Caray, Caray!

Bajo

Will have a recap up in a couple of hours.
 

BAJO – LUNES – Parte 1 de 2

We resume with Adela right up in Débora’s face. She realizes that Débora doesn’t want her working at Jacob’s magazine because Adela knows about her abusive behavior toward Ramona. Adela tells her the truth; that she lashes out at Ramona in her fits of rage. Adela tells her to leave Ramona alone or she’ll tell all and Débora’s good friends will find out the kind of person she really is.

Carlos offers some money to María and Rodolfo now that he’s insisted María not return to work at the bar. Rod, of course, is more than happy to take it, but María refuses. She’s highly indignant, saying it’s easier for the two of them, both legal, to earn money than her brother.

We see the rest of the sad scene in the park between Luis and Susy. She’s saying that they have different goals and don’t have enough in common, but he just hears that he’s poor and not good enough for her. Voice choking with emotion he tells her that he’d love to give her nice gifts and take her to nice places, but he can’t. Susy tells him this is one of the problems between them – that he always thinks she cares about whether he has money or not.

Ye gods! Juana finds a leather whip in Alan’s living room. He jumps all over her for snooping. [She was trying to clean up; he’s just looking for things to browbeat her about now.] He calls her indocumentada, campensina, analfabeta. He wraps the whip around her neck and tells her that women like her are there to obey. He tells her he owns her life and her body and then rapes her again. [I don’t know how much more of this I can stand.]

Colmillo sets up his scheme with Jay. [I guess they must have shown The Godfather a time or two at the prison.] Because EC sends Jay to a restaurant to hide a gun under a table. He tells Jay that Felicia offered herself in exchange for the life of the gardener. But he knows she’s only stalling for time. [Plus I think it galls him to know she’d do anything to protect Carlos.] EC tells Jay that today he’s going to kill Carlos Martínez.

Carlos is at Felicia’s house. He tells her it’s time that they go to the police. Felicia isn’t so naïve as to think that’s going to work. She realizes that EC would just reach out from prison and perhaps have her brother killed or some other member of Carlos’ family. When he questions her some about her dealings with EC, she lies and says that he only wanted to be her partner in the bar.

Gracie has come to her old apartment and is searching for that file she saw once when she came back unexpectedly from her bus trip east. Before she can make much progress, Luis knocks at the door. She puts the file away, but a couple of sheets fall to the floor.

Rodrigo is at Willy’s and tells Willy and Gacho that they have to behave normally so EC won’t suspect. He asks Gacho to attach himself like una sanguijuela (leech) to Colmillo. This will prove important later.

After Rod leaves, Gacho talks some with Willy. He has figured out that Willy is in love with Felicia, and that’s why he tried to poison Colmillo.
 

BAJO – LUNES – Parte 2 de 2

Blast! Adela was ready to show up with Santiago and surprise Juana but Ramona warns that her boss is strict and talks them out of both going over there. They would have discovered Juana before she had a chance to cover up what happened.

Rod arrives home, startled to find both Luis and Gracie there. Luis is, of course, behaving like most adolescents, without much sense. He tells his brother that he thought he would understand his situation because he left home (when he was young) because people thought he was nothing for not having money.

Carlos is at home when he gets his call fro EC. Neither trusts the other not to set a trap. EC suggests a restaurant, El Figaro, as a neutral place, and Carlos agrees.

Gracie eavesdrops and overhears Rod tell Luis that, when you’re first in love, you can’t bear to be away from that person. But those things pass. He tells Luis that their father is right; he’s right about Susy and he’s right about he himself being a danger for Luis.

Adela comes to talk with Juana and doesn’t seem to notice that she has a towel around her head, having taken a shower in the middle of the day. They go into Juana’s room. Adela asks her what’s wrong. Alan watches the whole scene from the Perv Cam. He talks to himself telling Juana not to force him to do the same thing to Adela he did to her. [As if! He’d last two seconds with Adela and be lucky to come away with his jewels still fixed in place.]

Rodrigo tells Gracie she has to stay in the apartment. He spies the papers on the ground and figures out she’s been looking over that file. She even took some pictures of stuff on her cell phone. She babbles something about needing to protect herself. [Gracie, you’re dumb as a box of rocks; you’re going to get evidence about a criminal gang and think you’ll survive.]

Santiago figures out Carlos is going to meet Colmillo and tries to talk him out of it. Carlos says he has to do it to protect Felicia and his unborn child. Carlos seems to actually believe that, if he can beat up EC, he’d honor his word and leave his family alone. Santiago is appalled to find out that EC has told Carlos he has to leave his cell at home.

A guy from the Anthrax gang brings the gun to Willy that’s to be used to kill Colmillo. Just after he leaves and before Willy has really gotten the gun out of sight, Sharon comes home. She wonders what he’s trying to hide. She also noticed the guy from the other gang leaving. [Ay, she’s perfectly capable of ruining everything!]

Adela has come to stay with Juana and tells her she won’t bother she and Santiago at all.

Rod’s wise advise to Gacho to stick close to EC pays off. He overhears EC and Jay planning the murder of Carlos and calls Rodrigo to warn him.
 

Bajo

wow, thanks so much novelera!
a wonderful recap as always.

say, I thought I heard Santi call Carlos 'maje', when they talk,
according to the urban dictionay, "Maje is a word vastly used in Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua and it basically stands for "Dude" "

or,
Maje in Nicaragua means something like dude in English. It is used mainly between friends.

and from another site of Salvadoran-isms,
Maje – Means “dude” or “dumb” depending on context. “Qué onda, maje?” = What’s up, dude? … “No seas maje” = “Don’t be dumb.”

oh no, I read too much on Salvadoran-isms,

"Paloma – Although this word usually means “dove” in Spanish, this is also commonly used slang for “penis” in El Salvador… I never found out how that happened, but it must be a fascinating story. (And for this reason, you won’t meet many Salvadoran women named Paloma.)"
http://latinaish.com/2012/08/01/salvadoran-isms/

 

BAJO


Rushing off for the day, but wanted to thank you for the recap before I leave.

As always, much is happening. Love the fast pace of this TN.


The abuse of Juana is intolerable. Someone, intervene, fast! I hope she never returns.

Whenever Adela and Jacob find out about this, there will be severe repercussions.
 

Bajo. Excellent recap, Novelera! Once again Adela is more than a match for Débora. I can hardly wait for her to turn her powers against the evil and creepy Allan. Loved your remarks, Novelera, on what would happen if Allan tried to rape Adela. Agree that Juana's situation is becoming absolutely intolerable and she may end up being destroyed. Ramona's unwillingness to speak up has gone way too far! I'm also thinking that it might have been better for Luis if he hadn't had that final meeting with Susy. Btw, I thought both Greicy and Rodrigo gave Luis very common sense advice. Thank goodness Gacho knows about EC's gun!
 

Bajo

The one comfort in every single novela (at least every one I've seen) is knowing that the male and female protagonist are absolutely safe from dying. They occasionally get shot, stabbed, hit over the head with a blunt object, etc., and wind up in the hospital with the doctor saying grave, muy grave. But they always make it to the final embrace and kiss with a big FIN on the screen.

Rodrigo is going to figure out a way to stop this, and probably without actually outing himself as EC's enemy.

To quote Omar Little from The Wire: "You come at the king, you best not miss."
 

Bajo

Thanks, Deb, for clearing up maje. It's been piquing my interest as Santiago has said it quite a few times. But I wasn't piqued enough to get up off the sofa and look it up! I like that it means dude or buddy instead of boss. Carlos doesn't really want Santiago to be subservient.
 

Bajo

While I love this novela, there are certain illogical things that, of course, happen in every novela.

A glaring one for me is that EC appears in public quite a lot. I had the impression he was likely on the FBI's most wanted list. I guess we're meant to believe that his narcissistic personality disorder shields him from worrying about being caught. He did say something last night to Jay about taking care about something (don't remember exactly what) since he was going to be out of La Zona. So I guess he thinks he's completely safe in La Colonia territory, another ridiculous concept. Wouldn't there be a reward for his capture? Wouldn't someone want that reward?
 

BAJO

Agree completely about El Colmilo being out and about. I presume he has a tailor
on the payroll to make him custom-made suits. One would think someone would be sent to infiltrate the gang to find him.
 

BAJO

novelera, I doubt that Carlos will be getting bumped off by Colmillo, but I did
watch one TN where a protagonist was murdered with about two more months of the TN
remaining, and as far as I know, that is how the script was written -- and was not in response to a prior commitment on the part of the actress. Don't know if anyone has info on this. I could be wrong.

If anyone saw En Nombre del Amor, Victoria Ruffo was killed by the female villain
by being pushed off a balcony to the courtyard below. Even days later, I kept waiting for her to wake up from a coma, but she never did.
 

Bajo

Floridia, I also saw En Nombre del Amor. Young Zurita is not a great actor, but Leticia Calderón was fabulous as the villain!

I was gobsmacked when they killed off Ruffo's character! Later on, reflecting on it, I expect that they did that so Arturo Peniche's character would end up staying in the church.
 

Bajo
There was a wanted poster on Comillo when he 1st escaped. I think it was Adela that saw it.
 

Bajo

And Colmillo's picture was also on TV when they talked about the prison break. If I remember correctly, Gracie was visiting someone when a news item came up. This was after he'd come to her apartment saying he was the manager of the complex, or some such thing. Gracie then went into a tizzy when she saw him on TV.
 

BAJO

novelera, You are probably right, the priest had made up his mind to bolt, but later he was rewarded by a high position, that of bishop or something of that nature.
 

Bajo. Didn't see that one coming! Rodrigo shot El Colmillo already!
 

Bajo

and I was just getting past how horrible this character was and starting to really appreciate the actor (Julio Bracho), wow, that moment of discovery that went across his face when Rodrigo sat down.

so who's the villain now?

 

Bajo

Wow! Simply Wow! What an episode! I can't resist putting something up.

Colmillo gloats and eats pasta, thinking he's got plenty of time to kill Carlos.

Rod tells Gracie she'd better not call the cops because, if this causes him to be grabbed up so he can't save his father, then he's coming after her for revenge!

Gacho, Willy, and Rod arrive at the restaurant and spot the partially blind lookout (!) Jay.

Carlos tells EC he's not speaking about Rod when he refers to leaving his family alone. He says Rod belongs to EC and has for quite a while.

EC tells Carlos he admires his guts for showing up to meet the leader of the most dangerous gang in LA. He feels magnanimous thinking he's about to kill his rival for both Felicia and Rodrigo.

Willy goes after Jay while Rod and Gacho go in the back door of the restaurant.

Willy is not the best choice to put in charge of things. Jay stabs him in the stomach, and things look bad.

Luis and Nick show up drunk at Sharon's. [Quick! back to the action, please!]

Carlos is fed up and starts to leave. EC goes for his gun but a waiter shows up telling Carlos he's in an illegal spot and has to move his truck.

When Carlos gets outside Gacho points a gun at him and tells him he has to come with him because they have Luis. Jay gets distracted by this, and Willy grabs his gun and holds it on Jay.

Gacho whacks Carlos in the head with a gun and he, Willy and Jay take off.

Rodrigo walks in the restaurant, sits down opposite EC and tells the waiter to bring some wine. He wants to toast and says that toasting with water brings seven years of bad sex! The look on EC's face! Rod is smiling through this whole scene. He says that unless he heard wrong, Felicia offered herself if he left Carlos alone. EC: How did you find this out? Rod says he has his ways.

Rod stops beating around the bush. "You tricked my father and brought him here to kill him!" He leans forward and tells EC that he protects his father because he's his family, his blood. And that the most valuable thing in the world is the family. "You never had one."

EC says he treated Rod like a son. Rod just sneers. The gang is not a family. Only you are rich. EC says that one of them will come out of here dead and goes for the gun under the table, but Rod has drawn first and has his discreetly under a napkin pointed directly at EC.

Carlos finds out that Luis is OK, but drunk.

Rod: "You don't treat a son like a dog, threatening him all the time with killing his family. We pursued her, we tortured her, and why? For Noemi?" EC glares and tells him not to go there. Rod tells him that he didn't know his daughter at all. She was a junkie and not worth it. Furious EC draws the gun, but Rod shoots him once in the body and then again in the head. Boom!

Later Rod spins the tale about Anthrax having set a trap for EC. He takes control of the gang, after he's basically told Jay to play along or die.
 

Bajo. Great recap, novelera! Wow! Getting to be like a mafia movie!
 

BAJO

Thanks again, Novelera! Terrific recap of a riveting and extremely fast-paced episode.

Fabulous acting by Rodrigo. Several believable mood changes.

It seems that Gangs are the new Mafia with the leader like the Godfather.
 

Bajo

I forgot to mention that a witness gave a description of Carlos to Cristóbal (the only detective in LA). But, if I remember correctly, she or someone said that the dark haired man left before the shots were fired. I am nervous they're going to try to pin this on Carlos.

I know many of you don't agree, but I can't stand Gracie. Rod told her to stay inside and not mess up his plans to save his father, but does she do so? Of course not. She is quite nasty to Adela, grudgingly accepting the offer of using her cell. Then she goes to Felicia.

I know Rod is a hard case and all, but Gracie is just an idiot. If he hadn't threatened her life, she probably would have called the cops (although it's unclear how she would have known where to send them) and EC would still be alive and kicking and planning his next attempt on Carlos.

Yep, the actor playing Rodrigo is just acing this role. You can read his thoughts in every scene with every actor he's working with. His longing for Adela, barely suppressed. His mixed feelings about his father. He does love him, but still harbors some of that resentment about his mother's death. The pleasure he took in finally telling EC the truth instead of having to kowtow to the miserable scumbag 24/7.
 

Bajo. Absolutely right, novelera. And Rodrigo's analysis of La Colonia and Noemi were both absolutely right on. All facetiousness aside, it does show what a brilliant financial analyst the Rodrigo character could have been if his life had taken another path. Greicy is acting stupid to the point of being unbelievable. What could she have really done with those financial records and how could she have expected the police to help? Or was it just a script ploy to get her in the same room with Adela and also to have a confrontation with Rodrigo?
 

Bajo

Can't stop posting! So now we begin a new etapa in the novela. I'm thinking Rodrigo is going to be enjoying his role as lider. I believe there are no longer any thoughts of leaving La Colonia. The big question is whether he survives. His need to get rid of EC to save Adela has been accomplished. I've been worried quite a while that Jay would see well enough to recognize Adela, see her at some point, and realize they'd been duped. But with EC gone, where is the motive to harm Adela?

With EC gone, will Rod still want to sell drugs out of the bar or leave Felicia alone?

I thought the drunk scene with Luis and Nick was just ridiculous. And I suppose they meant that Nick lost his virginity to one of the little cholitas. It was interesting to see that Sharon has lost interest in Luis and did NOT jump on the possibility of getting him back. She's now in love with Jay.
 

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
 

Bajo. And Spanish-language facebook posters were very scornful of the idea that after those 2 major bullet wounds that he could realistically anything but dead--if alive, one of those things that only happens in a telenovela..

 

BAJO

Hola a todos. I'm finally back from my travels, during which I was occasionally able to access my lifeline, CarayCaray, and read the terrific recaps and comments about Bajo. Many thanks to all who contributed, and of course, special thanks to novelera for so many wonderful recaps.

I too am nervous about Colmillo's possibly having survived being shot multiple times, including once in the head. I assumed he was dead, but that's not necessarily the case. Even if, as SpanProf reports, the Spanish-language Facebook posters are scornful of the idea that someone could survive those shots, we've seen it happen not that long ago: 3 or 4 years ago, Gabrielle Giffords, a congressional representative from Arizona, was shot in the head, and though it was at first reported that she died, she in fact survived. She eventually resigned from Congress to focus on her recovery, but she apparently IS recovering, and hopes to run for Congress again after her recovery is complete.

As for Colmillo, if Telemundo is going to have him survive, I hope it will simply mean that he'll be on life-support for a few uneasy weeks before he departs to the más allá. Ojalá.
 

Bajo. I kind of suspect Telemundo wouldn't have had him survive at all unless they were planning on his recovering enough to be a genuine threat. Until then he's just a lurking threat--and who knows, they may just be teasing us and he'll die after all: confundiendo las esperanzas. Cristóbal suspects that there's something off about the story that he was a victim of the Antrax gang, and Chabela nails it. Adela was very funny comparing her magazine job to when she first was learning to drive a car. I see there's going to be an office politics type conflict between Adela and the nasty Paulina, but so far Adela is handling it well. And by keeping Greicy captive, Rodrigo is becoming almost as bad as El Colmillo. And Débora is once again being a jerk--no surprise.
 

Bajo. O mejor dicho, confundiendo las expectativas--because we hope he won't recover,
 

BAJO

Rodrigo seems to be drifting off into insanity, trying to keep Greicy captive and telling her that he cares nothing at all about her. He only cares about the baby.

And good for Greicy! She's not like the gang gals who might have been thrilled to have a big house as the woman of the gang leader. Rod is shallow enough to think that house would make her happy when all she really wants is a good home with a good husband, nice loving father-in-law, and her baby.

And I like the way she stood up to Rod even though she is way out of her league with him. And Felicia wants her to return to Mexico. She's in a bad situation. She's always known there was something about Rodrigo and Adela, and she was right. She just doesn't have the complete picture. And she knows he is lying to her almost all of the time. She's powerless at this point. She needs Carlos to help her.
 

BAJO

It was really sad when Carlos was reminiscing how Rod would get into bed with him and wife and Carlos would read a book to him, and he would look up to Carlos with adoring eyes. Now he looks at Carlos with hatred.
 

GENERAL--Jean, could you go back to the title and put in the date for us who get behind?

PERLA--And I'm REALLY behind. I'm just where Ernest has confessed his crime to his children. I was coming to believe it was Gertie who finished off Catalina. She was actually the last person in the room when Ernest realized what he had done and ran off like a scared rabbit. Lo and behold, Perla is now claiming her abuelo didn't kill anybody--and she should know.

I'm enjoying watching Franz dress up like an old man.

My heart is just in shreds over Toni and Hilda.

Loving that Arturo wasn't rejected by Laura permanently. He's so attractive.

Now that David and Aurora are married, there's no more romantic coupling to watch?

Lucky Lama Sonan that he got back in time, but I so wish Matilde would lose the bangs (and have for weeks now).

So, the kids are finally putting two and two together. Perla still loves her abuelo and he's going to help Franz clear his name. Dang! That Manfred turns up everywhere. Now what? Well, another evening playing catch-up. Dang x 2! They went back to the two-hour format.

 

Bajo

I gotta say I would really have preferred to not know what Facebook says about what's going to happen in a novela I like a lot. Also, we never post what's in the advances. Many of us stop at the very end of the current episode in order to be surprised, either pleasantly or unpleasantly, by the next night's events.

To me that was a spoiler.
 

SpanProf - One of the rules of this novela is that we don't mention what happens or appears to happen in the previews of the next episode. It is considered a spoiler.

Anita - The header of the post does have a date. Am I missing something?


 

Bajo

Juan Pablo Llano (office guy Erick Vilalta) did such a good job as psycho stalker Ignacio Elizondo in "Dueños del paraíso" that he is still creeping me out.

 

Bajo. Yes, I was hesitant to do it, but the way Telemundo splashed it all over facebook--which they don't usually do for stuff from avances was very weird, and I thought it might just be conjecture or a tease that would turn out to not be true or a dream or something along those lines. Btw, did Rodrigo actually say that Sharon was going to be Greicy's "dama de compañía," that is, Lady-in-waiting? Does that mean he thinks of himself as the king, and Greicy as the captive queen? Sort of a Henry II/Eleanor of Aquitaine situation?
 

CELIA, 13 de noviembre

Is anyone else still watching?

The music, the costumes, the setting, the energy – these all continue to dazzle. Celia herself is so perfect she's kind of a bore...until she opens her mouth to sing, that is. She is riding high, touring with La Sonora and polishing her moves under René's tutelage. Pedro, with Ollita's blessings, looks out for her, but their relationship is still a chaste one. Rogelio wouldn't approve of any relationship at all so they sneak around him. Pedro still hasn't told Celia about his wife and daughters.

At this point, because of the ominous news reports from home, La Sonora has postponed its tour of the Dominican Republic and returned to Havana. Our characters are confronted with the barbudos taking the city by force. Will they flee? Will they hide? Will they resist?

Eliezer locks himself and poor drug-addled Lola in the cellar of his house. He knows he has a target on his back. But it turns out he has more than one enemy. He and Lola scuffle. Remarkably, she gets the upper hand. Has she actually killed him?

The writers have hit all the hot-button issues and put a spotlight on the suffering caused by discrimination and abuse based on sex, sexual orientation, race, color and class. We've seen the corruption of the government and its use of the military as private errand boys; and we've also had a less than flattering view of the revolutionaries and their unscrupulous recruiting tactics. (Think of poor Al.)

A bit more about Lola –
On the surface, she accepts Eliezer's story that Marcos committed suicide. But in her dreams, Marcos tells her he was murdered. She falls for the Radio Progreso bandleader, falls in with his drug habit and falls into his bed. She snorts coke, gives amazing and manic performances and becomes so indiscriminate in her desires that she even jumps Eliezer at one point. We are watching her self-destruct.

About Pedro's wife –
It turns out she wasn't sitting at home embroidering samplers while her husband was out tomcatting. She's been having fun too, and for a very long time. Even so, she is furious when Pedro says he wants out and vows to make his life hell. She looks up René and gets him to take her back in his dance group. This is going to get interesting if and when she is ready to tour with La Sonora and gets a crack at Celia and Pedro.

About Simón –
He has been drinking and sulking in Holguín. He didn't get the promotion he was counting on and it will be a miracle if he manages to keep his job at all.

About Noris –
She is so happy to get all the gifts Celia has brought back from her tour that she seems to have forgotten that she has devoted her life to making Celia's hell. I guess we'll see how long that lasts.

About Pedro's buddy Mario –
He has brought Raquel's mother to Cuba and has given them money to live on. Raquel is now falling in love with her compatriot, though Mario doesn't yet know that.

La Havana is burning. What now?
 

GENERAL
Jean--It didn't show up on the Feed. I see it there now. Hmmmmm. Must be me. Sorry.
 

Celia

ah, thanks so much NovelaMaven !!!
I'm still watching, but with no captioning I'm falling behind.

Went through the drug-addicted singer thingy with Carolina Gaitan (Lola) in "Flor Salvaje", so not looking forward to that again, although she does it so well.

I'm glad we got to the part where Celia is actually performing with La Sonora,
and loses the glasses.

Simon being out of the way works for me, but he is an interesting character, although a bit over obsessed with Celia.

what does Celia have Noris doing, and Celia having Pedro, no, no.

I see the bathing suits of the day were a lot more modest than what the show girls were wearing.

ah, so this is the barbudos attack On the Moncada Army Barracks.

"on July 26th of 1953, at the closing of Santiago’s yearly carnival, 150 rebels with two girls for nurses and a physician, disguised themselves in army uniforms and stormed the island’s second largest military encampment, the Moncada fort, headquarters of the 1,000 troops of the Maceo regiment. The plan was to infiltrate the installation, hold the soldiers at bay and seal the arsenal to prevent its being used against the people, while another contingent would take over the post’s radio station and broadcast an appeal to the citizenry urging them to join the insurrection."

 

CELIA

hey, deb, I'm glad to know I still have some company. I was starting to feel so alone. :-) I appreciate the historical info on the attack. Wow – 150 rebels, 2 nurses and 1 doctor versus 1000 trained soldiers.

Last night we heard Raul Castro mentioned, but if anyone has named Fidel, I missed it. So are we assuming he is the comandante? The barbudo without the barba?

Celia definitely looked glammed up on the stage, not so much in her "real life."

Sorry, but I can't enjoy Noris as some do. She is so very irritating. Rival for life. The enemy within. Ick. In a way, it would be a kindness if she took Pedro off Celia's hands. (But of course, poor Celia won't see it that way.)
 

Bajo
This episode was less eventful than some of the ones we’ve had lately.

We did see how skillful and Machiavellian Rodrigo will be as leader of the gang. And, as Span Prof said, they likely wouldn’t have kept EC alive if he wasn’t going to wake up and wreak havoc at some future date. I did find the scene not very comprehensible, at least to me, when the Anthrax leader (Heriberto, I think) came to La Colonia HQ. They told the rest of the gang that EC had betrayed both Anthrax and La Colonia, but it was unclear to me what he had done to betray them.

Could we see Allan locked up with some tattooed, angry prisoners who have a sexual fetish for white-haired old fat guys, please? And soon!

So the miserable %&(^* has a friend pose as an immigration agent to push Juana right over the edge so as to break up with Santi to protect him.

Another smooth Rodrigo move. He realizes Willy’s resentment of having Sharon around Gang HQ so he installs her to guard Gracie. I am sorry for Gracie; but, as usual, she shows constant poor judgment. Why tell a guy who’s shown over and over how determined he is to get is way that you’re going to never let him see his child?

I’m not liking the introduction of the stock evil blonde who’s apparently going to try to sabotage Adela every chance she gets. But I like Adela’s joy in being so successful in her new career, the perfect balm for getting over a broken heart.

And, while I don’t like stock evil blondes, I don’t put Felicia in that category. She’s done some evil things, no question about it. But the writers have given her complexity and intelligence. And, of course, she did have Carlos first and was justified in being upset at being dumped.

I did recognize Juan Pablo Llano, but I had to think about it. This clean shaven smooth guy is the complete opposite of the hairy, hair-trigger tempered Ignacio in Los Dueños del Paraíso. I am liking the way Adela is handling this. The guy is obviously going to continue to come on to her, but she’s setting her boundaries clearly, even as a newbie in that workplace and type of work.

Gah! It looks like María could even be on the way to reconciling with Rodolfo. He’s certainly going all out to court her. But I’m sure he’d have a woman on the side again as soon as he got her calmed down.

It was interesting that Luis has now decided to stay away from his brother. And the scene with he and Nick was quite funny. Nick is certain he has a sexually transmitted disease (and I guess he could be right). What’s really ridiculous, and funny of course, is that the little cholita who bedded him said he was a stud and is now blowing up his phone. Also there was another funny bit where Nick said her name was La Quinta and Luis thought they’d done it five times. Nick had to explain that that was her nickname because she was the 5th child!
 

Celia
I'm watching, but not with rapt attention. I do very much appreciate your great recaps, NovelaMaven.
 

Bajo. Excellent recap as usual, novelera! I too am a bit disappointed at that stock blonde nasty, snobby co-worker at Jacob's magazine. Usually Bajo is better than that. The La Colonia "clica" is obviously not the brightest gang in the world if they accepted--without any evidence-- Rodrigo's and the Antrax leader's claim that El Colmillo was collaborating with the Alacranes. I thought it was interesting how Adela instinctively knew better interviewing techniques than Paulina, despite all her studies. Years ago I taught an advanced Spanish business course that included a unit on written surveys, which stressed the importance, especially with a Spanish-speaking audience, of easing into potentially embarrassing topics, being extremely polite, and asking about some things indirectly.
 

Celia / Bajo

I was surprised to see Noris' new 1950's Cuban hair style in Celia, that almost matched the ones of the two Cholas in Bajo.

 

BAJO

Rodrigo is now the Godfather...nice wardrobe change.
 

Bajo. I too thought he was dressing like a mafia don, Floridia.:) Also all his charitable help to the neighborhood to keep anyone from informing on him seems very godfatherish. Btw, if Greicy is imprisoned by Rodrigo, how is she getting to pre-natal appointments? Does Sharon accompany her and make her keep her mouth shut? Or does the gang have a covert obstetrician just as it has a covert surgeon?
 

Bajo
Just caught up. Everyone is progressing except pobrecita Juana, pure hell for her. I just don't understand why no one is suspicious. Ramona even told Mati that one of the perv's criadas had disappeared. I want Alan to suffer the worst penalty there could possibly be. Start with castration.

Mati gave her name as Matilde Gutierrez I think because she doesn't want them to know the gang connection. Not sure of my understanding of this. But I thought Jacob knew her background.

oops, the successful Mati runs into the successful Rodrigo. He is helping undocs at 30% of what they earn. With the fake ids they can get jobs.

It is a little difficult to erase Erick's previous role from memory, I'll try, he is guapo.
 

CELIA

Friday, November 13

This is hard to watch sometimes. We know that the Celia's family is never going to live in that half-built house on the overpriced land that Noris bought from the quick-talking salesman with Celia's money. We know that the barbudos are going to win, and that when they do, the lives of our characters will change forever.

So let's see:

Lola almost got away... but then her conscience drew her back to the house. After all, she couldn't leave Eliezar to die. She needn't have worried though – the foul, dwarfish captain has come to his rescue. Besides, he doesn't seem badly hurt. Then Lola overhears Eliezar order the captain to have the radio bandleader killed, just as he got rid of Marcos. Whoa. Finally Lola knows. Will she be able to warn the bandleader in time? Will she escape from Eliezar's clutches? Will her drug-fueled hallucinations cause her literally to crash and burn?

Everyone is at the Cruz house. They hear noises outside and fear that the barbudos have come for them. Pedro and Mario tell the women to hide in the bedroom and then bravely face the intruders. They turn out to be soldiers in the regular Cuban army and they suspect Pedro and Mario of being revolutionaries. The women are discovered too, of course. The soldiers are unimpressed by the famous trumpet player and they're not convinced that the unassuming young woman is THAT Celia Cruz... until she belts out a song. That is enough to save the gang a trip to military headquarters. The soldiers tell them the revolutionary forces have been defeated. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief.

We see the rebel camp and we know that they are just getting started. What will happen to that unlikely revolutionary Alberto?

Celia's cousin Gamita admits to René that he is in love with him – that's precisely why he is running away. Meanwhile, René is packing up all his belongings, preparing to leave before it's too late.

Celia has completely won Rogelio's support and admiration, but outside Cuba, her place with La Sonora is still being challenged. Is she really a worthy successor to Myrta Silva?

Pedro dances around revealing to Celia that he is a married man.

Could Mario have brought Raquel's mother to Cuba at a worse point in history?

Ollita and Celia have been writing regularly to Simón. Will he make it back to Havana and add his malignant machismo to the family mix again?