Caray, Caray!

Sangre

thanks so much Juanita !!

I think we need to add the part where Rob figured out Serena's severance to be $20,000, but Cris insisted on giving her $30,000 to Rob's disagreement, so he makes it 30k but in cash, gives Serena 20K and has the teller put the other 10K into his account, wow, which makes me question anything he says that has to do with money, like maybe the Mexico grape purchase was less than half and he pocketed some of that, paying off the guy to not spill on the real price.

some other little things, I think Cris did have to pay the fine (which doesn't make sense to me) and Rob said they gave the grapes back, for a third of their cost.

the reservoir that broke was tied to the land that Cris got from Nat, not sure who actually owns it now, and the threat to the grapes is that the standing water will rot the roots of the plants.

 

Sangre

Great comments, Nett and deb!! Yes, I too thought that the $10K discrepancy in what Cris told Roberto to give Serena and what she actually received would come out when she and Cris said goodbye. I wonder when that will finally come to light. Perhaps not all that soon, since Roberto's evil seems to be at the heart of the novela, and hence he may get away with a lot for quite a while longer. Paloma and Serena are on to him, but not really anyone else. Yet.

One thing that I found a little surprising was Juanjo's telling Serena that she shouldn't expect any babies from him. I understand that he doesn't feel ready for that kind of responsibility and rootedness, but it still seemed to me a colder statement than I would have expected from him. Though perhaps I was more bothered by it than Serena was. :-)
 

Sangre, Thurs, 12-28-17

Thanks, deb. This show has really turned up the heat. For a moment i thought ruthless Rob was gonna get away with locking Aurora in the house, but it appears that she knows. So funny because i just watched the movie Gaslight last week and Rob's running the same game on Aurora. And It's not that she doesnt have a backbone so how long will the writers continue with this foolishness. She has to tell him what she's doing, thinking, reading or who's she's talking to In practically every scene. Not to mention the number of times she said, "what now?" or "where's this coming from?".

After seeing Juanjo retaliate against him after Rob tried to run him off the road, I'm betting that one day Aurora's gonna tell Serena who'll tell Juanjo and Juanjo will come to her defense (instead of papi Crisanto).

Both Rob and Serena saw that spark that still exists between Aurora y Juanjo. And both are being sent to the same wine event out of town. I hope Serena can handle what's coming.

Spanish Student
 

Deb, I agree...Juanjo was VERY nice about it but he kinda put the brakes on any real plans for the future. Basically said let's just enjoy what we have and no matter what let's stay friends, and please don't compare me to Emelio... On the other hand, Serena was talking about a house and babies and it's way too early for that.

Spanish Student
 

Oops, that was meant for Juanita...

Spanish Student
 

Sangre

Spanish Student, I agree that it was much too soon for Serena to be talking to Juanjo about a house and babies.
 

Sangre

thank you all for your comments!

(the shortest recap in history)

love it when the bad guy bungles.

Roberto is so childish to me, I'm amazed that he is on his way to taking down every character in this show.

so Rob locks Aurora in their house, and takes her keys, she calls a locksmith, the neighbor tells Rob nice looking guy, there for an hour or so inside, Rob asks Aurora how he looks, later, after Rob has put a screwdriver in his tire, Aurora says he was very professional, she won't hesitate to call him again if it happens again, ha!

Rob darts at Juanjo, car at bike, at the next light Juanjo smears mud on his shirt, Rob steals his bike, smashes and kicks it, but hurts his foot.

Rob gets Aurora's invitation to a wine convention, calls them as president, gets the invite in his name, chides Aurora she can't go, Aurora could care less.

Rob is hurt so Cris sends Aurora to the wine convention in Chicago. Nat's Ex is moving in on her, and into Napa, and reminisces on their trip to this Chicago convention, Nat twists it so Juanjo, master Sommelier goes.

Paloma and Leo must run the wine shop, Cris's orders, Paco swings by, Paco wants to play, (Nat is all business).

 

Sangre - Capítulo 22

Well, IMHO, this was a very enjoyable episode. Why? Because Roberto was done in by his own meanness, not once but twice!

Meanness #1: Aurora wakes up in the morning to find a note from Roberto telling her to have a nice day. But when she goes to open the door, she finds it locked. In fact, all the doors are locked, and her keys are missing. Needless to say, she's upset. She calls Roberto, who tells her to calm down and look for her keys. She doesn't calm down, but she does find a locksmith on the Internet. He comes to the house, and takes care of the problem. When Roberto comes home, he first checks with Sara the Spy, who tells him that a young man came to the house and was there for about two hours. Roberto is already jealous. He then goes to his house and finds he can't open the door. Aurora opens it for him and explains that she had the locks changed. She gives him a set of keys. They sit down to have dinner, and Aurora is still upset about having been locked in the house. Roberto tells her she needs to calm down and enjoy the meal. He then asks her about the locksmith. How did she find him? She tells him she found him on the internet, and that he turned out to be very professional. And super attentive. And very pleasant and likeable. She tells Roberto, "I'll certainly call him if I'm ever locked in again." Roberto seethes with frustration.

Meanness #2 is twofold. First, Roberto opens and reads an invitation for Aurora to attend an International Festival of Wines. He immediately calls a number on the invitation and tells them that Aurora is unable to attend but please send an invitation to the person who will come in her place, Roberto Quiroga, the new president of Bodegas Casteñeda (!) We then see him packing his clothes, invitation in hand. The scene shifts to Juanjo riding his bicycle on the road. Roberto is driving a car, sees Juanjo, and deliberately swerves to try to hit him. He doesn't succeed, but as he stops for a red light, Juanjo comes up on his bike, reaches into the car, and smears dirt all over Roberto's shirt. Juanjo reaches his destination and parks his bike. When he comes out, his bike is missing. We see Roberto take the bike out of his trunk, hurl it into an alley, and furiously keep kicking it--until he manages to break his ankle. A doctor painfully sets it and puts it in a cast, but the injury prevents Roberto from attending the wine festival. Crisanto will send Aurora in his place!

There's one final twist. Anita learns that she's pregnant, and her husband Luis wants to stay with her rather than represent the Monteils at the festival. So...Juanjo will go in his place.

For once, I turned off the TV at the end of the episode grinning ear to ear. I know it won't last, but....
 

Juanita I couldt agree more with your comments above. Mostly because i initially thought Rob took Aurora's phone too. The nerve of this guy. I was praying it was just a nightmare but after the commercial break she surprisingly had her phone in hand.

After watching Paco act like a schoolboy with a crush it finally hit me. Crisanto's 2 daughters are flirting (and secretly pining for) his enemy Juanjo and his DAD. Got to admit i love it when these kids dish it back to their controlling parents. The girls have no trouble standing up for themselves...now its Leo's turn.

And Robert turning the female neighbor into his ally was a sinister move. I can't believe she's that blind.

And what happened to seductive Kimberly?

Spanish Student
 

Sangre

deb, it looks as if we're on similar wave lengths. I didn't see your lovely "shortest recap in history" until after I woke up this morning. Apparently you and I posted at almost exactly the same time. I've always loved your clever, elliptical, wonderfully concise style, and your current posting is a perfect example.

Spanish Student, I hadn't realized until you pointed it out that Crisanto's two daughters are flirting with a Monteil son and his father! I mean, I obviously knew they were father and son, but I hadn't put that fact together with the flirting. Interesting!

Good question about Kimberly. I doubt we've seen the last of her.
 

Juan Gabriel

this show was awesome. the tragedy

I was sorry to see the father slide into madness and it was sad to see how small towns have no compassion to members who can not contribute

you have to have your own or you die, there was no social welfare!!

the mother changed after the father left forever in the asylum or suicide?/

the daughter became alberto-juan's substitute mother

I love that show ,I am very happy to revisit this series!!



 

SANTA DIABLA

I AM IN...

WILLIE IS ALIVE!!!!!
 

Sangre

Locking Aurora in the house was diabolical and dangerous. What if there was a fire or an emergency with the baby. Both wife and child could have died...but all Rob cared about was controlling Aurora. Rob breaking his ankle while kicking Juanjo’s bike was so deserved.

Yeah.... Serena too knows that the JuanjoAurora story is not over...but so far she is handling it much better than Rob. And Juan is trying to be honest and respectful...he seems sincere in his relationship and care for her.

Every transaction Rob is part of he skims money from. He also took a cut of the money from the grape deal gone wrong. He set that up in the beginning of the deal. The Castenadas will be begging the Montiels for money when Rob is thru stealing and scheming.

While he didn’t deserve it...Aurora should have told have told Rob about her interactions in Chicago in Friday nights epi. She allowed herself to be interviewed and taped and with social media...of course Rob would find out and see pics. Yes Rob would still. Go off the deep end but at least she could say she was honest. Lying that Juanjo wasn’t there didn’t make sense. But seeing Robs face when he arrived at the event and Aurora already headed home was priceless.


Nett
 

Sangre

Great points, Nett! You're so right that Rob endangered Aurora and their child by locking her in. I don't recall Aurora saying that to him, but she should have. And she should also tell her parents what he did. Meche is still blind to his failings, but I think Cris is beginning to become disillusioned. In last night's episode, Cris asked Roberto to do some work tasks (I don't recall what), but Roberto said he couldn't come in to work because he's on crutches. Cris points out that that doesn't seem to be stopping him from flying off to Chicago, where the Bodega Casteñeda is already well represented. Even though in a way Cris may have helped provoke Roberto's locking her in by telling him that he should DO SOMETHING if he wears the pants in the family, he surely wouldn't approve of Roberto's endangering Aurora and Emilito. And I can't wait until Cris finds out about all the money Roberto has been squirreling away for himself (though we may have to wait, since that revelation is likely to come much later).

I can understand why Aurora didn't tell Rob about her interactions in Chicago and her having seen Juanjo. She knows that even just hearing the name "Juanjo" sends Roberto into an uncontrollable rage, and she's not eager to bring that on. And she may be right. Look at his maniacal rage at the end of the episode. He's clearly one sick puppy (or, perhaps, one sick pit bull).
 

Sangre - Capítulo 23

Here are a few more things I recall from last night's episode. Jordan appears and tells Paloma that he has the opportunity (a fellowship? a job?) to spend two years in Berlin and be well-paid, and he can bring along a companion. He asks Paloma to go with him. She's a little uncertain, since she likes her job, and she's not sure she loves Jordan. However, her parents' highly negative reaction to finding that she's sleeping with Jordan in their house makes her decide to go with him. At least, that's what she tells Serena. But then, at work, an exultant Paco tells her that they have a sponsor for the "Historias y Rostros de Napa" project, and she, Paloma, can be their official photographer. Bye bye Berlin.

Crisanto comes to Natalia's and tells her he wants to make an offer for her grapes. He'll pay double what the cooperative paid. He tells her, "I need good grapes, and you have them." She says she'll think it over, and she confers with Feliciano and Juaquín about what to do. She feels she'd be betraying them. Feliciano says he thinks she should accept Cris's offer. If she doesn't, it would start a war, and no one wants that. She tells Cris that she'll accept his offer, and all seems well. But back in her office, Juaquín has bad news: using the grape harvester would damage the vines. It will be necessary to harvest the grapes by hand, but that would take a lot of laborers, and the usual laborers have already signed an agreement to work for a pear producer up in Oregon. Where can we get day laborers?

Aurora carelessly puts down her cell phone to take the baby, and Roberto sees it. It contains a message from Juanjo saying he's sorry she left, he was hoping to continue the conversation they had last night. Roberto then goes on the Internet and finds photos from the Chicago Wine Festival, including some with Juanjo. Roberto goes berserk.
 

Sangre

great comments Nett and Juanita!

and thanks for your little summary Juanita, it appears your spanish is coming back, I missed the part about picking pears.

Rob is falling off the edge but so far only wants Aurora to put on the black dress and dance for him like she did for Juanjo.


here is something I put together before you posted.

hmm,

the grapes Rob set them up with were tasteless, and Rob is off to Chicago and won't be looking for others, Cris sits on his pride to ask Nat for hers, he'll pay twice what the co-op paid, Nat goes to the co-op, they agree she take the deal but she is not comfortable doing this till Joaquin suggests she give the extra money to them, Nat excepts the deal at an awkward meeting with Cris, like when they used to be friends, but wait they can't use the harvester to pick the the grapes, their spacing is wrong and they will lose to many, and they haven't arranged for any laborers, and it's to late in the game to do so.

Aurora couldn't believe the necklace Rob got her cost $10,000 (me,I don't believe anything he says) "do you like it", he asks, and once again we see Aurora bending to make things work at home.

and she was so close to kissing Juanjo at the convention (darn the writers for leaving us the idea Rob could show at any moment).

and Paloma comes to a decision, she adores Jordan, but doesn't love him, she won't follow him to Berlin, and then there is this book Paco and Mike are writing, about the real characters of Napa valley, and she will do the photos, plus wine is her life, and she loves her job at MaWa.

Serena wants to use her severance pay to turn their shack into a home, a path in life she embarked upon with Emilio, Juanjo is more into making up for the time he lost in prison, he wants to travel and experience new things, (do we see a trip to Ushuaia in his future)

ah but old novela watchers know a gran amor can not be denied, I worry about Serena.

(and stop leaving your phone unlocked Aurora)

 

Sangre

oh, a couple of other things,

I think when Ivan reappeared Aurora finds out the real story about why Juanjo pushed her away when he was in prison (to protect her), which prompted her to go off with Roberto.

and last night Juanjo tells Auroras that he deeply cares for Serena and will never hurt her, he admires her, but he will never love her like he does Aurora.

 

Sangre

Thanks so much, deb, for the great additions. I found your remarks very helpful for clarifing what was happening and why.

When Rob said he spent $10,000 on the necklace, I confess I was aghast. Then I wondered whether he was spending the money he chiselled from Serena.

I too worry about Serena. She admits to being very much in love with Juanjo, and it seems clear that Juanjo and Aurora will wind up together. At the moment, there's no other likely prospect for Serena, though I suppose they can always introduce one. We're only on capítulo 23. I don't see her ending up like Eva la Trailera, independently walking away from all the men in her life.

Good advice to Aurora. Too bad she's not reading CarayCaray! As soon as she put the phone down, I groaned.
 

Unfortunately, we need Aurora to remain careless a little bit longer, in order to drive the plot. Frustrating, but it keeps us hooked.

I wonder how long it will take before Rob kills someone to cover his tracks.

Perhaps Serena will end up with Cristian, the other person besides Juanjo who earned the Master Sommelier certification.

Still trying to figure out Leo. Can't be sure if he is gay, but it looks like he'd rather be a fashion designer instead of a wine maker.

A Happy and Healthy New Year to all the recappers and commenters on Caray! You have my admiration and thanks for you efforts.

dondi 356
 

Sangre:

Great comments, everyone, they helped explain some things to me.
I liked that Paloma pointed out to Crisanto that his moral compass isn't so hot when he criticized her for having Jordan spend the night. It also was a surprise to Paco to meet Jordan. We can see that Paco is developing feelings for Paloma, and I'm a little disappointed with him about this. Natalia is making a strong effort to be a good wife, purposely not going to Chicago because Horacio is there. And she's such a great person, intelligent, beautiful, loving. How can Paco ignore this and get carried away by someone so much younger than he is? I know, I know - but as an older guy myself, you just don't do that.
I thought it was quite funny that Anita, after suffering from narcolepsy, never DREAMED she could be pregnant - even though she and Luis had been specifically trying for that, and one would think she's keeping track of her cycle, but...
When Juanjo asked Aurora if, on balance, did she think her marriage with Roberto was a plus or a minus, she hesitated a looong time before weakly saying a plus.
I definitely think Leo is gay, although he himself doesn't seem to recognize it. He doesn't want sex with Sofi, and any guy who doesn't MUST be gay :) Of course, the pressure on Leo to be straight is very strong, with his buddy Rafael so homophobic, and his Mom so excited about the prospect of grandchildren.
Aurora isn't the first telenovela character to carelessly leave her phone sitting around. Sometimes I get the feeling that the cellphones themselves should get acting credits, they're so much a part of the stories. Of course it wasn't always that way - I'm also watching a Brazilian novela from 1990 (Rainha da Sukata), which originally aired in 1990, and in that show, the fact that they DON'T have cell phones drives much of the plot - nobody ever knows where anyone else is. Of course, they solve that in modern novelas by making the phones out of area, out of battery, or on vibrate and not noticed by the characters.
 

Sangre

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

dondi356, interesting suggestion about Rob's eventually killing someone. I hadn't thought about that, but I agree that it's certainly possible. He's got just about no scruples when it comes to getting what he wants, and any scruples he may have could easily be overwhelmed by his uncontrollable rages.

Hombre de Misterio, ¡bienvenido! I'm delighted to see you here. I hope you'll continue to post--you always have insightful and delightful things to say. And I loved your remark about cellphones deserving acting credits!