Caray, Caray!

This was the beset I could do. Hope it's adequate.
 

Thank you, Urban. This was more than enough to get us acquainted with the story.
They've made such a big fuss about this, I hope it's worth it. I haven't watched yet, I hope I get the time to do it, but I hope it's not too narco.
 

It was much more than adequate, Urban. Thanks so much for a job well done and very helpful. I've been out of the telenovela world for a good while due to no longer having the time to devote to it, and have been looking for the next one starting up because I have the itch again LOL. I truly lucked out by finding this one just tonight, especially since Rulli was my very first hunk waaaay back in the Rubi days and still lights my fire.

I think you're right -- I smell certain disaster for Miguel and the fiance, especially since her wrist/hand has begun to bother her. I really hope we're wrong.

I get the feeling that Miguel was SENT away to Japan by his abuelo, so his sister's crappy attitude and abandonment issues are annoying me. I mean, I get it -- she lived through horrific tragedy as a child and I should probably cut her some slack, but... ugh. Annoying.

So far, I'm down with the story. Let's see where it leads.

Again, thanks for the recap.


 

Thank you, Urban, this was excellent. I will try to watch this later today.
 

A few random thoughts after watching:
- the girlfriend is definitely not long for this world; but will her hurting hand kill her or was that just a red herring?
- the young brother seems to suffer some serious PTSD, even 20 years after the shooting
- grandpa's transport business is somewhat legit, but not quite; I never heard them say what kind of "products" they transport, is it just drugs? Miguel seemed impressed/ interested when finding out that pop's fortune is 60 mill$. Kind of puts in perspective the miserable 2 mill he won for that client back in Tokyo; did he cheat during that transaction? did the girl in the coffee shop give him some graphics who told him that the value of the actions would rise? I'm clueless when it comes to stocks.

 

Thanks URBAN. I forgot to record this but knew I could rely on your excellent recap. And don't envy you one bit having to do the opener. Usually we are hit with a slew in information and fast-moving events and have nothing to hook the various developments together. I'm usually like Huh???....when watching a first episode.

STEPHE!!!...Hey, we have missed the Queen here at CarayCaray. So glad to see you Crazy Lady and hope that Sebastian Rulli is enough to keep you around for a while. Lots of former fabulous CarayCaray commenters and recappers have slipped away, either in this world or in the next, so especially glad to see you popping back up here.

ADRIANA...I too am mystified by stocks and pretty much zone out on all things financial, so I'll join you in the Clueless Corner. How's that adorable little one? I know, not so little anymore. You close your eyes and next thing you know they're off to college. But not yet. Not yet.
 

What Miguel got looked like insider information; my computer screen is too small to have been able to read it.

I love the street scenes in Tokyo but the interiors of offices and apartments are a little too stark for me.

Umberto should have given more thought to what the separation of his grandchildren would do to their future relationship and it looks like he didn't get proper psychiatric help for Jorge.
 

Urban A: Thanks for handling a tremendous challenge with this late broadcast on the gran estreno. You gave us more than enough to chew on this first night. The screen grab is to die for! You could make it an avatar it is so well done. --Yep, kabuki theatre in more ways than one this evening. -- Loved your brevity in this: "A note appeared stating that the enemy had 48 hours to ice Humberto." --And, Pig it is! Love the moniker! Thanks mucho!

Stephe: Chisca is annoying as all get out. She is destined to be a big thorn in Mig's well chiseled six pack and so let the mischief begin!

A Noel/JudyB: I think you're going to be well rewarded for the time spent on this novela. ;? ) Yes, I believe Mig did cheat with insider trading information. Looks like he got a chart that told him when and where the break would be before the stock went up again with that graph he was delivered in the coffee shop. Don't know whether that's legal in Japan or not, but in high finance, the atmospherics are so rare that they don't have to nor do they play by the same rules as the "little people" must.

A couple of thoughts: I believe the amount that captured Mr. High Finance de Miguel's attention was $600,000 dólares EEUU. It's hidden around in all sorts of places, not to mention septic tanks and Swiss bank accounts, various bidnezes both legítimos and non, according to El Abuelo's accountant. --As for Mig's current live-in love, since she's a photographer, it could be that she's got a mysterious bone disease that will cut her photography career short....as well as her romance. Mig did propose to her and said he wanted to have a bebito with her. He tthought he'd be returning to her shortly. Dunno. Don't think so. He's asked her to come to Mexico to join him for the few years it might take to clear up the family's bidnez problems. She's considering that possibly after finishing with her current assignment. --The girl that was shot in the bar turned out to be Hector's sister, if I am not mistaken. He had to identify her body for Mama.

Jarifa/Stephe/A Noel/JudyB: Nice to see a number of you back for this one!



 

Urban, thanks for taking on the gran estreno. I only watched a few minutes of this, but recorded the rest so I'll be watching this later. This episode is jam-packed with action and the introduction of so many characters, but you have done an excellent job of giving us all the necessary info...it is definitely more that adequate.

Adriana Noel, I'm so happy to "see" you again! Hope your little one is doing well.
 

Thanks Urban. It was an okay first episode. I didn’t look into how many episodes total this is supposed to be but I’m guessing it’s not ridiculously long. I’ll give it a shot though and hopefully I don’t find myself losing interest.

Based on the message that was left for Humberto and his family, it seems like Miguel is going to take over his grandfathers role in the “family business”. It is clear who the villain is so it’s a matter of how he will be defeated and what more will he do to harm Miguel’s family.

I don’t know much about stocks but Miguel seemed good at what he does.

I too think that Asya might not live long. If she goes to the doctor primarily to inquire about her chances of having a baby and not necessarily because of the pain in her hand she might still find out some bad news.

It seems like the tragedy at the beginning of the episode affected Miguel and his siblings in different ways. Never heard the name Chisca before.




 

I thought Miguel's fiance was pregnant already and he proposed to her after that.

This episode seemed like it was cut in places already.
 

Hmmm, I was sure I heard 60 mill, hidden all over the place. But some of the business stuff went over my head.
Abuelo send Miguel to Japon for whatever reason and he started working for Abuelo's friend in his "clean" business.
Miguel is definitely not above doing shady things, I didn't understand if Abuelo wants him back to take over and clean things up or take over because he's old and big bad Moncada is getting greedy - wants to go from a transport business to distribution. I kind of got the sense that they work together and Moncada wants to take advantage of Abuelo's old age to take over and turn the business into what he wants it to be.
The guy from the bat who refused to pay the protection fee was supposed to be under a different capo's protection, didn't want to pay twice...I think.

Glad to see so many familiar faces here. My baby is no longer just a baby, she just turned 4 years old. I do have another baby, who is just 4 months old, another girl, so I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up with the show.

 

Thank you so much Urban, for your hard work on the first episode. The first few episodes, but especially the first is very difficult because you are just getting to know the characters and their names. So I applaud any recapper who just jumps right in!

I really liked the scenes in Japan. So was Miguel doing some "insider trading" on the stock market because he had information beforehand?

Anyway, does anyone know how Miguel ended up in Japan? I sure would like to have this filled in.
 

Great recap URBAN, I took copious notes practicing for my own premiere on Friday, so I wanted to add a few things. I think I took too many notes, may have to cut back for the sake of time. I love how you synthesized everything.

A few things I wanted to add just for the sake of more informatio.

In the shower scene, Miguel told his girlfriend. "I want to have a child with you." She questioned if he was serious, he confirms he was, and swears it. I agree that based on her hand thing, something is up.

Miguel made a phone call to his assistant to bring him the numbers before he did the stock thing that earned the 2 million, so I think he had either prior knowledge, or prob just good instincts.

Miguels conversation with his boss/sensei was interesting. In the first scene where they fight he told him something akin to "You are strong Miguel, but the stronger you are, the stronger your enemies are." I found that interesting after the conversation they have when Miguel asks to go to Mexico. He told him that he and Miguel's grandfather were old friends and that he sent him away from all the things in Mexico to get him away from all that stuff and that is why he only works in the "honorable" part of his business, sounding like this guy too has some shady business. I loved that quote, I wrote it down. "When you open the doors of the past, the future can change." Serious foreshadowing.

It also seems that Hector the journalist is the brother of the girl Helena that died in the club. At the morgue he identified the body as Helena Bernal, but then said "mi hermana" after the guy walked away. I think he will be important to this story, I am sure he hates the Cartel that did this to her.

I think we finally get a little bit of information on the grandfather's health. That he had heart problems and the grandfather seems to have Alzheimer's. At least that is what Miguel thinks. I wasn't hearing clearly the Grandfather's name. And it isn't listed in any of the credits. It sounded like Humberto, I agree. But it looks like Dora is going to be a big part of the story. She was on it with the walkie talkie and even the gun. She led the family out of the room with the gun at the beginning. I love her. She was Teresa's madrina in Teresa.

Also, based on the way the editing was done, and the flashback that Miguel had in the cemetery, It seems that Epigmenio Moncada might have been the guy that pulled them out of the car before it exploded, the superimposed the faces over each other as he approached him in the cemetery.

This was a great premiere, can't wait for the rest of the week.

Esther
 

Thanks Urban! This seems interesting,reminds me of Yago a bit.I'm gonna try watching it due to Rulli and evil Irina Baeva again.

By the way ,are there any CC's the for the Japanese conversations?
 

Thanks, Urban. Trying to follow along in the beginning is tough, and your recap helped bring everything together for me.

The younger sister is annoying blaming Miguel, but then the family did send him away protected from everything in Mexico presumably because he's the oldest and male, the special one. I would resent that to. Hope she doesn't stay in a stew long though.

Esther, thanks for the additions. Yes, I heard "Alzheimer's" too. The grandfather tells Miguel he was able to deal with his heart problems but when he started having problems with his head, which Miguel surmised was Alzheimer's, the old man said he realized he needed help to protect the family.

Rulli did a nice job, not over the top with this fantastic plot. And he's looking mighty fine! Now that Miguel is back in Mexico, I hope the Japanese angle continues. I enjoyed Rulli speaking Japanese, his Japanese dad, and the workout with his sensei. I think his novia's future is short, largely because of the two women shown in the ads.

Great to see Cynthia Klitbo again, even though I think she's too young to be Rulli's grandmother.
 

Niecie,

I agree, Cynthia Klitbo is too young to be Rulli's grandmother, but since they call her Dora, I am assuming she is the wife/mujer, but not necessarily the grandmother. Although, the age of Miguel Garza is much younger than Rulli's age.

I took notes as I watched because I watched live on the app, and couldn't pause or rewind live tv. So thanks for the clarification on what the Grandfather said. I recorded it later, but never watched it. I was tired by then. The pace of the novela was fast, they squeezed a lot into this first episode.
 

Urban--What a great start. Thank goodness it was you doing the recap. I had a hard time distinguishing between all the shoot-outs, but it finally all made sense.

Esther is correct--the girl that was shot in the club is the one that Hector id in the morgue as his sister. His mother was distraught--she kept saying la mataron. They killed - her. Sometimes it's hard to hear all the words and if they are speaking too quickly it could sound like le mataron.

Grandad's business is mostly shady. He mentioned (as we saw the trucks roll by) that they do ship legit stuff, especially across the border in case they get looked at more closely by customs.

While Miguel was in the coffee shop in Tokyo, a young woman did slip him some "information." His colleagues at the investment (?) firm were terrified as he prolonged the time before he gave the signal to sell. Then you could see the smug look on his face afterwards--got me some mo-ney. Definitely an insider-trading look.

Dora has to be a second wife. It would be neat to find out where they met and why she's so agile with a gun and a walkie-talkie. All in due time, I hope.

Yes, great start, Urban. Thank you and a bow in the Japanese manner.
 

Cynthia Klitbo is only 9 years older than Sebastian Rulli, so I think Dora is Humberto's second wife. The only place she would be cast as SR's abuela would be in opera (if they were mezzo and tenor).

I don't like his haircut here, but that style would be de rigueur for Japan. I like his hair to be longer; color doesn't matter.
 

Some thoughts:

Wow! Epigmenio sure took care of that bar owner who didn’t want to pay him for protection. Kill/carry off patrons? Terrorize journalists? The journalist’s sister ends up being a victim of the bar shooting? Epigmenio is going to be one tough cookie.

Miguel’s sister doesn’t seem to have any affection for Miguel feeling but grandpappy sent Miguel off to Japan. I wonder why he just sent him and nothing all three children. What made Miguel different? Was he old enough to recognize his parents’ killers, so grandpappy got him out to the country?

So, grandpappy is in the drug business hidden beneath a veneer of legal shipments and paid off government inspectors. I wonder if this will prove to be too dirty for the morally compromised (inside trading) Miguel. It will be interesting to see what his moral code really is and how it operates.

Money stored in septic tanks! Genius!

I agree with everyone who think that Aysa does not have long for this world. That will just free and fuel Miguel in his war against Epigmenio which I am sure is coming.

Adriana, good to see you back! What wonderful news about your new baby!

 

May I apologize for the typos caused by that infernal auto-correct. Can’t live with or without it!
 

UA: Thank you very much for the recap.

Jarifa: I do NOT like Miguel's sister, I hope Karma hits that BITCH!

I too with agree with you that Aysa is NOT long for this world.

Keeping my fingers crossed that Miguel & Adela are endgame, but Univision might drag this out for awhile like we've seen other Telenovela's.


 

I don't think this has been chopped up; it's that lately plots are pushed to a higher cruising speed.

I also think that some details are lacking in order to enable writers to keep their options open because they fear committing to a decision they have to follow through on. This is not new.
 

Since we are seeing this BEFORE Mexico, I would say nothing has been chopped.
 

Urban you did a fantastic recap, you hit all the important points.

There's Alot happening here. No I do not think he and Asya will be together
Again, reason being there is something
Medically wrong. Her hand and wrist is
Feelin Funny, like brain Tumor, or the big C.

Lil sis should cool get jets, Miguel is home to help. And it would help if
She Didnt throw a hussy fit cuz he came to Help. And his lil brother is not over What happened all those years ago. He Is still living it. What a Hot mess this is gonna be. I'll see how it goes.

Thank you Urban, you did very well.
 

I wonder,we will be seeing any Yakuza in this TN or just low level gangs? I'd assume Univision would drop the Yakuza out due to potential reprisal from them.
 

There is alot of talking to be done by
These siblings to each other, maybe Chista just needs to get to know her big bro all over again.
 

Were there any reprisals from drug cartels for any of the narco series, especially the ones about real people like Pablo Escobar?

Francis Ford Coppola had some minor problems with the Italian Mafia when making The Godfather, but actually met with some of them and straightened out the situation. Or so legend says....
 

Well these series are quite tame in my opinion.Thats why most drug novelas are still based mainly on drug trafficking and maybe some corrupt politicos but that's it.

El Chapo and Narcos were bit more brutal though.I remember reading that some small Narcos actor died during filming.
 

Countx: Let's also remember that "ESDLC" became very popular among the viewers on Telemundo & the list of characters GREW especially the Corrupt President BPN, who was notoriously corrupt & killed many people.


 

JUDYB!!! How I have missed you! Sebastian is DEFINITELY enough to keep me, lady haha! And you, and JARDINERA, and URBAN... y'all bring back great memories of good ol' times here. So good to see y'all. <3

And from the look of all the interesting comments, we're all of us (watching El dragón) going to have a good time together.

Thanks for the warm welcome.
 

JARDINERA: I don't think I'm going to be a fan of Chisca's any time soon, LOL.

Interesting (and good) observation about Miguel's live-in-love.
 

ESTHER: Serious foreshadowing, indeed! :)
 

Very late to this party, everyone. But just had a chance to catch up with the episode. Still, very much needed this recap to keep everyone straight and help me answer some questions. Thank you, UA - such a great retelling of this first episode! A lot of fun reading through all the comments!

While La Usurpadora is on, I will probably continue to be a latecomer every day, but should be on time after it ends!

Thanks again, UA!
 

URBAN. So very happy you decided to help your faithful fans out and recap!!!!! Thank you thank you thank you. This one will be somewhat hard to understand,so I'll appreciate your recaps so much more.