Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Cuna de lobos, Capitulo 25 Martes Gran Final 11/26/19: Unspeakable
Leonora hit the chest of drawers, opened one, and pulled out the pistol Ámbar had given her. She pointed it at Catalina.
Her accomplice shoved Leonora and Catalina kicked her aside so roughly she fell on the floor. Catalina saw blood on her forehead and realized she was unconscious. She looked at baby Edgar and said “Alejandro.”
Leonora approached the yacht with her pistol drawn just as Catalina was stepping out onto the deck.
Leonora discovered that the bindings were not too tight and freed herself as the yacht left the dock.
They increased the speed while looking at the tracking screen.
She had no way of knowing that Catalina picked up her gun from the dashboard and walked away from the controls. Catalina caught her on the stairs.
She fired at her as she was hitting the water.and ran back inside the yacht. José Carlos jumped off the launch and swam toward Leonora.
A promise he now kept by going to see her at a distance.
She had jumped off the port side just before the first explosion and swam to the pink and white buoy. She could barely hear the voices of Leonora, José Carlos, and the federal officer.
She had not been accustomed to the cold weather, but little Alejandro seemed to love snow and he was fascinated by the sight of the falling ice on Niagara Falls. He was adaptable, just as she had been when needed.
Labels: cuna
I was shocked, but not surprised. There have been ambiguities in the finales of GG's other series so I did wonder about this possibility. We don't have to like it, but I hope I've provided the proper postscript for this.
If there is another purpose to choosing this ending I think it is provided as a cautionary tale. That corruption of the legal process has far greater consequences than merely some wealthy trust fund brat gets away with rape and murder (as in the Martha Moxley case. What we have seen here is what happens when such things run amok.
I will post questions to ponder later. I'm on my way out for a good breakfast.
To say I am BUMMED is an understatement. The ending spoiled the entire series for me. I had enjoyed the series so much until they cut out what to me was a major plot line from 1986 which I thought made Catalina Creel the epitome of villains and the story one of the creepiest I have ever seen but more about that later when Urban and I discuss differences between the 1986 version and this one. If I hadn’t seen the first, I would have been okay with the ending because the “good guys” especially Leonora weren’t thinking. At least Catalina had a brain and knew how to take action. I wanted to slap Leonora into reality when she didn’t shoot Catalina from the get go. Then later she hadn’t taken the safety off. She was just a blubbering mess. Remember: RATS CAN SWIM.
Susanlynn: Sometimes most Telenovelas don't always have a typical happy ending.
At least Francisco & the accomplices are in prison for their complicity in the human trafficking & multiple deaths.
Jarifa: Ambar moving on with her life. Leonora should've whacked Catalina when she had the chance!
He might do time for failure to report anything he knew about Catalina's murders but it isn't clear when the light bulb really went on. Both she and Ambar were right in describing him as a coward.
I would like to thank you, Jarifa and Anon Friday for your generous time, abundant talent and graciousness for providing exceptional recaps lo these many weeks. And they were. Each and every one. You shone a light in every dark nook and cranny. Gracias.
Jarifa, now I'm very curious as to the detail you are alluding to. "Rats can swim". Indeed.
I'm not quite sure where to even begin.
Love and obsession.
Obsession was Catalina, in every sense of the word.
The startling reveal for me was the realization this was a love story. For Luis. For Leonora. I have no doubt he cares about Margarita and Matias. Yet his selfless quest, borne of love was to ferret out the truth and seek justice for Leonora. There was likely a germinating seed that Catalina wanted her grandson and that she might well have spirited him away before the explosion. And, although it took 5 years, against all odds, he found Catalina. And "Alejandro".
I suppose we must be comforted that Leonora at least knows the truth. Yet, deprived of seeing that reunion, we cannot help but feel cheated.
Francisco? You cannot be disappointed when there are no expectations.
Now, the focus for me has shifted. Catalina does not deserve our speculation. All concern and affection might be best saved for those most affected by Catalina's cruelty and mercilessness. For Juan Carlos who has stayed by Leonora's side all these years, for Leonora's unquenchable grief, for Luis who persevered despite almost being morally wounded, for Ambar who was so valiant...
Catalina will come to an end. Eventually. It is how and if the survivors are able to recover and gain some semblance of their lives back.
I will be back later.
Thank you Urban. Thank you.
Diana
Also thanks to Jarifa and AnonFri for your excellent recaps.
I cannot believe the show ended in this fashion. I am livid and vexed. And that 5 years later nonsense. So the wicked witch has been brainwashing her nieto for all that time. Great that Leonora now knows that her child is alive and some day the monster will be caught. But please...
I think Kirby summed it up when he stated this tn is a mess.
I'm with you Susanlynn. I hate this. When real life shows us monsters "winning" every day, I don't need a tn to do the same.
Yes Diana I too feel cheated with Leonora still apart from her child.
Jarifa - you summed up my feelings: "To say I am BUMMED is an understatement. The ending spoiled the entire series for me" I look forward to the discussion you and UA will have about the original. Perhaps it will help make sense of this craziness for me.
And here "I wanted to slap Leonora into reality when she didn’t shoot Catalina from the get go. Then later she hadn’t taken the safety off. She was just a blubbering mess." Yes and why at this point? Leonora knew what Catalina was capable of. She needed to shoot immediately.
Thank you all for letting me rant and your insightful comments. I look to forward to chatting more later.
Karen, I agree with everything you wrote. Real life is cruel enough. I need telenovelas to help me escape from bleak reality...not plunge me deeper into an abyss of evil .When I first fell down this rabbit hole as a distraction about 12 years ago after my mother died,telenovelas were morality plays depicting the battle between good and evil. In the end, the good were rewarded and the evil were punished.
HOWever, I want to thank our recappers who are the real good guys here caraycaray who give their time, talent, and effort to bring us excellent, detailed recaps.
How is it that it took five years to view surveillance footage from all possible sources? If no bodies were ever found, didn't it occur to them that Catalina planned a great escape? The suicide plot never made any sense, given Catalina's will to always get her way. I would never have believed that she killed herself and Edgar, without seeing the bodies first. The boat didn't even sink! Also, as the boat exploded, it seemed as if Catalina or someone else had jumped off. I agree with everyone else that the characters in this novella made it way too easy for Catalina to get away with everything. Leonora had one chance to shoot her, but didn't.
Whatever happened to the inheritance? Was Alejandro considered a rightful heir, and by default Edgar? Is Catalina going to come back with an 18 year old Edgar to claim the Larios fortune? How is she even surviving out there? I suppose she had offshore accounts.
This show was so maddening. But thank you Jarifa and Urban for everything. It was fun.
AnonFri
I was wondering where the final scene took place lol I was thinking it’d be a place like Greenland /Iceland or Alaska or even Antarctica. I might’ve recognized NF had the waterfall not been frozen.
The characters that I wanted to survive, survived so I was satisfied with that. Ultimately I think it was his love for his son that helped Luis live. I was hanging on the edge of my seat when Catalina shot him.
I was a little surprised by the amount of time that passed for the time skip. I just got this image in my head of Leonora sitting on the beach everyday for five years and it seemed unrealistic. I wonder what her mental state was by the time JC went and told her that Edgar was alive. I’m pretty sure that Leonora says “I don’t ever wanna see you again.” to JC, NOT “I don’t want to forget you.” I’ll have to watch that scene again to make sure but I’m pretty sure that’s what I remember that the CCs showed. I always watch telenovelas with CCs lol
Catalina certainly showed an interesting state of mind when she started calling Edgar “Alejandro”. So I wonder what happened with the inheritance? Did Catalina take it? JC had to use it to bargain with her but did she actually get it?
Francisco got what he deserved and Ambar left (from visiting him) with her head held high.
Leonora should’ve killed Catalina when she had the chance. At least we got to see how Catalina escaped with Edgar.
I might watch Rubí but I’m not sure yet.
Jarifa, DITTO on your entire first comment. I was so BUMMED that I could not even concentrate while watching El Dragon. And yes, I don't know how Leonora could have been made out to be such a blithering nitwit, yet she was able to find Catalina before anyone else. That did not make sense to me. The other thing that was completely annoying and frustrating was how everyone kept trying to reason with Catalina and pleading with her to return the baby. Did they seriously think that she would just hand the baby over just because they were begging her to? I-D-I-O-T-S!!
Francisco is not worth my time. I'll just say that I'm glad he is in prison without legs; I just hope they took ALL of them.
I like D.D.'s report that Catalina was caught, but I want to SEE it. This was definitely set up for a sequel, I just hope they come through and don't leave us hanging as they did with Doble Vida.
Many, many thanks to Jarifa, UA and AnonFri for all their time, effort and dedication in bringing us such superb recaps.
AnonFri, "The suicide plot never made any sense, given Catalina's will to always get her way" Exactly! And she kept mentioning her "plan," so I knew right away that she had gotten away with murder and the baby.
TF, "I just got this image in my head of Leonora sitting on the beach everyday for five years and it seemed unrealistic. I wonder what her mental state was by the time JC went and told her that Edgar was alive." I had the same image and was wondering the same thing. Did she spend all the 5 years roaming the beaches? They sure made it look like it! So how was she able to survive? Did JC pay for her dwellings and food?
All of Catalina's accounts were frozen by JC. She was able to get by with all those diamonds she took from the poor, slaughtered girl's body.
Oh and TF , Leonora did tell JC "I never want to see you again."
But then again Susie's Bipolar AutoCorrect has more sense than LeoNada.
I haven’t been able to participate in this patio, but I did read a few excellent recaps and wonderful comments, too many days later to join in the discussion. I didn’t really have a bead on whether you all liked this show or not.
I was riveted by the performance of Paulette Hernandez who played Leonora. Outstanding! I also really enjoyed Gonzalo Garcia Vivanco (Juan Carlos) and Nailea Norvind (Ambar) and Flavio Medina (Francisco Larios) and Osvaldo de Leon (Luis).
I do so wish Azela Robinson (Gelica) had been given the lead. I bet she wishes it too. She may not look like a model, but she can really bring sexiness and evil. And why did the director decide that Paz Vega (Catalina) should stare the whole time? I’m sure that was the director’s choice – no actress would choose just staring all the way through a series. Psychopaths are world-class manipulators, and they know how to charm. Why would all these men fall for somebody who is just an ice statue? There are lots of other beautiful women on the planet, much friendlier. Why this one? Anyway, it’s much scarier when somebody who seems nice and normal does horrific things.
I thought this was grim from start to finish. And the plot was reduced so much that it felt rushed and choppy. There was little time for character development. I understand that they want to make shorter telenovelas, but much is lost – time for us to get to know the characters, and also all the side-stories which sometimes are more fun than the main plot line.
I’d love to know how this version was different than the original.
When I get home I will deal with the comparison article so I won't say anything
here. However, good point about offshore accounts, as most wealthy people probably do this to pay fewer taxes. It isn't ethical but it's also not illegal.
I am firmly of the opinion that 25 episodes is inadequate for a remake of something that is 3+ times that length. As for Rubi, I had read that they had planned a sequel but this looks like a 25 episode one because they said 5 weeks. That doesn't make sense to me.
One line by Luis, JC, or Aguilar would have helped. As in "Interpol will be there any second."
ITA with everyone's responses to this unsatifying ending. If this ending recalls YNCELH, Caer en Tentacion was a close parallel. It ended by the sea with Santiago having now lost the two loves of his life and no explanation for Raquel's decision to end it. As soon as I saw the shot of the person sitting on the rocks by the sea in Cuna, I knew that I wouldn't like the ending. It could have been made to end as she was found and the child recovered. Why does Giselle want to do this to us? We watched all Catalina's cruelties from the beginning anticipating her downfall. The only time we saw her smiling, happy, free and being loving was in the last minute, an UNDESERVED minute at that. Leonora's hell was NOT over just being told Edgar was alive.
I do feel that Leonora was right about a relationship with Jose Carlos, regardless of his promise to Alejandro. They could never have formed a happy family after what she'd been through. Merely looking at him would bring it all back every day. That's something impossible to overcome. Even if she recovers her son, it can't be in the cards.
All in all it was a good production, up until those last minutes. Seeing Francisco pay for his part of enabling Catalina through his weakness, the loss of his legs was ok, but meh--we were all waiting for Catalina's downfall, not her HEA.
I also agree that trying to cut this down from a lengthy telenovela to 25 episodes cheated the actors, the story and us. True, there are a lot of side stories that don't add a lot and could be cut out, but the number of episodes should be flexible in order to give us a chance to see more character development.
Thanks to Urban, Jarifa and AnonFri for all their work to bring us this tn. It will certainly go down in the annals of Caray Viewerville, for another ending to a story with major unresolved issues.
Looking forward to the side-by-side comparison of this and the original.
I was discussing CET with someone on Twitter yesterday and this person said that they give credit to Leonardo Bechini who did the screenplay.
My favorite non GG production is still ECDLP.
Having seen CET, I expected the worst so was relieved that Leonora and "Alejandro" survived.
Yet, there is so much to mourn.
"...the wicked witch has been brainwashing her nieto for all that time" summed the unresolved tragic fallout up perfectly Karen. A cruel ending Susanlynn. Absolutely.
"Ultimately I think it was his love for his son that helped Luis live. I was hanging on the edge of my seat when Catalina shot him". I think we all were TF. At first, I assumed he was dead.
"The other thing that was completely annoying and frustrating was how everyone kept trying to reason with Catalina and pleading with her to return the baby. Did they seriously think that she would just hand the baby over just because they were begging her to? I-D-I-O-T-S!!. So true Rgv Chick, so true. Thank you for explaining how Catalina managed to get along financially.
Anita, your explaining why Leonora could/should not be with Jose Carlos was compelling. I was in a fantasy world but yes, every time she looked at him she would see pain and loss.
I think I might be alone on this, but I can't fault Leonora for not shooting Catalina. She was paralyzed with fear. Not only for herself but her child. I would suspect her instinct for survival kicked in and when it came down to it, she just could not shoot the grandmother of her child. A harrowing situation.
SpanProf, I believe there will not be anything further on this story. But much to mull over.
In addition to the amazing recaps, the comments have always been thoughtful and well stated. The patio was superb.
Diana
I am profoundly disappointed that we won't get the satisfaction of seeing her get arrested and publicly humiliated. However, I agree that while I would have liked to have seen Leonora take Catalina out of mortal existence I think she had too much fear and too much conscience. Despite Catalina being a psychopath and a sociopath, Leonora coul not make herself kill her.
But I was really shocked to see her
Waiting for the little boy. Who thinks shes mom. I'm glad they caught her cuz
That kids life would have been a livin hell.Just like his father's.And granpa
Pa.
What a sicko I she was. So glad they caught her though.
Looks like every Body got the Anvils they had comin to them.
After all the bloodshed I'm surprised
She didn't get hers spilled. The girl
Is a psycho fer sher. That said. We move on. "Ringo"?
Thank you Urban.
I think the ending was even more ambiguous. The background was the Perito Moreno glacier in Argentina
They may have located Catalina but not be able to get her
Mely
Offered with caveat that I only did cursory search
However Argentina has large German heritage population from end of WWII
I honestly think GG owes her viewers a little more closure
I love her novelas. The acting is first rate as is the writing. The plot is dense and hangs together. I don’t expect a wedding or happiness ever after, but this seemed slapped on
Once again thanks to your efforts recappers. I enjoy your work as much as the novela
Mely
Alejandro was the legally recognized son of Carlos Larios. So Edgar COULD claim the inheritance when he is of age, as the heir of the Alejandro Larios Estate. I doubt seriously Jose Carlos would contest the money going to Edgar.
However, there might not be much of an estate to inherit, since Gothier was involved in human trafficking, diamond smuggling, cooked books and other assorted crimes. At the end of the show, Gothier had been closed down. I'm sure Catalina/Carlos' assets were probably seized.
If Catalina has been raising Edgar as "Alejandro", how then would she get "Alejandro" to claim the estate when everyone knows Alejandro Larios died in a plane crash? Edgar's identity would have to be revealed, thus revealing the continued existence of Catalina.
So I don't think Catalina cares about the inheritance anymore because there might not be anything to inherit and the acceptance of the inheritance will lead to Catalina.
The fact that Luis was bringing forth evidence to Aguilar and Jose Carlos 5 years later means he didn't think Catalina & Edgar were dead and that he dedicated himself to finding them.
I guees in the world of criminal finance anything is possible. OTOH, the word of the day (or for years) is Follow The Money. Maybe that's what Luis was doing. I think it was totally wrong of the writers not to let us in on how Luis found Edgar.
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