McGraw (Love Story) alot except her hair is bit longer.

Well it was good that good things happened for a change, but looks like it's not lasting with MD being pregnant. I felt horrible seeing that look on MD's face. Oh no!

Ava
 

Yes, I'm not pleased by this, either. Maria Dolores isn't catching a break and as soon as she told Max she wanted all the bad stuff behind her I knew that statement was a bad omen, particularly since we're nowhere near the end yet. They should get their civil ceremony done immediately.

Isela is reporting this stuff to Maleny to avoid being outed and ousted. If Maleny rats her out to Alma she's out of the Bustamante house and Claudio's office on her ass. That leaves her without answers about Marta and in boiling water with Hosefa. That means more abuse.

Maleny currently has no cred with either her mother or her scuzzy brother and this is partly about that, too. It's not enough that she has those files, which are unlikely to tell her the whole truth.

It also provides a possible revenge against MD for taking away Maleny's intended meal ticket, Max. She is still under the impression that they're broke because Ursula is maintaining that lie to her children in order to maintain control over them to whatever degree she can. I can certainly understand her not wanting to keep on supporting them, but that's on her for not instilling any sense of responsibility in either of them. We should have been suspicious from the beginning when Arango told them that they would have to tighten their belts "for a few months." Neither Maleny nor Danny-Boy have stopped to think how the bills are being paid since they got this news, so they should be suspicious by now.

Not that this will stop their disgusting and abusive actions. Both are obsessed.

Ursula still seems to be nagging Danny-Boy about getting back with Ivana using the baby as bait. I am now wondering how delusional she is -- or isn't -- about how possible that would be. She knows he hit Ivana hard enough to cause unconsciousness and Ivana doesn't have amnesia about that. There is still the issue of him having raped MD, which Ivana can find out about. One can only tell so many lies before completely losing credibility.
 

Excellent UA, thank you

"That made the old fishwife laugh"

One day of smiles and kisses and honesty. I've complained about MD needing to resolve everything Dan before she moves on with Max and thankfully she spoke to Max about just that, unfortunately in the context of planning their wedding. MD needs to tell Max first and hope he is not the last to know she is pregnant and could forever have Daniel in her life.

Isela doesn't want Orlando and the little bitch just assumed Orlando would love only her forever. She's clever enough to know by telling Josefa and Ari where Orlando is it will flush Orlando out of hiding and put him at risk of arrest.

With Claudio's delivery of the documents and bluff, Maleny really has no leverage to force Isela to monitor MD. Is it simply jealously of MD.

The scenes with Maleny accepting and reviewing the documents in the car, incredible.

At first I questioned casting Alejandro Camacho as Claudio but damn the guy does a great stone face.

Daniel is so nasty I forget there is an actor in there. Evidenced by something simple like getting out of the hospital bed to go to toilet while speaking to his mother.

 

When Ursula was speaking with Jacinto she told him he could have his job back and was speaking with the future owners of Vera Duval. Could this have been her motive and not just the money?

Ursula mentioned taking the child from MD to Dan. I think if Dan had babe in hand and delivered to Ivana she may not proceed with the divorce and all Gerry's help coaxing her from the ledge in vain.
 

Ursula seems to think there is dirt to dig up on Vera Duval or she might be stringing Jacinto along. Hard to tell. Arango would have the knowledge and skill to enable something like this but there would need to be a major skeleton in a closet that Ivana and her lawyers don't know exists.

She might also try to get Susanna involved in this to insure her own meal ticket. However, I don't think Susanna is stupid enough to trust Ursula anymore.

If Ivana has already issued divorce proceedings against Danny-Boy Ursula will have a tough time.
 

Thank you UA. I love that you get the recap up so soon on Tuesday, I'm excited for the week to begin.

We all knew that MD would be pregnant, but now the question is whose baby is it? Max won't care whose it is, and if they get married right away, Dan won't have any rights to it. And isn't she going to pursue her case against him too?

Isela told Josefa that Orlando is staying at Doris's. Do we really think she won't tell Bustamonte and have Orlando thrown in jail?

I think when Ari told Orlando that he has no intention of marrying Doris, he still wants to marry a rich woman, that it opened Orlando's eyes to the possibility of a relationship with her because he knows that Ari had no intention of being serious with Doris anyway. And I laughed at Isela's impression that Orlando was still in love with her, I hope she's wrong and has lost him finally.
 

Cathyx- That's exactly why Isela told Jo. She wants to smoke Orly out of Doris' apartment because she doesn't want him falling in love with her. Selfish heffa would rather see him beaten to a pulp by jealous Ari, or on the run from Claudio and the police, than in the arms of Doris.
 

Wish someone other than Orlando & Doris finally get wise to Isela. She's got MD all twisted in knots and Doris couldn't straighten her out.

It was pitiful when Alma asked for a hug from Leo. No one knows but she's a victim too.
 

UA--Thank you. What a great voice to "listen" to while reading the recap. It's so dark it even makes this dark novela darker, but your language is brilliant.

One thing I thought I caught--After paying off Baldomero, it was Jacinto she *wasn't* paying and just putting him on retainer for future jobs. She promised he would be rehired at Vera Duval's, and she was speaking *as* the future owners. Then he scoffed and said that's what Scuzzy-Boy promised and look where it got him. I could swear his mole moved around during that scene.

The other scene which was so lovely, Max and MD's engagement scene, was spoiled for me, only because I kept worrying about how cold it was. When they walked up to the reserved space, their breath showed and even when they got close. I got chilly just watching them and the quartet with cold fingers.
 

Does anyone have an inkling as to how far apart MD slept with Max and got raped by Dan? It seemed to me that it was only a few days, or at the most a week or two. So, in order to figure out paternity in this case, it will have to be by DNA test and we all know how those go in telenovelas.

So far, all the Santibanez maldad has come to naught. Max and MD are still together and the two maleantes are nowhere near to marrying rich partners. Ursula will be convinced that baby belongs to her son. At some point MD will have to 'fess up that she and Max slept together and so enters another putative father into the picture. Oh, the tangled web they've woven in this story. I just love it, even though I hate it all.

Yep, Doris is the only bright spot and she's having her own troubles. Is she so loyal to Ari and Orly's friendship that she will keep her feelings to herself. If Ari had proposed, I think Doris would have laughed him right out the door.
 

I think Doris is done with Ari. She asked for her key knowing Orlando only a dream. Ari only confirmed what we suspected. He would never wife Doris.

I've racked my brain and just guessing a week or more between MD's night with Max and the rape. However, MD never mentioned or indicated in any way she was concerned she may get pregnant with Max's child and don't think it was because she assumed he was gonna marry her immediately after sleeping together and don't believe she would risk single motherhood. More so that some type of protection was used and impossible especially since she had recently had a pregnancy test after having sex on her faux wedding night with Dan.

I think this child is Daniels but that assumes the home test didn't give a false positive.
 

We know telenovela time passes differently than real time. What appears to be just a few days to us, turns out to be weeks or even months in tn time. I've assumed that Max and MD used protection when they had sex. Otherwise, pregnancy would have been a concern for MD (and Max) even before the rape.
 

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Anita- Well, the Santibanez did accomplish Dan impregnating and marrying Ivana. If Dan had actually stuck to the plan, and stopped being an idiot stalking MD and trying to ruin her life, he could have been living on easy street with Ivana right now. Remeber how gaga for him Ivana was at the beginning.

However, as soon as Max met MD, I think it was curtains for him and Maleny. Mal could have pinned him down had she not taken him for granted for so long and made her move sooner. Once again, the Santibanez kids mess up Ursula's well laid plans for them. Maybe had she taken them in hand long ago, she would have what she wanted right now-- both her kids married into very wealthy/powerful families, and getting a cut of that wealth and power for herself.
 

That means that Ursula's plans were doomed before she even tried to put them in motion. Danny-Boy was pursuing MD for at least two months before the curtain went up. Maleny has never been right emotionally and wasn't mature enough to even think about getting married.

Novela time is deliberately vague so the writers can leave their options open. I have given up trying to keep track of passing days except when it's my turn because we've been blindsided before.
 

The baby must be Dan's because MD took a pregnancy test before it was negative and she has not slept with Max again. For story line purpose it is better if it's Dan's.Oy vey, trouble with a capital T. I am so mad this is happening to MD, uff. If I know my novelas Dan and his band of jackals, sorry jackals, will find a way to get her out of the way and take the baby Max or not. Wonderful recap, thanks so much.
Romy
 

We've watched many a female lead have sex and we have assumed she and he would have used protection, just to end up pregnant. I agree with all the logic here, and with Max, especially--having been with Maleny so long and she NOT getting pregnant--that he and MD would have used protection. But there's always that "first" time when it always happens.

I wonder why Ursula didn't use more pressure on Maleny, not just to nail Max down and marry him, but get pregnant. That would have been a sure thing (more or less), no? Well, it's all in the past now. On with the Shew.
 

Romy- The order of events was: MD "marries" Dan and has sex with him; MD finds out truth about Dan, and kicks him to the curb; MD starts to fall for Max, but realizes she might be pregnant for Dan; MD (with Max present) has pregnancy test; MD and Max have sex; MD gets raped by Dan.

The pregnancy test was before MD and Max made love. But I'm still in the camp that they used protection. This is not one of "those" tns, where (unmarried) people have sex and never think about birth control, and then become shocked when they end up single and pregnant.
 

Maleny pregnant? Never happen.

It shouldn't because her DNA needs to die out. It wouldn't have because that would be the one thing she would be conscientious about. She was "having too much fun" and pregnancy would have interfered with that.
 

Maleny marrying Max would have been a little snack for Ursula. She already said Ivana has much more money and believes women easier to manipulate. I think Maleny and Max was her plan B or C. She targeted Ivana and had Ivana not lost the baby MD nothing more than a minor irritant she needed to keep Dan away from. Uraula could use any woman as mother of Dan's child but used as leverage Ivana's butthurt toward MD. Guess this becomes a fight over who gets custody of the child, Ursula toe to toe with Max.
 

I think you're right on that last point. If MD breaks the engagement over this I will be very peeved. They need to get married NOW but that might not help the situation.

Here in the US there actually have been court cases where rapists have sued to have visitation rights to children conceived in the rape. I can only imagine what this can turn into in this tale.
 

Well, I finally finished the episode and the recap. Great job, UA. (Love the noir note at the beginning too ;))

Even though we all knew it was coming, I was still mad/disappointed when MD said she was pregnant. And even thought this TN has proven it's not fluffy, fairy tale stuff-it's all about the real life black, whites and treys - I still want to believe the baby's Max's. The alternative just seems so very cruel to everyone involved.

Ivana's gonna get pissed because she'll think MD lies to her, but at least this TN reveals things in a timely fashion, so maybe she'll actually find out that Dan raped MD. With her track record though, she'll (want to) believe Dan that it was consensual. Sigh. I hope I'm wrong because I'm already disappointed in Ivy for this.

Orlando is totally beginning to tumble into love with Doris. I hope he comes back at Ari with "Then you really don't deserve her! I should go after her! To think I was worried about your feelings and you're just stringing her along."

ED was smart, but I think it'll make the process of the truth coming out even more painful for Alma. She's gonna feel totally dumb.

I was really hoping when Isela brought that test over that MD was going to say "thank you. But I think this is something I need to do with Max/talk to Max about first." 1) because I think it would've been a good scene (PS: they're a good couple for suffering through things together) 2) because I think it would minimize the "now I can never marry Max!" stuff that I'm sure is coming and 3) I think Max would've explained the legal ramifications to MD (aka us)
 

I love your last point, Hellashelle. That would have been totally appropriate and would have gotten Isela into some hot water, at least for a little while.

Unfortunately, the way this now threatens to play will create a terrible situation for MD because los Santibanez would likely accuse her of marrying Max specifically to protect herself from them. If I were MD I think I'd fake my death just to get away from them.
 

UA, THANKS FOR A RATHER JUICEY RECAP.
Of course the epy was a bit on the bittersweet side. The lies people tell each other with a straight face, no less.
I kinda feel sorry for alma, (kinda)! That pompose atitude she has towards MD and
Her mom & clara is disgusting. Like shes so
Much better than they are. And she can't see
Her hubby is sniffin around another dogs but
In her own house, and she invited that ho Into her house cuz Of a rape that never even happened. Thats why I feel sorry her, but then she gets that snobby atitude like when
They were picking the engagement ring.
"ALMA ASK CLAUDIO WHATS UP. AND HE
TELLS HER WHATS NOT UP" Hahaha. Sadly
Funny.
MD is fairly honest, she'll probably tell max
Shes pregnant annnnnd.... the halls in max's
Court.
Isela, is the worst kind of friend. Not at all.

Now that I think about it, this episode was
More bitter than sweet.the romantic proposal was sweet but it's surrounded by a whole lot of bitterness. And tonite, here we go.

Thanks much for the recap.
 

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They know that Danny-Boy raped MD who -- sadly -- will most likely not consider having an abortion. Unlike other galans, Max isn't letting his parents push him around. He seems perfectly capable of separating his practice from his father's and turning his back on his parents if he has to. Pedro of MIVAC needs to learn this.

Los Santibanez, however, are capable of violence and worse.
 

That is a good point; Santibanez don't think twice about going bsc over stuff. Max is rock solid, but MD far softer. I'm not sure she'llput herself in a marriage in which her in-laws never "forgive"/trust her, she won't put her child in a situation where they're constantly reminded of and put down because of his or her conception, not to mention the constant comparisons to the other kids, and she won't put Max in a situation where he has to choose especially now that Dan's child is part of the equation and it's not "for a while" it's FOREVER, even if that's where he wants to be.

Nina - I start getting pissed at Alma too, but she has tried, especially with Clara. Plus, she is really gonna feel like an idiot when the truth about Claudio and Isela come out.

PS: I just posted this with a phrase my older cousins used when I was a young that I always thought meant "don't you feel dumb"; she said that is what we used it for then, but nowadays it means something way more sexual and gross, so my apologies to anyone who may have seen it and wondered wtheck I was talking about.
 

Since there's no page for last nights episode, I will use this one.
I love that Alma is pursuing Claudio's erectile disfunction, lol. I hope he has to answer embarrassing questions.
I think we are setting the stage for a Doris Orlando hookup.
 

Cathyx--I've sort of been waiting all day, too, for at least a discussion page.

Maria Dolores is well named. Any good breaks she's had seem to be coupled back-to-back with bad ones. If it were me, I'd go into the back of a cave and wait until all this bad luck moves on, haha.
 

Here's a thought that I wish this show would do, but I know they never would. How about MD gets an abortion. That would end the problems with the Santibanez right there.
 

Isela's getting worse and worse with each episode. I didn't quite understand what Adriano was telling Isela about her sister's case. Can anyone tell me?
 

Everyone- Rain is working on a recap.
 

Oh, goodie. We can wait. It will double the pleasure to have Tuesday's and Wednesday's so close together. Animo! [While Anita goes back and posts Tuesday's recap of Perla......]