Caray, Caray!

Welcome to the patio amigowz! This is my last SDA recap, so read it slowly and make it last...
 

Pablo, I think you forgot to put in the page break. Now to make some coffee so I can enjoy your recap w/dessert!
 

Yes I did. Thanks. That's something that I always try not to forget, I guess I was tooooo excited!!
 

Pablo, this was superb.

What a masterful job you did...

"Esperanza, where do you keep that jumbo sized heart of yours? -Surely not in my butt, you silly! In the hollow space where my stomach used to be! And there's plenty of room left!" had me smiling away.

And now, I'm going to be serious for a bit. I am beyond dismayed at the way this played out. In retrospect, this was no surprise. The signs were there all along. Still, I found myself in tears as Ricardo told Esperanza she was not being chosen.

Looking back there was the oft mentioned 20 year separation. Next, Ricardo's moving on in a NY minute with Cris after supposedly being "heartbroken". After finding out Esperanza was dying, his primary concern seemed only to be that she lied to him. There was no compassion, no regret. If he loved her, nothing would have kept him away.

But what blew me away was what occurred (or didn't occur) right after he thwarted Ernesto. "No. She could not believe it either. With eyes big as plates she stared at Ricardo who was holding CVV tight completely oblivious to her." That was beyond cold, it was cruel. There was no holding out a hand, a comforting hug. He clung to the only person who mattered - Cris.

"20 years apart was just that, a dream. CVV is my reality... It hurts me to hurt you. It hurts me to have left you 20 years ago." Yes, it is so apparent your heart is broken Ricardo. I can honestly say this is the first TN I've seen in which the "galan" has ever made me nauseous.

And so Ernesto will surely wither away and die in prison. A fitting end I suppose for what he has done but such a waste for his children, let alone the potential for an untraditional love story that would have blossomed beyond belief if given the chance.

I am not even going to watch the finale when available on demand (although I look forward to the final recap). I've had quite enough of this.

I really hope Betty Monroe gets other leading roles. She was stellar all the way around.

Pablo, I thank you and all the other recappers for your marvelous efforts.

Diana
 

Thank you pablo for this snarky funny recap.

While I did like that proposel, I think ricky and christyV will be glad when they wont have to
Be faiytail people anymore.
"Leaving poor stomachless espranza to fend
For herself", I had to laugh out loud with that.
She fended pretty good too. She knows how to handle a gun. But Im glad they talked her out of shooting him, theres been enough of
Blood shed. And its on his hands.

I thought those were two cops ricky shot by mistake. Until I read the recap. Well everything else is messed up why not that?
They looked like they were wearing badges.
Whatever.
Three happy couples. Finally somebody is happy on this show.
Thanks Pablo. Read you later.

Ok one more episode. Read you
Later Pablo.
 

Did espranza really say that about her heart not being in her but or were you just being funny? Cuz it was funny.
 

I made that up. Ricardo said that she had a big heart being so noble letting him go be happy without stalking them anymore. I couldn't miss that chance of making fun of her because after the stomach surgery I have been doing that just because she never looked like she didn't have a stomach.
And I don't know what that look is neither, but if people use gastric bands and staples to lose weight, imagine how much weight you could lose WITHOUT THE ENTIRE STOMACH!!!!!
 

Wonderful recap, Pablo. Thank you. You sure described that moment so well when once freed Ricardo went straight to Cristina. Not a word was said or needed to be said as Esperanza witnessed it "With eyes big as plates . . ." That was a great scene and well done.

All in all, Esperanza made it way too easy for Ricardo the Schmuck. She should have made him tell her his decision all on his own like an adult and then she could have set him free. By making it easy, she became an enabler of his "schmuckiness". : (

The Galácticos' plan worked? I don't get why. If Mario could change like he did so quickly from good to bad to good who can say when he will not change to bad again when he is not a happy camper?

Diana, I agree that Betty Monroe was stellar in this. I hope we see her in more novelas. As a matter if fact, I have no criticism of the performances of any of the actors and think they all did a good job with the script they were given.




 

Thank you for saying that jarifa, cuz I really liked ricky the schmuck. Christian did well with his part, as did they all. This is the first time Ive seen ms monroe, the lady is very talented. I'd like to see more of her work. I like her short hair cut. Cute head.
 

O I just loved when he said "Espranza you
Couldn't have a better name. I did not know it meant "Hope" until I looked it up awhile back.
Beautiful name. Perfect!!!

Ok we got a storm up here (julia) in northeast florida so Im stoppin and chargin my phone
Just in case the lights go out. Have a good night patio peeps.
 

Thank you all for the recaps, great recaps for a so-so novela.
 

I was happy for CVV getting the happy ending with Ricardo!!!!

 

I half watched this show on and off when I caught it, so didn't participate in discussion, but I just wanted to say thank you to you and everyone who recapped it!

I did catch Monday until I got too grossed out by Ricardo's hands.

I was kind of always Team Ernesto and Esperanza, he at least liked her. But yeah, he's got to do his time. I wonder if I would have found Esperanza as annoying as many did if I had watched the show closely. As a casual viewer, I didn't mind her or CVV. Ricardo on the other hand, what a jerk. Both ladies should have dumped him.
 

Thanks Pablo! My show recording ended with Espe and the kids in the park and quickly went to closing credits. It was such an awkward ending that I thought their must be another episode. I found the ending to be totally sad for Espe but more so for the actress. To be cast as the lead and then to have them come in and bring in another character, also a protaganista lead, that's a blow to the ego. And for the galan to end up with her...I hope Betty Monroe gets better projects in future. I think the producers treated her very badly.
 

Just dropping in to say that I loved this title and the Monkey Writers screencap. I wish we could both on the sidebar. :)
 

That's, ADD both to the sidebar...

By the way, I didn't watch this tn, but read many of the hilarious recaps, because they were so darn entertaining. I think the whole team of recappers did a marvelous job, and really showed great commitment, given the change of time and the deteriorating plot. I take my hat off to you all, and to the great commenters on this patio.

Even as an outsider, I find it shocking that the producer (and his monkey writers) of this tn treated the leading lady so badly-- taking away her character's dignity, hair, galan, and starring role. It sounds like this actress soldiered through, and I hope to see her in other/better tns in the future.
 

Ok don't want to be annoying, the last episode today right? They're not showin us reruns until the new tn shows up? :-)
 

Nina, yesterday's episode was the last episode. So this recap is for the finale.

 

You know the writers could have ended the series for Espe with a little more hope, like a time jump to a month in the future where she has a meet cute with Jorge Salinas, and you know from the smile on his face that Espe is going to be all right in the love dept. That I could deal with but leaving her alone in her house with no one, just losing Ernesto and Ric...the writers or producers must have had it out for Betty Monroe.
 

Carvivlie, I loved your comment.

Yes, I also would have held onto a shred of hope for dear life. I had asked some time ago if we knew where Pablo's father was, desperately hoping for some type of happy love ending.

"leaving her alone in her house with no one" is tragic - totally agree!

What really ticks me off is blaming your star for your failure (I'm looking at you Osario)...Betty was the heart and soul of this and did nothing but maintained a bit of dignity for her character through this madness. Nothing against Marjorie, but her part was fairly straight forward and she did fine with it. But this would have all fallen apart (sooner) had Betty's fierce determination and stamina to do her character justice waivered in the slightest.

Diana
 

I think Pedro's father died because he had diabetes (Pedro has it too even when nobody seems to care), and then Espe got involved with Ernesto, who kinda hid from her that he was married leaving her pregnant with Patricia, after Espe found out.

Espe is just making lemonade with the lemons life is throwing at her like paintball shots. Too bad she has the lemons but no sugar! :-(
 

Off to Spanish class, but can't wait to read the recap. THANK YOU PABLO
 

Ricardo would have been the sugar. Hey theres still time for sweetness for her. We don't know what todays episode will bring her.
That was a dirty deal osorio gave her. He need to fix that. Gave her cancer, took her tummy out, gave her an almost good love and then he almost killed her. Dirty osorio, dirty. And he left jeronimo hangin too. Dirty!!!!
I still think he'll get a surprise.
 

Thanks, Pablo. How on earth did you get that behind-the-scenes shot of the writers' room? Wow, the Gran Por Fin already. By which I mean, how did they drag this mess out so long? But lucky us, the recaps were so much better than the show.

I could totally get on board with an "I don't need this loser man and I will be happy on my own" ending, except that Esperanza (and Betty) was treated SO shabbily throughout this whole production, and her "happy" ending was more of a "put on a brave face and deal with it". She should have had more, somehow. Like she could have written a majorly successful book about how a narcissistic and incompetent man is not worth having no matter how beautifully his rotten soul is packaged :) and inspired millions of women to respect themselves and do better. And then she could have gone into the detective business with Baxter or something and rescued kidnapped people and such. And perhaps a fantastic gentleman could have shown up, and maybe she'd end up with him or maybe not, but you'd see that she has options and she knows it; Ricardo who? Baxter really should have had a major role in the finale, given that he was the hero of the show.

But satisfaction would be way too much to expect of an Osorio production. Never again!
 

Wait, this was only part one. I guess there's still time for something better for Espe. And Betty Monroe had better get a much better deal next time! She's awesome and this production treated her horribly.
 

Wait wait wasn't yesterday's episode the last because my dvr has nothing to record today.
 

Thank you Pablo! This was an exquisite retelling of the nauseating drivel that we had to put up with in this first half of the finale! I was hopping mad after the episode and it all changed to roaring laughter after reading your recap! The Monkey Writers screencap was the cherry on top. Thank you for sharing your talent with us all these months!

Could you please add somewhere in the title that this is the first half of the finale? Thanks.

I echo the sentiments expressed here about the humiliation Betty Monroe and her character had to endure. Several commenters highlighted various aspects of my displeasure with this execrable story and the producer who polluted our screens with it. However, I felt that Diana said everything I wanted to say and in the order I wanted to say it. It was eerie reading her first comment because Diana laid it all out exactly the way it went through my head. I feel that she expressed my opinion in a far more eloquent (and polite) way that I ever could. Thanks Diana!

Carvivlie, I liked your suggestion of a meet-cute with Jorge Salinas and his dimples. That's the ending I'm keeping in my mind.

I did not want Esperanza to end up with Ricardo but I didn't want him to get CVV either. In many ways, I feel that CVV was also humiliated by making her grovel to gain the affection of a self-centered schmuck, as Jarifa likes to call him, who thinks he is God's gift to womankind. However, Marjorie de Sousa definitely got a much much better treatment than Betty Monroe who was bullied throughout the run of this trainwreck. The actress is going through a health crisis at the moment. I hope she recovers soon and moves on to achieve bigger and better things in her career.

 

I wanted Esperanza to ditch Ricardolt ages ago. Not as another self-sacrifice for that waste of space and oxygen, but as a way of asserting her womanhood and her self-worth. That scene should not have been a tear-jerking self-sacrifice breakup. "I'm setting you free because I'm sacrificing my happiness for you, out of eternal love for your fickle behind or juaréver!" Pffff! What lameness! She should've looked him straight in the eyes and said: "I deserve better! Better than you and your hissy fits and your confusion and your fickle heart and your inflated ego and your aggrandized sense of self and your pettiness that prevented you from forgiving a dying woman and your selective amnesia that made you forget your one-true-love for 20 years then come back and forget her all over again at the drop of a hat! I am better without you! I can and will do better than you! Now, get the fudge out my house and don't you ever come back!" This is what Ricardolt should've gotten from Esperanza. Then he would've groveled back to CVV only to have her throw the ring in his face and tell him to go play confundido somewhere else!

Another decent woman who got the fuzzy end of the lollipop was poor Viviana! How low must one's self-esteem be to accept to live with a partner like Mario? An insecure loser who is in hysterics 90% of the time! Thanks but no thanks!

 

I'm cosigning ALL of that, Nandicta.

All along, I sort of thought maybe, just maybe, eventually they'd make Ricardo into a real galán. He'd finally evolve, turn into the sort of person you'd believe all the women loved, would treat people well. You know, the typical telenovela hero story where the guy overcomes his issues and becomes worthy. NOT SO MUCH, apparently. He started out bad and went downhill. And he probably never would have given Esperanza a second thought over those 20 years if Kracy hadn't been so horrible.
 

Julia, you hit the nail on the head here: "He started out bad and went downhill. And he probably never would have given Esperanza a second thought over those 20 years if Kracy hadn't been so horrible." I've seen some awful galanes before but they change over the course of the story and they suffer a great deal, pay for their mistakes and sweat quite a bit for their ladylove to take them back. However, this one was just the worst of all time! He became so awful, obnoxious, petty and just plain unbearable in all his glorious "schmuckiness" (thanks, Jarifa!), that we all started rooting for the villain! We've seen how terrible the villain was and yet he showed us glimpses of galán-like behavior, as well as traits of loyalty, unconditional love, selflessness and sacrifice that the designated galán never displayed! I remember calling one of my recaps: "When the villain is a better galán than the galán" (or something to this effect), and almost the entire patio agreed. Way way back at the beginning, our dear Tofie called it. She read right through Ricardolt when were all still trying to figure out the 20-year disappearing act. She said this guy is looking for a replacement mother for his kids. Kracy was perfectly fine until she wasn't (or until he got his green card, who knows?), then he bumped into Esperanza and thought why not her? An incompetent super duper secret agent is a very time-demanding job. He didn't have time to find a replacement for Kracy. Thankfully, La Virgen de la Paz and the Lala Gods put Esperanza in his way and she is was an excellent candidate until the wedding got cancelled. He was sad for 2 days and got mad for another 2, then decided he should move on. One day, he bumps into a pretty blonde. He starts orbiting her because he couldn't stand the fact that a woman would dislike his perfect perfect self. Must change her mind at any cost. He asks Baxter to find her disappeared kid and gives himself all the credit. She sleeps with him out of gratitude. He found a replacement mom for his kid, finally! Esperanza who? A few weeks later, it is revealed that Esperanza has stage 4 cancer and that she broke up with him because she loved him too much to put him through that ordeal. As flawed as Esperanza's reasoning was, Ricardolt acted like a petty petty man. This revelation inconveniences him at a time where his romance with CVV was getting hot and heavy; at a time where he already has a healthy, pretty, younger AND cancer-free woman by his side! He showed little compassion for a frail woman consumed by cancer and, for all he knew, on her deathbead. He kept berating her and refused to forgive her. Then he had the gall to string both women along, asking them to put their lives on hold, while he gets to pose and pout and ponder which one he should choose. This jerk deserved to be left alone with the person he truly loves: Himself! :)
 

Thanks.

I also like what esperanza should have said but she didn't.

Regarding the partial thing, it says right there after the word "mex". Part 1.
Maybe I should add "of 2". Right? Let me do it like this 1/2... Better not, looks like half.
 

Pablo, you're right about 1/2 and 2/2. How about this? "131 mex - 1 out of 2. GRAN FINAL, PARTE 1: Your Title". It's just so our patio pals know that this is not the penultimate episode (that was yesterday), this is the first half of the 2-hour finale. Also, it would be easier for future reference (if someone is brave enough to watch this show in the future) and will come up in an internet search if someone looks up "final" or "finale" (again, if someone is brave enough to make it all the way to the finale!):D Thanks, amigow!
 

"This jerk deserved to be left alone with the person he truly loves: Himself! :)"

You nailed it Nandicta. Thank you.

Diana (still steaming - sigh)
 

I guess I'll miss part two of the finale since TWC isn't showing it on today.
 

Nandicta, that should be the plot summary on this show's Wikipedia page, and on the Univision and Televisa sites.