Caray, Caray!

Thanks so much Urban, you did a great job with such an annoying episode.

This thing with Mark visiting Tano is jail is over the top. So in what place do they allow the one who is pressing charges to "visit" the perpetrator to mock and cause problems? I just don't get it.

The "happy little family" in Mexico City...if only we could remove "DisGracie" from the scenes.

Lil pretends to love her grandchildren and she made it clear she doesn't want to be around them. She has no natural love for her own flesh and blood. She is only after money and her own status in life. Notice the way she described Marta earlier, it's really a description of herself.

As for Luciana, she needs to find a REAL immigration attorney.
 

Thank you, urban. So disgusted to see the happy family on vacation...And all the while DisGracie holds that awful secret that she killed their mother\wife. Heart of stone hidden in a pretty package. She is a devil that looks like a doll.

Gut is playing a stupid game. He seems sincerely interested in Marta , but he is still sleeping with the enemy. No moral compass.

Markme visiting TAno in jail....What?

Luciana...Do not trust Juan the weasel. Someone has to wipe that smirk off his face.
 

Outstanding recap Urban, and so far, far superior to the episode.

"They toasted their villainy" and "[Surely he also remembers that she has no virtues]" were among my favorites.

Tano should have known better than to react to Mark's baiting. Brian does seem sincere in wanting to protect him, but how can he do that when Tano can't even begin to be calm, cool and collected.

I agree Luci should seek a reputable immigration lawyer. I hope this motivates David to be proactive and not (once again) turn her over to Juan who will of course do nothing.

David has come a long way with his children. Soon, he hopefully will face his own dilemma with Luci.

I don't think Brian is dense, but I can't for the life of me figure out how he plans to be with the woman whose husband and daughter he deported. I agree Susanlynn, he does seem to care, but doesn't he realize the first time Luci sees him, the game is up?

I hope the writers have something more inventive in store for Sonia other than burrowing into David'a shirt.

Thank you UA! Let's hope this starts moving along...

Diana
 

Thank you UA

"This smells like dead fish rotting on the shore for at least three days." And, and, and this is the same guy they suspect tainted the wine soooooo I put this in the same category of believable as Mark's visit with Tano.

Happiest I've seen David since his wife passed. He's relaxed, Graciela is patient and supportive, he and the kids have reconnected and no stumbling upon a makeout session between Miguel and Luciana, preceded and/or followed by an attack, snort and stomp. Around the world David, with Graciela.

Guess Luciana will wander around for a few days with her backpack instead of leaving. I want her to leave now and for Miguel to go with. Something, anything to get this show moving.

Really Brian? Marta? Think of your career.

Sonia is just creepy.

 

Okay, UA, I'm going to have to add "doesn't give an infinitesimal damn" to the Novelalandia lexicon. :)

(o hai) Mark showing up at Sonoma IKEA Jail just to (successfully) screw with Tano merely continued the stupidity inherent in that story, or at least the execution of it. That said, it was probably second on the episode's stupidity list--behind Luciana blindly trusting Punchable Face Juan about her work visa woes when she and Miguel want to tie him to the tainting of the original batch of reserve wine, but ahead of David somehow figuring out that Fernanda has a thing for Tano. (Sonia stealing David's shirt and cologne also counts as stupid, of course, but I'm not counting it because Veronica Jaspeado is awesome...and Sonia's obsession is hilariously creepy.)

By loose extension: how long is this novela supposed to be? Didn't Televisa issue some sort of edict saying that new novelas can't be longer than 100 episodes a while back?
 

"Oh Ms Munoz, your tests came back and you have inoperable, terminal breast cancer."
"Oh My, doctor, I was not expecting that, are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sorry. So it doesn't spread, we will need to euthanize you. We don't want you getting butt cancer too.."
"Doctor, are you sure? This is unbelievable, can I see the test results?"

"I understand, but unfortunately the test results are in my desk drawer, and I left the key at home today.
"OK, if that's the case, give me the shot, I wanna die before I get any sicker."


IGIVEUP
 

You know, if I wanted to get up close with absurd stupidity, I would just get out of the car
and Walk to WalMart. I live in FloriDuh.

I didn't even watch this whole episode, I got sidetracked watching the moon.

David and Bobby were great, along with the Barf Face on DisGracie when they went to buy Luci a shirt.
I was hoping FerBrat happened to have her bag from the airplane to give her.
 

Thanks for the encouragement, amigos. This is my "just the facts" version since I can't find any particular muse for this story, as in the past for other series. I'm waiting until they show Mujeres de Negro, for which I have a plan.

Just to answer another question: We are currently about 60 episodes behind Mexico on this series. The standard length right now for a story like this is about 120 episodes; ECDLA has 121 total (although I don't know whether the finale is one or two hours). PyP was 137 total hours and AQNMD will be 142, but both of those have more than the usual number of characters that need a certain minimum amount of screen time.

Mark must have an "in" with at least some of the police in this story to be able to go to Tano's cell to taunt him. It is totally bothering me that Tano would have been in school in this area and should therefore be speaking proper English, but he doesn't. The actor playing Mark should not have an accent when he speaks English. Luciana speaks English better than he does.

More later.
 

Ah, thanks, UA. So we're somewhere about 1/3 through this mess.

(On an unrelated note: after looking at the Wikipedia cast list for Mujeres de Negro, damn I want to see that. It sounds astonishingly dark/bleak, though. Like Mujeres enganadas bleak.)

I'm leaning towards giving Tano a pass on the clunky English at this point, since it's definitely not just him on this show. It's become an unintentionally hilarious running gag, which only four actors have managed to transcend (Azela Robinson, sorta-affected English accent and all; Mar Contreras, resident emotional outburster; and Cynthia Klitbo and the guy playing Gutierrez to a lesser degree).
 

Gracias, Urban. "This smells like dead fish rotting on the shore for at least three days." Yeah. Anything Juan says to evade a question about David's involvement should be a giant red flag. It's not as though he doesn't already have a record of lying to everyone.

And shame on David for taking Gracie's word for it when she said there was nothing big going on at the vineyard to warrant his attention. Shouldn't David want to be the judge of that?

"She warned him that patience was not one of her virtues and to remember that. [Surely he also remembers that she has no virtues.]" LOL! I thought the same thing. What does she think are her virtues, anyway? Oh and last week when she complained to Gut that maybe he was only interested in her because of the ways she could help his career, I felt like yelling, "DUH! What do you expect when you use your influence to manipulate a guy?"

I don't know much about jail/prison, but it seems to me you ought to be able to refuse a visitor.
 

Thanks for the great recap, Urban! I've stopped even pretending that I'm watching this show and have removed it from my dvr recording schedule. But I can't miss these wonderful recaps.

I'm also finding it very hard to believe that Luciana is taking Juan's word about her visa as gospel, when she knows he's shady. I can't believe that anyone there trusts anything he says after what they both suspect and know he's done, and how he treats them. This is just silly.
 

Steve--Please keep any previews to yourself from now on. Here we only discuss what we've already seen. Thank you.
 

Julie Said: "I don't know much about jail/prison, but it seems to me you ought to be able to refuse a visitor."

And even if you do not have the option to refuse, IE: actually stop one from coming on the premises, you can sit on your bunk, or turn your back, or stand a safe distance back from the bars. Ummm if that kind of encounter were allowed, UNSUPERVISED, no less, why doesn't Soo--San just come in and pass him a knife, gun, hacksaw blade, a length of rope with a pre-tied noose in it......etc. etc.

Aaarrrghhh I'll play stupid to enjoy a show, but there is only so much I can do, I'm not that good.
Inspector Clouseau
 

Thanks, Urban. Surely he also remembers that she has no virtues is my favorite too.

David asked why he [Juan] hadn't called him directly and Gracie waved it off as nothing big enough to warrant his attention. David had been hoping for reports from Susan, Luciana, and Miguel but Gracie said there was nothing to worry about.

Excuse me but David is the owner, so why isn’t he calling his staff himself? David might be the stupidest protagonist of all time. Good grief, the last time Juan was in charge almost all the staff got poisoned.
 

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
 

Urban--I love your "just the facts" recap. When I woke up this morning, I reflected on last night's episode and wondered what exactly happened? Ok, two or three little nuggets to advance the non-action. Still, I can't look away and can't wait to join this little chorus of disgruntled viewers.

Thank you again for your dedication to one of the most uninteresting telenovelas I've watched in a long time. They wasted a beautiful location and accomplished actors. I'm in the process of transferring my Cuando Me Enamoro episodes to disc. Now THAT was a great telenovela.

So, to amuse myself I zero in on details. I noted a couple of days ago that Tano was probably born, but definitely raised in California, yet he speaks English so poorly. I wondered out loud if he'd actually gone to school here.

But like others, I'll give them all a pass on their accents (Bill--I don't think Susan's is so fluid for a 100% gringa). Since this telenovela was made primarily for a non-English speaking they wouldn't be able to differentiate between fluent English speakers and ESL speakers.

That said, I heard one oopsie that someone on the writing staff should have caught. In the jail scene with Gut and Tano, Gut told him it was going to go worse for him because he is...wait for it...latin. Ahem, Latin is a language. You are either Latin American or latino(a). He should have used the more commonly accepted term and said Hispanic. Yes, small potatoes, but it's what's keeping me interested.

Ok. The "happy" family in Mexico City is getting ready to come home. Weren't they supposed to tour all of Latin America? Meanwhile, Luci is getting ready to leave for Mexico. Since this telenovela is so frustratingly unpredictably predictable, she will still be at the vineyard when David returns and he saves the day. Nope, I think she will be gone and he goes bananas, takes over the "case" from Juan and goes after her. Nope, that is entirely too unpredictable. Something tells me she'll be gone, David is resigned to losing her and Gracie will take advantage of it. Score one for Gracie. I'm guessing that is why we're not even half-way through this thing.

I also loved "doesn't give an infinitesimal damn." In fact, I loved all your asides, Urban. Keep them coming. We need a little more spice in this bowl of chili.
 

Niecie..I agree with you about Dave. He seems to have abdicated all his power. Was he supposed to have been a successful vineyard owner before Lisa died? what happened to those skills? Trusting his old buddy Juan has not turned out well in the past, but DImDAve continues to not check up on what JUan is actually doing. Not wise.
 

Anita..." They wasted a beautiful location and accomplished actors."..Yes..This. It seems that recent telenovelas lack good writers.

It takes years to sound like a native speaker, and the younger you are when you start a second language, the better the chance of having little or no accent, so I am ignoring the different levels of English skills...Suspended disbelief. I have had ARabic speakers tell me that I speak Arabic with a KUwaiti accent because I first learned some Arabic from my first students who were teenage boys from Kuwait. My SPanish speaking students can always tell me what country other Spanish speakers are from. My FRench student was very dismissive of the French she heard while visiting Quebec. I guess that people in ENgland were not verra happy when Rene ZEllwegger was cast as Bridget Jones. Language is an interesting thing. My daughter lives in Canada and people tease her about the way she's says "water" because most AMericans pronounce the "t" as "d" if it is in the middle of a word ..water, Party, waiter, etc
 

That David trusts Juan probably is the biggest suspension of disbelief we have to make for this series to work. He should have been suspicious when Juan failed to prevent Marcos and Luciana from being deported. He should have had him removed and banned from the estate when the workers got poisoned. In fact, since that pesticide was illegal he probably could have had him arrested over it.

Then there's Gracie sucking the life out of everything and teaching Fernanda how to do it. I can't wait for David to meet Joselo.
 

I am wondering what the deal is with Sonia stealing David's shirt. That is just weird. Is she planning to use it as a nightgown for herself or what? It does seem rather creepy. Certainly she can't be thinking it of wearing it around the house underneath her sweater vests.

Niecie, I agree with you about David not calling to check in with his staff. And the thing with "Don't tell David, he has so much to do, we don't want to worry him". Also (since I'm an accountant) why doesn't David have a CPA going over his books and filing quarterly taxes for him? A lawyer doesn't do taxes or know how to balance the books. Oh maybe he took a class in Quickbooks, huh? No business owner ever, ever, leaves one person in charge of everything with no accountability to anyone.

Why would any of the staff go to Juan for anything after they are all suspicious about his having something to do with sabotaging the wine.

I'm just frustrated with the poor writing from this TN. They have done no research on how our laws work in the USA and California. I also agree that the actor who plays Tano should be able to speak much better English than he does.
 

Cynthia, I am thinking Sonia will eventually steal an entire outfit from David's room, then stuff it to make a dummy.

About Juan's untrustworthiness. As a condition of Juan's continued employment a while back, David said that Miguel and Susan are supposed to supervise his work, or something like that, right? So why on earth would David accept a report from Juan secondhand via Gracie?? OUCH! My head hurts. My beanie needs extra Teflon.
 

Well..I guess that we had all better get out our beanies because so many things in this telenovela just do not make sense.

Sonia spraying Dave's cologne on his shirt and taking it...Hmmm. Teen girls like to wear their boyfriends' team shirts or jackets. I guess Sonia might plan to sleep in Dave's shirt. I guess Dave has strong juju, and Sonia can feel it in his clothing. How old is Sonia supposed to be? Well, at !East the actress is talented enough to make us accept this character's quirky behavior.
 

I definitely have no complaints about the actress who is playing Sonia. I'm just a little confused by the character because she's teetering on the scary edge of daffy. I'm not sure whether I should be afraid of her or just feel sorry for her.
 

Thanks UA, you did a lot with an episode that gave you very little!

This show amuses me more than anything. It's just a mess so as long as you don't take it too seriously, it works out great. I explained the plots to one of my daughters last night and we just laughed and laughed.

Anita, I had thought the kids were only touring Mexico, but David and Gracie were continuing on in Latin America?

It was nice to see a smile on David's face last night. What a difference. The Gracie fan in me would point out Luciana doesn't make him smile all that much really (but I know it wasn't really Gracie making him smile, it was the quality time with the kids).
 

On those few occasions when I get to speak Spanish I sound like the Televisa actors. This has never been difficult for me. My first French teacher (7th grade) was fanatical about pronunciation and probably about 20% of the class could pronounce it natively (of that group I and one Jewish boy were the only ones to not come from Italian-speaking families). We really paid for being Teacher's Pets.

I am also frustrated with the poor writing in this series. These actors deserve better.
 

I agree this thing is not well put together and while I have no problem with the actors some should be in different roles. Concerning the accent I ignore because I struggle. In university I traveled to the country of my parents birth and have subsequently mastered the language, I think, that is until I get these blank stares and request to repeat a phrase or two or three. Nothing funnier than Malay spoken with a southern US accent.
 

Most of my students love if I say anthing in their languages..Except an older lady I had years ago from France. She constantly corrected me. I had two years of French in high school and two years in college. However, in high school, my French teacher was also my Latin and ENgilish Lit teacher. She mostly taught us vocabulary and to sing songs. I can still sing ADeste FIdeles, and last semester my two students from HAiti loved when I sang Sur le Pont and sang along!! I probably sound the best in Arabic...With a KUwaiti accent and Syrian slang.

I recently read that 75% of high school students around the world are studying ENgish as their second language. Many of the students that I now get have already studied some English in their countries, but sometimes they have mostly studied vocabulary. My friend who is a Spanish teacher who has been to MExico several times told me that a lot of English words have crept in MExican Spanish. Years ago, I had two guys from Mexico and a girl from Spain. She used to say "I am speaking Spanish, but I don't know what they are speaking. " Ouch.
 

LOL, Julie when you said, "I am thinking Sonia will eventually steal an entire outfit from David's room, then stuff it to make a dummy". I think she will have to steal his picture too and paste it to the dummy. Of all the character parts in this TN, Sonia and her quirkiness has to be the funniest and is even believable. I don't know what her script actually looks like, but the actress sure gives life to Sonia and has become my favorite character to watch. Now I'm waiting for David to come home and say, "Has anyone seen my favorite purple shirt?" (It was purple, right?)
 

Tofie: English spoken with a Southern US accent has always gotten me howls from the uninitiated. (Yankees) :-)
 

I thought it was more in the neighborhood of burgundy than purple, but I find that colors look a little different on different TVs. And supposedly the ability to remember specific colors is one of weakest links in our memory. See here: http://hub.jhu.edu/2015/06/02/color-perception-research/

So ICBW. But at least I know it wasn't green.
 

Julie: Why is Sonia keep smelling David's clothes ?
 

Steve: Sonia is trying to sniff David's scent/pheromones from his clothes. However, assuming that the clothes in his closet are clean, they shouldn't smell like anything (or they should smell like laundry detergent/fabric softener). I guess spraying his cologne around was the next best thing. But if anyone catches her, she's going to die of embarrassment in addition to probably being fired.
 

Before she grabbed the shirt and sprayed cologne around, Sonia should have remembered that David already caught her in his bed and she promised that nothing like that would ever happen again. She was embarrassed then and begged not to lose her job. I'm afraid she also has a very short memory.
 

In an early episode, I thought Sonia was putting away clean laundry in David's room (it may have just been towels). That probably means she has access to his dirty clothes, too. Maybe we should be grateful we only see her going for the clean shirts and not the dirty underwear.
 

Yikes...just...yikes.
 

Anita, I almost lost my dinner over that one.
 

Urban, tasty recap. A lot of bitterness to go down. Brian is a strange animal. Hes feeling
A bit of guilt but not enough. He tore a family
Apart With the help of the queen b.....vitch wonnabe. It like hes thinkin "Im sorry but that
Was a loooooooong time ago lets forget it &
Move on". No!!! Lets not. Maybe if he weren't
Servicing lil on the side......he need to come clean, but that would mess up his Sheriffin Career.
Sonia needs therapy. How long will it take davy to Realize his favorite reddish shirt is
Missing? He don't have as many shirts there hangin in his closet for a rich dude.

I hope miguel calls davy and give him the low
Down on the lowlifes that are his family and so-called friend. Otherwise its bubye lucy.

Thanks Urban. Hope all yall had a happy and
Safe new year.
 

Was there an episode last night?
 

Yes Julie there was.

I can't remember most of what occurred but Susan agreed to go back to Mark if he got Tano released (ugh) and Marta asked Brian for help with Luci's situation.

Also, David was NOT pleased that Juan hadn't sprung Tano. Fer, of course, is devastated.

Diana


 

Ahhh, yes.

Sonia gave the stolen shirt to poor Leon (which she pulled from a nice little shopping bag). Guess she wants an actual human to inhabit the shirt. Sigh.

Diana
 

Thanks, Diana - I was just wondering because I didn't see any recaps from last night on the website yet... so I thought perhaps there was another awards show or something.
 

I thought Sonia stole Daveed's burgundy shirt and then gifted it to Leon. She was eager for Leon to wear the shirt on their next date! This seems pretty creepy.