Caray, Caray!

Operación Pacífico – Primer Capítulo – El Sello de la Serpiente

We begin in Bogotá, Colombia. Captain Amalia Ortega is talking to her two sons saying she won’t be home soon. The older boy hints that their father, Jorge, is a dunce at math. Loving words are exchanged.

She puts on a full black riot gear outfit and she and her crew arrive in an armored car. Amalia gives all the orders. She says they want El Alacrán (the scorpion) alive. They arrive someplace where there are the usual women in bras and panties packing the drugs into plastic bags. They blow the door and there is a firefight. Amalia runs down El Alacrán and they have a long hand-to-hand combat fight. Eventually she must kill him or be shot herself. She’s all right but bruised.

Another group of narcos are firing drugs through some kind of tube over a wall or ravine. They are set upon by another group of anti-narcos. [believe this group is in Mexico] The group is led by Gabriel Pedraza [Mark Tacher in a very different role than the gay bad guy in La Reina del Sur 2]. Pedraza is beating on one of the captured narcos when some guy stops him, asking if he’s offered the guy an attorney!

Our old friend Willy from La Reina del Sur 1 and 2 has switched sides. He shows up in a military uniform full of brass to meet one El Guapo [which he most certainly is not]. Willy is now Ernesto Vargas, a Major. The narco shows him a photo of Amalia and wants to know who she is. Ernesto replies that she’s head of Operation Phoenix. Our corrupt Major tells him all about the operation. El Guapo wants to know how to get to Amalia.

We next see the Major in a meeting with a Colombian General. He rags on Amalia for having killed El Alacrán. Then he tries to get information about Amalia’s operation. The General flat tells him he has no right to ask about this secret unit.

Jorge Camacho, Amalia’s husband is at a bar. El Guapo sends in the stereotypical sexy babe. Our nice, bad at math daddy falls right into the trap. After they do the deed, he falls asleep. She grabs his phone and takes it to another room where some Narco IT guy copies everything on it.

Some guy tells the President [of Colombia? It was very confusing figuring out what country they were in at any point in time.] that Amalia found out a connection leading to this Guapo.

Pedraza’s girlfriend has cooled off since he has been on a mission for a month. He sees her from a distance get into a car with another man. A gringo named Jones calls Pedraza and tells him they’re flying to Colombia stat!

Guapo tortures some guy that I believe he thinks is an informant that caused the raid Amalia led. The real informant is there and gets sick over the balcony. His name is Hermides, and he wants out ASAP.

A joint operation is set up between the Mexican drug enforcers and those of Colombia. Amalia says that “the doctor” [El Guapo?] is going to move a large quantity of drugs that night.

The sexy trap calls Jorge at work and he runs right over. But he’s supposed to have gone home early to relieve the nanny, who has an important test, I believe.

The plan is for Doctor/Guapo to move a lot of drugs with a special mark on each package (probably a snake since that is the title of the episode). When Amalia calls Jorge he pretends to be at work on an important “case”. She is frustrated and tells him that she is in the middle of an important operation and is ready to capture a big fish.

The IT guy who copied Jorge’s phone hears her say this and warns Guapo. He gets away.

Amalia gets a video of her husband with a gun pointed at his head. Then she gets a call from Guapo. He wants his drugs in exchange for Jorge.
 

la dona 2: Lucho is is in a tizzy because he might miss his snuff film deadline for lack of a victim? And he picks up some poor car window washer off the street to kill? Yuck. If it were a story about a comic documentary filmmaker it might be cute, but this show just gets more and more disgusting.
 

LA DONA


SPANPROF..

YES..He is going to start with a lower quality?? street women,I think he will meet his match... but those chicks have more survival skills..I hope one of those poor addicts.. kicks his aszz..
 

Operacion
Novelera--I forgot to set my DVR to record this, so I'm grateful for the intro with your recap. Another narco tn...well, this one seems to already have a couple of nice twists to it. It's worth a trial period, in any case. Thank you again.
 

pacifico

Anita, you could probably see the first epi on the Telemundo web site. I don't adore constant gunfights, but Majida is very, very believable in this role. The men under her leadership follow her unquestioningly. I'm hoping for fewer bullets and more character development as we go forward. Her husband Jorge being, presumbably, a serial cheater was quite the twist. When they first showed him being a good father and affectionate with his wife, I was not expecting that.

I've really missed posting on Caray. I didn't quite have the energy for a really long recap, but tried to hit the high points.
 

doña2

SpanProf, you and I are very much in agreement about La Doña2. And tonight's episode, with our being asked to watch Eduardo and Nav Jr. torturing the poor woman before they kill her, almost made me throw in the towel. We've already seen similar sequences several times on this show. There was really very little reason to show this one, except to pander to people in Telemundo's audience who apparently get turned on by painporn.

There are several aspects of the novela that I like, especially everything involving Carlos Ponce. In fact, if it weren't for the Arcoíris thread, I might even enjoy the novela. Oh well....

Poor Sebastian is thrilled that his sister finally is emerging from her coma. I suspect his pleasure won't last long, since she's already hinted at her feelings for Braulio. Arrgh.

Can't wait to see the dinner with Regina, Isabella, and AG at the Navarette's. I wonder whether they'll make it past the first course before all hell breaks loose.
 

La dona 2. Juanita: I totally agree with everything you said. Exactly!
 

pacifico

Well, it’s hard to sort out who’s who in this one. There are a LOT of bad guys. It turns out that the guy whose drugs were grabbed by our heroine, Amalia Ortega, was The Doctor, not Handsome Guy [El Guapo]. We caught a bare glimpse of El Guapo last night, with his face shadowed in a hoodie. He is going to be Julio Bracho, the evil El Colmillo from Bajo el Mismo Cielo. Should be quite the battle between Amalia and this guy. I’m unclear whether El Guapo is in Mexico or Colombia. I’m leaning toward Mexico.

Pedraza captured the woman who lured Jorge into being captured as bait. We saw Amalia’s steely nature when she interrogated her. No hint of personal jealousy. She didn’t blame her for what she’d done, only emphasized that she would face a stiff sentence as an accessory to kidnapping and a worse fate if Jorge died. We see that the narco method of assuring loyalty is knowing where family members live. And this woman whose name I forgot has a child living with her mother. Amalia promised their safety if she told where The Doctor has her husband.

There are a lot of quick scene changes in this one, and I’m not sure if she gave up anything of interest.

But The Doctor wants Amalia killed more than he wants his drugs back. Where we left it last night was that Amalia got the best of the guy she was on a motorcycle with and then shot two narcos guarding the vehicle with Jorge inside. He’s strapped up with a bomb. Cliffhanger!
 

La Dona 2. And, yes, that arcoiris killing did seem awfully repetitive, didn]t it? Who knew that murder and mayhem would be boring.
 

LA DONA #21



SPANPROF....
YES... THEY ARE DEMONS FROM HELL in hipster outfits..

Juanita..

yes,lovely word..Painporn'...dang.. that's the word...and yes,\Telemundo seems to thrive on it..!


and yes.. Sebas , your sister may not survive her loverman Braulio the wolfman...gosh I hate him..

stop following Felina, she is having nightmares!!!

Feline was outted by her dumbcluck..secretary and damn ,Braulio was following her..
She had to fired Diego because she was cutting it close having him around..


Navarette ‘s wife invited AG to dinner and OMG she is very calm abt it

AG sniffed out that Daniel and Regina are playing footsies..

Luis and Perez snuffed thee poor drug addict girl.. is was very bad, thanks god they cut off the murder at the kill point..

Noelia and mom are living with Sebas.. thank god because mom is very ill
Feline and Interpol are not really cooperative

Thee double of Marico the rat was found dead… and Leon ‘s boss is trying squash an investigation

The cops that had the most to say where the dirty ones..

Romelia is a monster.. I think her nieces will pay for her sins..

AG and Navarette had some office loving/almost…

So, Isabell .Regina. And ‘’Ag are heading over to Navarrete’s for dinner??!!!

 

"LA Dona 2":

Dondi356: Good Morning! I see the incompetence of law enforcement agencies continues as the Monkeys 2.0 increase the Body Count.

 

doña2

Last night's episode was quite interesting. Here are just a few of the things that happened.

The Navarretes' dinner party seems to start off well, with everyone toasting Lucho and Isabella, the happy couple. However, things begin to unravel. Eleonora keeps saying and trying to demonstrate what a loving husband José Luis is, and AG is intent on ruffling Eleonora's feathers by proposing that she (AG) and José luis become partners in the company that once was AG's and is now José Luis's.

Sebastian sees Noelia talking to Leon and is wary and jealous.

Leon follows Eduardo's mother into a church. He expresses sympathy--as a parent--for what she and her husband must be going through, since they haven't heard from their son. Leon eventually learns that Eduardo's best (and almost only) friend is Lucho, whom Eduardo admires and tries to emulate. Leon suggests that if Eduardo is involved with the Arcoíris gang, he could help himself a lot by helping the police find the leader.

AG warns Regina that there's something not right about Lucho. He's too perfect. AG is worried about Isabella. Regina, of course, doesn't believe her. [Sigh...we can see where this is probably heading.]

Felina worries that JP doesn't answer his phone. Then JP appears--under the control of Braulio's men. Braulio and Felina have an extended chat while Braulio holds a gun at her head. They also fight physically, with Braulio eventually getting the upper hand. Felina proposes a deal: Braulio gives her his father (whom Interpol has been seeking) and she'll give Braulio AG.

AG seeks Noelia's help in tracking down the Monkey family. She hands Noelia photos of the family members. Including a photo of Sebastian. End of episode.
 

La dona 2. I too was impressed that AG's instinct about Lucho was absolutely right on. But then she has had a lot of experience with apparently respectable mem who were actually monsters.
 

Pacifico

Well, if anyone is watching, shuffle your feet, as a long-ago poster said to implore lurkers to comment!

I’m still enjoying the novela. Yes, there’s a lot of gunfire, but I like the cast. It’s interesting to see Christian Tappán again, who was shot by Manuela, the female assassin, in La Reina del Sur 2. He was Willy in both seasons of Reina.

So the bomb cliffhanger, as I suspected, turned out with Jorge surviving. But the Doctor got away. I really dislike this guy. I’m pretty sure he’s played a narco in El Señor de los Depends since I may have seen a preview with him in it. So I guess he’s good at playing a rotten human being. Probably loves his wife and children and donates to charity in real life!

Amalia’s IT people looked at Jorge’s phone and he’d apparently had a history of contacting prostitutes. He tried righteous indignation, but she told him his phone was EVIDENCE IN A CRIME; i.e., his kidnapping.

Mark Tacher’s character, Pedraza, showed a lot of bravery going in unarmed to negotiate with The Doctor to have him leave the detonator cell phone in exchange for being allowed to leave the site where all the cops were.

We meet one Mama Somebody. Sorry, forgot what comes after "Mama". She’s contacted by The Doctor. She seems to take in orphans. But, as they get older, it appears she turns them into assassins. She manages to smuggle a gun into the hospital where Amalia has brought her children to visit their father, recuperating from a gunshot wound to his leg. She smuggles the gun in a baby blanket. Unclear if there was an actual baby there as well. The young guy assassin shoots at Amalia, but she’s the heroine so he misses, of course. But, at the end, what else? Cliffhanger.
 

Pacifico,

thanks for your short summaries novelera! I'm kind of watching it.

Jorge Zárate (who plays the Doctor) was the bad guy through out the "Senora Acero" series, got some fingers chopped off so wore a black glove and was always eating onions like they were apples and the gran gran final they made him pay dearly.

somehow he triggered the bomb anyway right?

I'm enjoying Mark Tacher (Pedraza), he is so animated sometimes, it's funny.

the Doc is the supplier (Colombia) and Guapo (Mexico) is the trafficker working the northern border of Mexico, and Colonel Pedraza is in Colombia on special assignment from Mexico, right?

 

LA DONA

JUANITA:

YES... I got to catch up.. on the 'Meet -the-family-dinner from hell.!!

DANG .. MY GIRL GOT MADE!!!FELINA.. burn dude.. cause you are under Interpol watch.. bet ,she didn't tell wolfman that little tibbit!! and how they want his pappi!!

leon and Sebastian..porfavor.. noelina ..girl get a grip..

noelina.. your man is a monkey man!??? you have bad luck around!!
 

pacifico

Thanks for stopping by, deb. I was under the impression that the police detonated the bomb on purpose. Didn't they sort of cheer when it went off?

I appreciate your clarifying who is where and why in the narco biz.

The only time I'd ever seen Mark Tacher was in Reina2, and he was easy to dislike. I am enjoying him in this role.


 

Pacifico

It’s great to see you back, novelera! I’ve only been able to catch bits and pieces of this so far--mostly the violent bits. I have read your recaps because I don’t want to fall too far behind. I’m hoping to catch up over the weekend and then I will be able to contribute to the conversation.

I didn’t know Karen was considered a “whore” name.

Christian Tappan is a great character actor.

Colonel Pedraza is much more likable than Alex.

deb, thanks for reminding us that Jorge Zarate was the very evil “El Indio Amaro” in the Señora Acero series. IIRC, he was killed when they fastened him to a wrecking ball and smashed his onion eating self against the side of a cliff—like something out of a cartoon.

dondi356
 

Doña2

If someone would put Arcoiris Videos Inc. out of business, I’d be grateful. But I guess it’s too soon. They could at least stop showing the killings.

Thank you, Juanita for the highlights. It was an interesting episode, indeed.

Yes, AG is right on about Lucho, but I can see why Regina doesn’t trust AG. Regina has been the victim of AG’s “instincts” too many times to count. AG still denies her involvement in Felipe’s murder.

I’m counting on Felina to find a way to get Braulio’s dad and protect AG. She’s proved herself capable of anything in ESDLC. HA, she got her licks in when Braulio was on top of her.

Bold move by Leon setting up a TV interview on the number one news show for Eduardo’s parents.

dondi356