Caray, Caray!

Interested to see "Senora Acero 3: La Coyote".
 

Silvana

video of the theme song "Que bonito es lo bonito” as sung by Carlos Ponce (and cast), here,

http://www.nbcumv.com/news/official-song-telemundo%E2%80%99s-new-production-%E2%80%9Csilvana-sin-lana%E2%80%9D-sang-carlos-ponce-now-available-all?network=33144

 

SILVANA SIN LANA – LUNES – Parte 1 de 2

At the party welcoming Silvana and her daughters to the neighborhood, Majo catches Angie admiring Jorge as he dances with Margarita and teases her about it. Vicente asks Majo to dance and, after some sarcasm, she does dance with him. The music is merengue, and Angie is asked to dance by Poncho. They’re both pretty good.

Manuel asks Chivis to dance. He starts into a respectable merengue, but then gets transfixed by his closeness to her. We see their mutual attraction. So does Majo who marches off the dance floor in a huff. Lupita and Pedrito interrupt the dance and dance with their respective parents.

Manual has walked Chivis home. She tells him she’s decided to accept the job selling fish to her rich friends. He’s pleased and kisses her on the cheek before wishing her good night. Majo sees this and starts to rag on her mother on behalf of her absentee father. Silvana isn’t having it and tells her to tone down her remarks.

Pancho comes home from the party and is jumped immediately by Stella. He shows her pictures he took at the party. Dominique pours gas on the fire saying these women and girls look like fairy princesses. Of course there’s a photo of Manuel and Silvana dancing. Poncho also opines that Silvana looks like a model in a magazine.

The always useless Trini is playing her computer game. She also starts in on Silvana for having danced with Manuel. “Caesar’s wife has not only to be above reproach but to appear that way.” Chivis mutters: Aquí el Caesar brilla por su ausencia. Trini finds out that her daughter is going to sell fish and faints.

Manuel has arrived and suggests a remedy for fainting less expensive than whiskey: el epazote del zorrillo [skunk tea???] Trini is off the couch and making a lot of overbearing remarks in front of Manuel about how humiliating it is for her daughter to sell fish.

At school Jorge tells Angie a long story about how much he’s been thinking of someone. They have a sort of call and response about how much they enjoy each other’s company. But they aren’t specific about her being the one he’s thinking of. Sadly he ends up quoting what his father said to him: that they’re from two different worlds and, furthermore, he can’t break up with Margarita.

Lupita again gets humiliated in class when she asks about preparation for her First Communion. The teacher is kind and again explains that this school doesn’t teach religion, but the kids are mean about it.

Lucha is planning to hang a banner at the university. Presumably it’s something about immigrants’ rights. She falls off the ladder and loses consciousness. Of course Andrés is right there and rides in the ambulance with her.
 

SILVANA SIN LANA – LUNES – Parte 2 de 2

Manuel brings Silvana to the fish market and tells everyone she’s going to work there. There’s a round of applause, likely from people who met and liked her at the party. Stella stalks off, temper barely under control.

There’s some explanation that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I had expected she’d call her rich friends, sell them on this great fish market, and someone else would deliver the fish. But Manuel says something about the fish being delivered to Silvana’s house so the people can come and look at the quality of the seafood and…?

Jorge sends Angie a text about working at the Salsadrome. Hmm. Doesn’t this place sell alcohol? How can she work there?

Lucha is in the hospital griping to Andrés about how much the place costs. This is one humorless girl. But she does eventually thank him for bringing her there. Andrés has called Majo to get her to let Lucha’s family know what happened. Majo texts Silvana, who tells Manuel. He rushes off.

Benito shows Trini the local Catholic Church. She makes some vaguely disparaging remarks about how small it is. She’s also shocked that the priest, Father Sánchez, doesn’t wear a cassock nor even a clerical collar. He’s very pleased to see Benito and makes a remark about him bringing his girlfriend. This does NOT go over well with Trini.

Lucha comes home and finds Stella fussing around. She says something about being her stepmother, which doesn’t go over well with Manuel.

Silvana comes home and Trini is appalled that she smells like fish.

Manuel is onto what Lucha was doing with las pancartas (banners). He tells her he’s proud of her fighting spirit, but he wants her to be careful.

Majo has a very annoying conversation with Angie. She thinks Jorge is cute. But she also thinks Angie should enjoy herself with him a bit but to remember he’s not of their social class. Majo tells her sister that their father is going to return and their life will go back to being as it was. Angie is way smarter than her sister. She says he may not return at all and, if he does, he’ll likely have to go to jail.

Majo refuses to believe this. She tells Agie that she’ll meet a handsome and rich boy who will take care of her like their father took care of them. Angie tells Majo she doesn’t really have a thing for Jorge. He may have had some feelings for her but… Of course, Jorge is listening through the convenient hole in the wall.

Vicente discovers the hole in the wall and is teasing Jorge about having been looking through it.
 

Novelera:

On Silvana: Maritza Rodriguez is awesome as a protagonista!
 

Silvana

Many thanks, novelera, for your excellent recap. As I was watching last night, I was grateful that you be doing the recap, not me, because there were so many things that went right through my ears without touching my brain. Your recap definitely helped.

I kept being ticked off last night, and not just because my Spanish was failing me (though that didn't help). For example, I was very disappointed in Jorge. It seemed to me that the "game" he was playing with Angie was simply cruel. I'd like to think that he was trying to decide what to do as he was talking about how much he cared for this "other person," and that his decision at the end was spur-of-the-moment, but I don't think it was. The only thing that makes me think that perhaps I'm mistaken is that what he did seemed so out of character for him. If he'd decided to listen to his father, I'd have expected him to be honest, not lead her on and then BOOM!

I thought the church Don Benito was showing to Trini was rather attractive. What pleased me less was the priest's asking Don B whether Trini was his novia when the priest had never even met her before. That seemed more worthy of Stella.

I don't know how old Lupita is (her face looks much older than I think she's intended to be), but even, say, someone eight years old who has been told that the school is secular and has been laughed at for asking about prayer would have sense not to ask about First Communion, esp. in front of the rest of the class.

Stella ALWAYS annoys me, and last night was no exception. Enough said.

I'm glad you said you are confused about Chivis' job at the fish market. I am, too. I thought that when Manuel first proposed the job, he had told her she'd be talking to her friends, trying to drum up business, and if she got an order, she would deliver it to the buyer's house in the fish market truck. I was therefore quite surprised that she was having to work with the fish at the market. I thought that that was Stella's idea to discourage her from continuing to work for Manuel, but no one seemed to find it strange that Chivis was cleaning fish, etc.

Oh well, tonight I'll be recapping. I hope my brain circuits are working better by then, but....

GRRR...It took me about 8 or 9 separate screens (often with multiple changes) to get the Captcha to recognize that I am not a robot. Several times, I was ABSOLUTELY sure I was right, but it still didn't work.
 

Silvana. Excellent recap, novelera! Very right about Lucha being somewhat humorless--presumably in the interests of being able to deliver PSAs about immigration reform and the high cost of medical care in the US. One of my children was always the champion of the underdog growing up and it could be a bit nerve wracking for us parents. I suppose we'll see in a future episode how Silvana gets access to the fish. I too thought she'd start by talking to her friends, trying to drum up business; maybe Manuel hasn't totally worked it out himself. Until Manuel and Vicente left for the hospital, Chivis had been in the office, looking at sales records, being oriented to what she was going to do, etc.. I think it was Stella's idea to get her doing hard physical labor. I'm thinking that will backfire on Stella because Chivis is such a good sport about it, which will presumably endear to the other workers. Also, it's probably not a bad idea to understand the business from the ground up. Angie had expressed doubts about waitressing because she's not of age (18, but not 21, which would be necessary to serve alcohol), but Jorge told her he could get around that. I think Lupita is supposed to be 10, like Pedrito, which seems to be a little old for a first communion in this country--maybe more the norm in Spanish-speaking countries? Majo was kind of offensive and worse than snobby when she told Angie to have fun with Jorge but to then find someone of her own class to take care of her. Somehow it kind of reminded me of the old miniseries Backstairs at the White House, when rain floods the attic and Calvin Coolidge and the butler and all footmen and other male servants (predominantly African American) are working their heads off trying to stop the leaks and stem the flooding. The snobby housekeeper protests about Coolidge (very nicely played by Robert Vaughn) doing menial labor and in the company of servants! He asks her, "What country do you think you're living in?" Somehow Majo's attitudes seem kind of un-American.
 

Silvana

So hard to believe this is the same woman from Marido en Alquiler! She's a much better sport about working, and didn't quit when the other workers were laughing at her inability to be a barker for the fish. Her willingness to step up is a real problem for Stella.

Really, most of the family is stepping up. Even Trini was cleaning the windows. They just need to get rid of Majo. Angie is a very smart girl so I don't understand why she's willing to cater to her older sister's inability to see reality. If Angie is going to act like a parent, then she needs to go all in and refuse to launder anything that isn't in the basket. No more picking up after Majo, that clueless snob.

Kelly
 

SIN SUENOS:

I am on board for true!!, THIS DANGDOG SOAP is the bomb!!

1st of all that poor child [Catalina 2nd [Ms.Lola from CELIA] has got the chops for this part! Ms. Yesica is a great villain and really a demoness just a straight-up, funk- bottem /ratchet,whore, with her demon baby girl. but,I love her portrayal of the rico- psycho,lady chapo/guzman ,narco-Reigna, training ,she gives her 'narco-queen in training' daughter, its too much on point!!She has laid out her whole power-play of how to maintain control and power! love it! the pedophile drug dealer,the power hungry freaks in the government,jail and political,police corruption is scary cause its not too far from the truth!!!Narcobosses in 'parrico-land runs latin politics! love this show, I live in North Philly, the Barrio, 5th and Lehigh, so,I know some of these people by 2nde degree, they have eaten the barrio . when these people saw their house, I knew it was the death nail !! the looting, I have seen ,eye-witness in in real life, so it broke my heart!!
have a great vacation, see you later
 

Silvana

I just had another thought about the episode with Lucha and the hospital. Am I right in thinking that her family is in the US legally? If so, it's inconceivable to me that someone as responsible as Manuel wouldn't have bought health insurance for his family, insurance that would include hospital coverage. How does she even know what a specific hospital costs, and why should she be so upset, if she's there for a few hours and has health insurance?
 

Silvana. Lucha does mention her insurance but wonders if it covers that hospital, which is close to the university but exceptionally expensive. I wonder if the family has an HMO. It's very possible that as a medical student, she may be concerned with the cost of medical care, just as she cares about immigration reform possibly because she is latino. She seems to have a couple of crusades going at once.
 

Silvana

Thanks, SpanProf, for reminding us about Lucha saying that the specific hospital Andrés took her to would be more expensive than whatever coverage they had. But, I've had some experience with medical insurance for our employees; and, at least in California, if there's an emergency, you don't have to go to the hospital in whatever network your insurance company plays ball with. They have to fork over for your going to the closest place.
 

Silvana. Yep, novelera, that's how it works here in the real world.
 

SILVANA

I felt very sorry for Angie when Jorge the man bun (boy bun??) seemed to be leading her on. I guess he remembered he had a girlfriend halfway through!
I thought Chivis was adorable dancing with Mañuel. She is really refined and classy, stark contrast to Stella, the would-be fishwife!
 

SILVANA SIN LANA - MARTES - Parte 1 de 2

Jorge is not pleased that Vicente has discovered the hole in the wall through which he can watch the Villaseñor sisters. Pedrito comes to tell Jorge that Margarita has come to see him. Jorge leaves, and Vicente immediately goes to look through the spyhole. He sees Maria José [MJ] getting undressed. Her back is to him. "Turn around, turn around," he whispers.

Angie and Lupita come to see how Lucha is doing now that she's home from the hospital. But when Angie sees Jorge with Margarita, she decides she'll come back at another time. She leaves, and Margarita, with a smug smile, says "That's how I like her, at a distance" (bien lejitos).

Stella is also at Manuel's house, "helping out." Manuel offers to accompany her back to her house. Stella informs him that she's not going to leave until Lucha is 100% healed.

Lupita is talking with Pedrito. He says he's happy that their parents are going to work together. Lupita wonders who will give the orders. "Probably my father," says Pedrito, "since he's bigger." Lupita says that she hopes her father will be able to come to her First Communion. "Will you invite me?" asks Pedrito. "Of course," she replies. She then asks whether he has already made his First Communion. No, he responds. [I suspect that this conversation will prove to be more important than it seems, but I have no idea how.]

Andrés arrives to see how Lucha is doing. She's pleased that he has come. He examines her bruised leg and asks whether she has anything important that she has to do. "I'm going to run," she replies. "When my neighbor finds out that you're here, she's going to kill me." Andrés spots a photo of Lucha's mother. "She was very pretty," he said, "and you look like her." He takes her hand, just as Vicente comes by. The two men greet each other. Andrés says he has to go see MJ. With Vicente looking on, Andrés kisses Lucha on the cheek and leaves. Vicente teases Lucha about her relationship with Andrés. "I'm just his student, that's all," she tells him.

Andrés heads over to see MJ, but she's already waiting for him outside. "Do you want to explain what you were doing there?" MJ asks. She's angry that he went to see Lucha before coming to see her. "Is she more important than me?" Andrés tries unsuccessfully to reassure her and calm her down. She informs him that she's not going to play second fiddle, be a consolation prize, for anyone (Yo no soy plato de segunda mesa de nadie). He tells her it's Friday night and he had hoped the two of them might go out for dinner. "Why don't you ask her out to dinner?" MJ asks, and then adds "Oh, I forgot, she's crippled" (lisiada). She goes back into her house, muttering "Damn cripple" (Maldita lisiada). Seemingly seconds later, Vicente gets a text message from MJ asking whether he'd like to go dancing at the Salsadromo.

Angie goes to see Lorenzo, the person Jorge spoke to about a waitress job. Lorenzo asks whether she's Jorge's novia. No, she says, we're just friends. "Oh," says Lorenzo, "he said so many nice things when he spoke about you...." (te echó tantas flores cuando habló de ti). He tells her he'd like her to start work tonight. She hesitantly agrees.

Of course, this being a telenovela, the Salsadromo is The Only Place in Florida (TOPIF) where people go. So in come MJ and Vicente. The place is dark and crowded, so somehow they don't see Angie, but she sees them. They dance, drink, and dance some more. Angie keeps trying to avoid them. At one point, a rather drunk MJ tells Vicente that no one makes her do anything. She does what she wants. "For example," she says, and she kisses him. A looonnng kiss
 

SILVANA SIN LANA - MARTES - Parte 2 de 2

Angie is so stunned by MJ's kissing Vicente that she crashes into Lorenzo and drops a tray full of drinks. She apologizes and assures him she'll clean up the mess and pay for the drinks.

Stella comes by Chivis' house to give her some soup. [I suppose this is part of her attempt to "befriend" Chivis so she can control her.] She tells Chivis she'll pick her up for work at 4 a.m. [part of her plan to discourage Chivis from working for Manuel] She tells Chivis and Trini that Manuel has asked her several times to marry him, but she said no because she was young and afraid.

Several hours later, we see Stella wake up from the couch in Manuel's living room and tiptoe up the stairs to his bedroom. She takes off her bathrobe and pulls back the covers of his bed and...ooops, Pedrito is asleep in Manuel's bed (as usual). Stella makes a hasty retreat, but her bathrobe gets caught in the door. She's pulling on it when Lucha comes by. She assumes the obvious and berates Stella for behaving this way in their house. Manuel wakes up and comes out into the hall, tells Lucha the situation is not what she thinks. Lucha goes back to her room, and Stella returns to the couch downstairs.

Back at Stella's place, Poncho is despondent because she hasn't returned home. He leaves to find solace elsewhere, at TOPIF. He sees MJ with Vicente, but he's more interested in finding a woman to make him feel good. He enthusiastically embraces a heavyset woman he knows, but he winds up spending the night with someone else (I think). He wakes up in the morning unsure where he is, sees a blond woman snoring next to him in bed, and her three children standing at the foot of the bed asking who he is.

At 4 am, Angie finally arrives home. Her mother isn't pleased that she was out so late. Stella arrives bright and cheery to take Chivis to the Fish Market. For some reason, even though it's 4 am, the Fish Market is in full daylight. Dominique arrives, yelling "Stella" at the top of his lungs. He's in total hysteria because Poncho went out and didn't come back that night. He doesn't know what to do. Should he call the police? He decides to ask Chivis to pray with him. He tells her that people like her are closer to heaven. They sit on a bench near the statue of the Virgin. He prays that Poncho will return safe and sound. Seconds later, to strains of the Hallelujah Chorus, Poncho arrives on his moto!

MJ tells Angie that she was at a party with Andrés. Angie tells her to stop lying, she (Angie) knows MJ went dancing with Vicente and kissed him. Angie won't say how she knows. When Angie leaves the room, MJ calls Vicente and tells him they were seen kissing. She wants him to stop sending her messages, and if anyone says anything, Vicente should deny everything. Jorge hears all this through his spyhole.

At the Fish Market, Manuel tells Stella she shouldn't have come into his bedroom. Chivis comes into the office and tells Manuel she will buy a second-hand car, so she won't need his. Manuel offers to go with her, but Stella says that Chivis is able to do it herself. Chivis agrees.

Lucha, on her balcony, sees Andrés come to see MJ. "How can he be the novio of that airhead?" (cabeza hueca), she wonders [as does Viewerville].

Poncho mentions to Manuel that he saw Vicente with MJ at the Salsadromo last night. Manuel is stunned. End of episode.
 

SILVANA

Juanita, ¡Voy a echar un montón de flores en tu dirección! Thanks so much for a terrific recap. Another Vulcan mind meld! I also noticed the broad daylight at the fish market at 4:00 AM.

I suppose there’s going to be a reformation at some point. But right about now I like even Stella more than Majo. She can’t even comprehend how lucky she is to have such a kind boyfriend who stopped by to see a person who had been in the hospital. She leads Vicente on and then pushes him away. And she lies all the time!

Actually, I think Stella bringing the soup – in her flimsy bathrobe, if I remember correctly – was to let Chivis know that she was going to sleep at Manuel’s house. Nothing was said about sleeping on the sofa.

They are way overboard with Dominique. That stuff he wears on his head! The exaggerated femininity! I like that Chivis is quite civil to such a caricature. But I think they’re overdoing it.
 

Silvana. Excellent recap, Juanita! I especially liked TOPIF. Yep, well-observed. Though we don't know yet if there's only 1 hospital, 1 police station, 1 bank, etc., as in other novelas. At least in this case there was a little preparation with the characters' previous visits to the Salsadromo. Yep, odd about the sunlight at the fish market--after all, this is Miami, not Anchorage. Maybe it was too expensive to film when it was really 4 AM? And indeed, Viewerville does wonder how Andrés can be the novio of airhead MJ. Now Vicente is being creepy about the peephole! But that hole is already becoming an important plot device. And again Chivis is an excellent sport--this time about going to work at 4 AM. Dominique's yelling "Stella!" was an obvious hommage to Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire. Trini seems to be catching on to household management. In fact, when she rousts the girls out of bed to help with the Saturday morning cleaning, even though 2 of them had been out till all hours, that reminded me of my grandmother many years ago. When she was visiting. If it was a Saturday or a school holiday, she'd stand at the bottom of the stairs at the crack of dawn and yell: "All right, you lazy kids! Your mother works hard all week. We're going to clean the house for her, starting right now!" (Groans of assent)
 

Silvana

Muchas gracias, novelera, for your very kind words. I dislike both Stella and Majo, but somehow I can ignore Majo, while Stella drives me up the wall each time she opens her mouth, chews gum, or wiggles her butt.

I often object to the ludicrous portrayal of Dominique, but one of the scenes involving him was my favorite of the evening. I loved it when he was praying for Poncho's safe return and, almost instantly, we hear the joyful Hallelujah Chorus and see Poncho arriving on his moto. Ah, the power of prayer! (And especially prayer aided by Chivis' presence.)

Yes, I think you're right, Stella's coming over to Chivis' house at a rather late hour and in her bathrobe was not just a "friend" bringing soup.

I think the person I least understand is Andrés. He seems sensible and intelligent, and so, like Lucha, I wonder what in the world he can see in Majo.
 

Silvana

thank you novelera and Juanita for your wonderful recaps! I'm still watching and enjoy reading all of the comments.

 

Sin Senos

of the 3 novelas, this has become my favorite, this packs quite and emotional punch, not a typical narco novela although it is set in that environment, and I'm loving Catherine Siachoque in this role as Hilda, the humble honest mother comforted by the quiet speaking Albeiro.

as things stand the good guys are out of prison, Yesica wants Daniel (reporter) dead but he continues to elude them, the cops have blown up his house but he wasn't there, and their story was a propane tank used to cook cocaine was the cause, so he is now wanted as a narco.

Cata wants revenge, her friends (the daughters of Ximena and Vanesa, friends of Catalina the 1st) want to help, throw dog poop in their yard, scratch their car, paint ugly things on their house, no, no, Cata says, we aren't on the same page, I want Yesica and Daniela dead.

so they decide on a hit, the cost maybe $10,000 for an ordinary person but Yesica w/ guards probably 10X that, so where can Cata get the money, 2 choices, prostitute or drug mule, so they go to see Mariana the local girl handler, she suggests being Gato's girlfriend, but she'll need breasts, it's a narco thing having the girl with the best breasts, Cata stops short here for now.

meanwhile Octavio has come up with a plan to get the family out of town, give Hilda a letter supposedly written by Catalina the 1st before she died with a map to a buried $50,000.

oh and Daniel has got the part where Catalina the 1st was married to Marcial (the narco) and entitled to half of what Yesica got from him.

 

Senora Acero

love the new story parts (and characters) of Vicenta/Daniel (similar and good chemistry like Adela/Rodrigo in Bajo) but not so much for the other story lines coming from the series, it seems everyone is on a revenge kick, blah, blah, blah, and I'm not particularly fond how the majority of the show is taken up by people talking/confronting others, posturing so to speak.

 

General

Juanita- with my dial-up internet, I'm always wrestling with the recaptcha, but one trick I found helpful is if there is any problem to hit the reload button on the recaptcha, which it takes as a sign you want an easier test.

 

La Sombra De Helena: WOW!


 

General

Many thanks, deb, for your suggestion about dealing with the captcha insanity. I'll give it a try the next time it goes berserk.
 

Señora Acero

Deb, thanks for your most recent message about Señora Acero. I had been trying to watch it, but I think I've finally thrown in the towel. The only thing I really found interesting was the story line involving Daniel and Vicenta. The rest I either didn't care about or found too confusing to follow (or both). Yesterday I finally decided not to give it any more of my time. Needless to say, I appreciated the validation I got from your message today. From now on, I'll devote myself solely to the stupidities of Silvana Sin Lana.
 

Silvana

SpanProf, I loved your comments, which somehow I didn't see until just now. I was a little surprised that you hadn't commented, not realizing that you and I sent messages at more or less the same time (again). As soon as I wrote my message thanking novelera, I left the house, and I didn't realize that your message had appeared just before mine. OK, OK, enough said.

I especially liked your suggestion about Dominique's yelling "Stella" being an homage to Marlon Brando in Streetcar. You're surely right. It makes perfect sense, and I'm wishing I had thought of it! :-)


 

Silvana. Descuide, Juanita, that's perfectly ok. I usually comment on the previous night's episode as soon as I get to my office in the morning. I find it relaxing before I actually have to do any real work. Btw, Stella's passive-aggressive treatment of Chivis reminds me of a Douglas Fairbanks Jr. movie from the early 30s. He plays an employee of a brokerage firm who works his way up from the mailroom to senior broker. He's so good at it that he even makes money off the stock market crash by selling short. There's this other broker in the office who is upper class and has always looked down on him and treated him with disdain, but who doesn't do as well in the crash and loses his job. A couple of years down the road Fairbanks Jr. gets a chance for what he thinks of as revenge. He offers the other guy his own old mailroom job--but the former snob is just grateful, because it means his family can eat. Of course, that inspires the Fairbanks character to realize how hollow his life is, etc., etc.
 

Silvana

Thanks for the recaps! I am amused by this TN. I noticed the Stella! reference and the "maldita lisiada" from Maria la del Barrio had me cracking up too. I never know if I'll have time to watch the next morning or if I'll have to catch up on weekends, so I very much appreciate the recaps and discussions during the week.

From Monday's episode, I understood Manuel's explanation of Chivis' job as taking the fish/seafood to the rich people's houses so they could look at the product (since they would never go to the fish market to buy it). I thought the "su casa" meant their house and referred to la gente and not her house and Chivis, but I am always confused by the ambiguous pronouns in Spanish, so maybe I misinterpreted it.

I don't like how Jorge is acting now. He's being a bit mean to Angie. And Andres and Majo together makes no sense! It's obvious that Andres and Lucha like each other, and Majo has way more chemistry with Vicente. The hole in the wall is creepy though. Both Jorge and Vicente need to stop it and fess up.
 

SILVANA

I really hope they flesh out the Dominique character a bit more. He is just a walking gay friend stereotype at the moment, which is rather annoying and patronizing. I'm confused about why he seems to worship Chivis?? Is it because she is blonde? And classy? He was sniffing her when they were supposed to be praying!
 

Silvana

@Jude Gray, I agree that the writers are making Dominique into an annoying gay stereotype, and I too am hoping that they tone things down and give him more depth.

Yes, I do think Dominique finds Chivis' blonde hair and cultivated manner attractive. However, I don't think he was "sniffing her" while they were supposed to be praying, although it sure looked that way at first. But he then interrupts her praying to ask what she uses on her hands to make them so smooth (lisitas and lovely (bonitas). So I think what looked like sniffing was his getting closer to get a better look at her hands.
 

Silvana

@J, FWIW, my understanding was similar to yours concerning the job Manuel was offering Chivis.
 

Thanks to all for the recaps. I am in California to go to my aunt's 100th birthday. The motel here in Davis has about 6 Spanish language channels. We are going to San Francico next. The Latino presence is very prominent than back in Ohio.


 

Silvana. Wow, Gobluefan! My undergraduate degree is from UC Davis. Excellent university! I loved the prayer scene in last night's episode. We could hear the mental prayers of each of the characters who were attending the Saturday afternoon mass (counts for Sunday!), and the only person praying for other people instead of herself was Silvana. Some of the prayers of the others were hilarious!
 

Silvana. The other thing that struck me about this episode is that once they're engaged, neither Andrés nor MJ is as enthusiastic as one would have thought and both are thinking at least a bit of other people--Lucha and Vicente. I (and I'm sure all Viewerville) think that bodes ill for there actually being a wedding ceremony. There's none of that euphoria of people who are truly in love. (Though as Trini remarked, if things don't work out, at least the ring seems to be worth a lot of money.:))
 

Silvana

Thanks, SpanProf, for your comments about two important matters--the great scene at mass and the muted enthusiasm of Andrés and Majo after Andrés has proposed and she has (rather hesitantly) accepted.

Here are a few more things I remember about last night's episode:

Manuel bawls out Vicente for continuing to go out with Majo even after Manuel told him not to. Vicente replies that Manuel shouldn't talk, he too has a novia: Chivis.

Chivis buys a second-hand white van. Trini and Lupita turn their noses up, but Angie likes it.

Majo tells Andrés that she has a hard time trusting anyone ever since her father abandoned the family. She mentions especially that she doesn't trust Lucha.

In a discussion with Manuel, Chivis learns that Manuel hasn't wanted to get married again. She tells him that Stella said he had proposed to her several times.

Manuel asks Chivis what she thinks he should do about Stella! Does Chivis think Stella is the woman for him? Should he marry Stella? Chivis tries to get out of answering, but eventually she says...No.

Manuel gives Chivis a present, all gift-wrapped: a small vacuum cleaner. Lucha is not happy that he has done so. She tells him that she doesn't see him looking at Stella the way he looks at Chivis. She tells him that if she had to choose between Stella and Chivis, she'd choose Stella, because Stella is at least "a little more like us."

Majo has a heart-to-heart with her mother about Andrés. Chivis senses her hesitancy and tells her that "If you don't love him, he's not the ideal novio." When Andrés then proposes, Majo hesitates long enough that I actually thought she might say no, but she says yes. However, as you've quite rightly said, SpanProf, there's none of the euphoria we'd expect to see from either of them.

I hope other folks will join in the discussion.
 

Silvana. And of course Chivis is right--whether or not Manuel is attracted to her rather than Stella, he shouldn't marry someone if he has to ask someone else's opinion about it--it's a sure sign that he's not really in love.
 

Silva. And btw, thanks for chiming in and filling in the rest of the important plot developments in last night's episode, Juanita.
 

Silvana

thanks all for the comments!

hmm, Chivis talk with Majo, didn't she recommend that if Majo doesn't KNOW if she loves Andrés, that she should break up with him until she does, and then when Andrés proposed I took the look on Chivis' face as Majo shouldn't accept, but then it turned out Chivis was elated that Majo did accept, what?

 

Silvana

Deb- I took that to mean that she accepts that Majo has made a decision about Andres and has decided she loves him. The look on her face may have been concern about her daughter having to maybe break up with her boyfriend in front of everyone (which is why these things should be more private unless you're 100% sure it's a firm yes). I know they're setting her up to end up with Vicente, but Andres is a good guy who does NOT spy through holes in the wall. That alone, for me, makes Vicente not worthy. Although it is Majo we're talking about, so maybe the pervert is fine.

Either way, I have concerns about Andres being interested in Lucha since she's a student and he's a teacher. Serious ethical issues if she doesn't graduate soon. And can someone please plug that dang hole already before someone (probably Majo) threatens legal action?

Kelly
 

Silvana
Hello fellow Patio mates! I'm back from vacay and trying desperately to get caught up on Silvana. I'm plowing thru the first week. Fortunately (or perhaps NOT fortunately-LOL) there are enough scenes through which I can FFWD--> to speed up the process. Too much of our data plan was used on vacation, so I didn't read the recaps once SsL began. I've had no time to even read the recaps since I got back. yikes.

One thing I'm confused about (probably discussed here but no time to read the recaps...sorry) why did Manuel have to do a sell job at the Miami public school for them to accept Chivis' kids? Public schools have to accept everyone, don't they?

So far, I like what I see!
 

Silvana. Doris: It was a charter school, not a regular public school. Students have to apply for admission to charter schools. Some charter schools have a special emphasis, like math and science, for instance, some have a reputation for being academically more demanding, and some are just considered "better." What is special about this one appears to be that it educates k-12 on the same campus--which is also convenient for being able to show Lupita and Angie at school at the same time.
 

Silvana. Charter schools also often have a freer organization. They may not have a formal tenure policy for the teachers, or in some cases may not require formal teaching credentials/certificates, they may be administered by an external organization, they may not have the same requirement for things like facilities, p.e., length of school day, etc. The difference between a charter school and a magnet school is that magnet schools are administered by the district, follow all the state and district rules, including teacher certification and tenure, and are almost always organized around academic emphases--like math and science, bilingual ed, the arts, etc.
 

Silvana

Thanks, guys for the mini-caps and comments. Totally swamped at work, so no time to say a word.

But I will do a recap tonight.
 

Silvana

So glad Jorge finally plastered that stupid hole. I hope he and Vicente tell the girls and it's not just a lost plot point. Jorge sure is being a jerk now. Is that how he's dealing with his feelings for Angie? Not a great plan.

Andres was a little too pleased to get that friend request from Lucha right after getting engaged to Majo. A bit odd that Lucha wouldn't approve of Chivis and Manuel because of the social class difference, yet she has a crush on Andres.

I enjoyed this Stella-free episode!
 

SpanProf - thank you! I missed the fact that it's a charter school, probably due to some FFWD. Makes more sense now, too, since papichulo is on the board.
 

Who knows the title of the song for Angie and jorge