Caray, Caray!

reina3

Here are a few random things I recall about last night's episode. I hope they'll spark some discussion.

I was surprised and happy that although the bad guys went to Ray's school and killed a teacher, they didn't find Ray, who was hiding. Paloma found him in a closet. She knows they now have to hide.

Charlie reports to "Jim" that Ray got away. Jim is very disappointed, but No-Human-Feelings Charlie tells him that he has another plan.

Jonathan, Oleg, and the third guy, whose name I think is Anton, are in Bolivia looking for the Black Horseman. They decide to split up. Jonathan spots what seems to be something that looks like what was in the photo. He tries taking photos of what he sees, but he's spotted and captured by several men. They hang him from the ceiling by his arms and beat him severely, trying to get information about who he is and who he works for.

Batman, Sheila, Pablo, and Teresa successfully hide in a cargo plane headed for Bolivia. When they arrive, they learn from Oleg that no one has heard from Jonathan in more than a day. Batman and Sheila go off in search of a place to rent while Pablo and Teresa join forces with Oleg and Anton to search for Jonathan. I think they're trying to track his cell phone (which I think the bad guys discarded because it was damaged).

Oleg et al come upon what seems like a possible location. Oleg creeps up behind someone and slits his throat with his recently purchased knife. (Let's hear it for Chekhov and novelera!)

The bright red blood from the guy's neck isn't the only blood we see in the episode. Bebita is taking a bath. She drinks something as she's bathing. Soon afterwards, Epifanio and his right-hand man, whose name I don't recall, come into the bathroom. Bebita is apparently unconscious from whatever she drank (which was probably spiked with a sedative). As Epifanio sits and watches, his henchman takes Bebita's wrist and slits it, putting what he used to slit it in her hand. Blood pours from the wrist. Epi and henchman leave.
 

Juanita, thanks for the notes giving us the highlights of the action.

I just finished “La Herencia” on Uni and was happy to see Matías Novoa’s handsome face as the journalist talking to Ed Yañez’s character Antonio.
Now that Epifanio has done the inconvenient Bebita in, I wonder what Antonio’s reaction is going to be. It was funny but when Epifanio told Bebita that she was looking old, the way she looked reminded me of the first Mrs. Epifanio played by Patricia Reyes Spíndola. The makeup artists did their best to make Bebita look haggard.

A high point for me was seeing Batman and Sheila giving the future a chance together. I hope their time together isn’t cut short.

I really need to make a list of the characters’ names, if I am going to watch this.


 

reina3

Jarifa, I too am still feeling my way around with the characters' names. However, I did find a fairly comprehensive list somewhere--I don't offhand remember where. A few cast members are apparently listed without any indication of what character they play. Oh well, FWIW:

Kate del Castillo as Teresa Mendoza
Humberto Zurita as Epifanio Vargas
Isabella Sierra as Sofía Dantes Mendoza
Kika Edgar as Genoveva Alcalá
Alejandro Calva as César Güemes "Batman"
Eduardo Yáñez as Antonio Alcalá
Lincoln Palomeque as Faustino Sánchez Godoy
Antonio Gil as Oleg Yosikov
Emmanuel Orenday as Danilo Márquez
Cuca Escribano as Sheila
Sara Vidorreta as Rocío Aljarafe
Ágata Clares as Paloma Aljarafe
Dmitry Anisimov as Anton Potapushin
Tiago Correa as Jonathan Peres
Noé Hernández
Horacio García Rojas as Charlie Velazquez
Ed Trucco as Ernie Palmero
Carlos Valencia
Arturo Ríos as Delio Jurado
Denia Agalianou
Anderley Palomino as Mateo Mena
Fernando Solorzano
Víctor Rebull as Fedor Yasikov
Pêpê Rapazote as Pablo Landero
Sofia Lama as Susana Guzmán
Matías Novoa
Beth Chamberlin
 

Thanks, Juanita!
 

reina

Thanks so much for the "random things". Great descriptions! I must say this is SO pulse pounding. But I'm not going to be best pleased if it's this graphic and bloody all the way through.

While Epi's awful cohort slashed poor Bebita's wrists, Epi told him to call an ambulance. Is there some possibility she could survive? Epi has at times demonstrated human feelings. Apparently he's fine with scarring the boy's life by his mother committing suicide. This episode she was at least able to spend time with her child. Was that supposed to be a parting gift?

Yes, phew! Last week we saw Ray hiding in a preschool plastic thing, but he was visible. Last night he was in a closet. Maybe they did a re-write after hearing the groans of anguish at the thought of Paloma's absolutely giving up Sofia's whereabouts to save her child. But Charlie might have killed them both after he got what he wanted. I wish Paloma would get off the street!

Jarifa, Antonio will SO be literally gunning for Epi now.

I got a kick out of Batman arriving in La Paz with the Mexican style shirt that's almost a mariachi costume. By the way, my son came as a charro for my granddaughter's Halloween party on Saturday. Pretty funny as he's fair and blue eyed, but he shaved part of his goatee and moustache to give himself that stereotypical drooping moustache.

The beating of Jonathan was hard to watch. Hopefully Oleg & Co. will save him early in tonight's episode.
 

reina3

I'll put something up tonight, probably brief.
 

reina3

Thanks, Juanita, Jarifa, and Novelera. Your details and comments are a big help. I'm wondering if Bebita is still alive and maybe Epi wants to have her committed to an asylum or have her living in fear of being committed.

Jonathan's torture, ufh! Hard to forget.

I'm enjoying their travels, but I'm ready for the mission to become clear.

Jarifa, that was Matías Novoa? Sweet. I gotta take another look.
 

reina3

Excellent highlights Juanita to get us started. There was a lot going on in this one. I thought it was interesting that Pablo was one step ahead of No-Human-Feelings Charlie and ensured that Sophia’s travel file/passport was erased right in front of him. I wonder how long it will take “Jim” to figure out it is Epi they are dealing with.

So glad Ray is okay.

Was the Jefe at the compound the Black Horseman? I doubt if it will be that simple. Poor Jonathan, I do hope Oleg and Tesa get to him pronto.

I think you are on to something Niecie about Epi faking Bebita’s second suicide attempt to keep her under control and living in fear of being committed. What a slimy dude.

Thank you for the cast list Juanita! I look forward to your recap novelera.


 

Reina 3

Niecie, Novoa had a man-bun tonight but his smile was still charming.
 

Hi! I haven’t been watching anything lately but have to see Reina. And like others, trying (but failing) at remembering who people are and what happened. Wish they had done a review series like they did last time. I do remember El Batman and am glad to see he’s ok. But I thought that bathroom suicide scene was showing what happened to land Genoveva in the hospital the first time, that they faked her “suicide” and made her think she had done it. Why let her out if they were just going to do this again? I really should pay more attention so I appreciate the recaps in the meantime.
 

reina3

#6 – Parte 1 de 2

In La Paz Oleg, Pablo, Anton and Teresa have found the hideout of the guys who are kidhapping girls. We saw Oleg cut a throat last night; now we see Mr. Inscrutable’s abilities. It goes on a while, but I’ll just say that they save Jonathan. Later we saw him bruised but moving reasonably well. Okaaay. No broken ribs?

How I love Faustino’s paisa accent! He gives Sofia a scooter that he says belonged to his grandfather. Rocío objects to her having left, but he says she’s probably gone to see the guy who saved her when she first arrived. And that they also can’t keep her prisoner.

Sofia finds Mateo, but he’s with his friend Mono, who is high as a kite. He cuts Mateo with a broken bottle. Sofia does her thing and settles Mono’s hash.

Now we are in Mexico City and Bebita looks fine. When I first saw this, I thought it was a flashback, but she seems to have recovered from the slashing. She confronts Danilo for working with Epifanio, the man who killed her brother, Danilo’s lover. He comes up with an excuse, but she says he must have been bought by Epifanio.

Mateo tells Sofia he used to be worse than Mono, but Padre Gonzo saved him. Sofia gives him a cell phone to express her gratitude for what he did for her.

Oleg and Teresa arrive at the apartment they’ve rented in La Paz. It’s colorful to say the least. Teresa snarks that she’d expected something a bit different. They’re posing as documentarians.

Sofia and Mateo exchange brief life stories. His father left his mother. And then his mother also took off and left him with his grandmother. She died when he was 9 years old, and he began living on the streets until the priest found him.

Danilo tells Epifanio that a reporter from a prestigious magazine has come to interview the first lady. Epi consents.

The crew asks Jonathan about what happened and discover it involves, Jonathan thinks, trafficking of chavas (girls). Teresa says that the key to this is kidnapped girls. She brings up a photo of, I think, a mural of the Black Horseman with 3 girls.

Antonio Alcalá comes to Washington, D.C., to meet with Jane Kovar, the ice princess Senator. Antonio tells her she lost something, and he thinks he can help her find it.

Teresa asks Pablo if he isn’t bored being so mysterious all the time. She doesn’t get a thing out of him.

The senator and Eddie are looking at the photo Antonio’s guy took of Teresa, Oleg, and Jonathan outside the tunnel from the U.S. [I’ll give up using Jim now; they’ve confirmed he’s Eddie.)
 

reina3

#6 – Parte 1 de 2

Pablo meets with Delio in a restaurant. Delio seems to really dislike Pablo. Pablo tells him Teresa works more from emotions than from brains. And he hates that the guys obey her. Delio has brought some passports without pictures for what he calls the pandilla (gang) plus a couple extra. He also scoots across that briefcase we saw being loaded with money in Mexico City. He says it’s all for Pablo.

Teresa and the pandilla (a new music group?) go back to where Jonathan was grabbed. They find a poster for one of the girls Jonathan saw kidnapped. They call the phone number on the poster.

Antonio tells Jane and Eddie that Epifanio Vargas is financing the operation that got Teresa out of prison. He says he has someone working for him who is close to Epifanio (Danilo?).

Epifanio warms Bebita not to spill any beans to the reporter.

Mateo teaches Sofia to swing a bat in baseball, giving him an opportunity to put his arms around her to show her the correct grip. This idyll doesn’t last. They are grabbed up by a new set of thugs. I’m starting to lose count and/or track of all the different people that are out to harm our protagonists.

The head guy of the group that was beating Jonathan sends someone to find him and the people who helped him.

Teresa and Co. meet a guy who tells them the girl’s mother works in the back area of the market.

It turns out Mateo and Sofia were grabbed up because Mono stole some pills. He’s trying to save his own skin by saying that Mateo probably took them. Mateo lunges at Mono, but can’t reach him.

The reporter, Nacho, who’s come to interview Bebita says he’s come from her father. She tells him she has no freedom. She’s watched, emails, phone, everything.

They string up Mateo by the feet and lower him into the water. He’s down there a long time. Desperate, Sofia says she knows where to get some pills. They tell her she has 4 hours to bring them or they’ll kill Mateo.
 

reina3

Thanks VERY much, novelera, for this fine recap. I find I'm still depending on recaps to help me figure out who's who and what's going on.

As I expected, the pandilla rescues Jonathan. Somehow, though, I thought it was a bit much that so many of the baddies got shot (or knifed), but none of Our Heroes were wounded. And, as you point out, Jonathan apparently has all his ribs intact. Oh well....

I was surprised when Faustino let Sofia go off on the motorbike, especially by herself. IMHO, Rocio was absolutely right to criticize this as reckless, especially in view of Paloma's account. Speaking of Faustino, I have to admit that I enjoy him, but ever since season 1 I've had a terrible time understanding his Spanish.

I didn't think the seeming murder of Bebita in the bathtub was a flashback when I saw it, but when I saw her in tonight's episode looking lovely, I decided perhaps the bathtub scene was a flashback. I'm not sure, though, because they didn't give any hint that that's what it was.

And it looks as if Bebita may have a useful ally. The man introduced as Ignacio Duarte is someone Bebita knows and likes (and I suspect I should know from season 2?). She explains to him that she's under constant surveillance by Epifanio, but Duarte, in his role as a journalist, offers to be a go-between with Bebita and her father, Antonio.

Yes, Jim isn't really Jim, but I don't think he's Eddie, either. I'm pretty sure he was introduced to Big Ed as Ernie Palmero.

Hmmm...I realize that Vargas is a pretty common surname, but I nonetheless wonder whether the kidnapped young woman, Marina Vargas, is in any way related to Epifanio. The writers could have used any surname...why use Vargas unless there's a connection?

My head is still spinning from all the plots and kidnappings that have taken place in just this first week. I'm not really happy with this pacing. Seasons 1 and 2 seemed more interesting, driven by more than just the plot. But perhaps that's how I feel in retrospect, and so I may warm up to season 3.
 

Reina

Novelera thank you. Your recap was outstanding and cleared up a couple of identities/names for me. Perfect comment about Johnathan and no broken ribs. Too dunny.

Juanita, I, too, am confused about the timing of the “suicide” scene. At first, I thought maybe this was getting to be a regular occurrence in an attempt to gaslight Bebita, and keep her off her game to keep her under control. I also agree with what you said about the pacing and am not really into season 3 yet.

As for Sofía, I do not know what they could do with her character, but I am tired of her being in danger all the time.

It was good to see Big Ed Antonio on the move.




 

reina3

Thanks, Novelera. I love your nickname for Kovar, "the ice princess Senator." I do hope Danilo turns out to be Antonio's informant.

Another day, another kidnapping and torture.

Juanita, ITA about Faustino letting Sofia ride off alone. I was scared for her and the motorbike. She parked the bike without so much as a lock to secure it.

Jarifa, I laughed at Duarte's (Matias Novoa's) man bun. Oh well, whatever it takes for him to get into character. ;>
 

reina3

Sorry, limited on time. Thank you to Juanita and novelera for their very helpful recaps. Helpful comments, too.

ITA with Juanita and Jarifa about not fully feeling season 3 yet. Maybe I'm expecting too much? Seasons 1 and 2 grabbed me right away. And yes, Bebita's "suicide" was initially confusing.

I don't think Matias Novoa was in LRDS2. But it's nice to see him here, man bun and all. He had a main role in Señor Depends last season.

I agree, novelera, Danilo has to be Big Ed's informant.

I cannot stand Pablo. I don't know what kind of backstory they will give him that will make me care. Teresa's gonna fall into bed with this guy?

First love is on the way for our Sofia. And now she's getting involved with drug dealers, too. And she's only 14. Mom won't be happy.

 

reina3

Enjoyed the recap novelera and the snarky comments/questions. The “ice princess” fits Kozar perfectly. “No broken ribs?” No kidding, or no internal injuries to speak of.

Like most on the patio, I found the Bebita suicide timeline very confusing. I also agree that Danilo is most likely the mole inside the Presidencia.

It is hard to enjoy the beauty and music of La Paz with all the violence on the screen. Can we just have a minute to sip some tequila and get caught up a bit?

That was quite the location Batman and Sheila found for the team to crash in. It was also quite the briefcase of dinero Pablo took from the Epifanio mule.

I wonder if Sophia will hit up Faustino for some replacement drugs?

We have set a bit of a stage and now the crew is in place, hopefully some more substance will capture us all in soon.

Thank you novelera!

 

reina3

Thanks, all. I hope I didn't confuse you all by labelling both parts Parte 1. I type that at the beginning of a full document, calculate what will fit in Caray pages and then insert a heading for the next part. Forgot to change it to Parte 2.

Glad to see I'm not the only one confused about Bebita. It now seems more likely it was a flashback. Epi did tell his compinche to call an ambulance after she was cut. If it was the case that Genoveva NEVER tried to off herself, then the tiny band-aid on her wrist when we first saw her this season would seem odd. That guy practically cut her hand off! I thought when watching that they were trying to finish her off and somehow have it known that the second attempt was successful. But, when he said to call for an ambulance, I felt sure she would survive. Oh well, they need to watch a couple of dizis. In those they usually show the flashbacks looking a bit grey to clue Viewerville in that something has already occurred.

VVS, I'm sure Sofia will turn to Faustino. What I wondered was how Sofia would know exactly what kind of pills Mono had stolen. And I'm about 99% sure that the charming Mateo will survive. I actually thought at one point he would get free of the ropes and swim away. But he wouldn't have left Sofia to deal with those guys. I'm actually surprised these drug dealers haven't given Sofia a "rapey" look. Maybe tonight.

I think Faustino understands Sofia a bit better than Rocío who, while being a bit of a wild child, still grew up in an upper-class Spanish environment. Sofia is a chip off the old block and would never go for their controlling her movements. Of course, in this instance, Rocío would have a perfect "I told you so" opportunity.
 

reina3

Since no one has said they'd recap this episode, I'll just mention a few things that happened. It's not in any order and is not a recap. (Oops, as I was about to post this, I found that it was too long for one comment, so this is page 1 of 2.)

The episode starts with Sofia being told she has three hours (in the previous episode she had four) to get the pills that the bad guys claim Mateo stole. She gets on her scooter and races back to Faustino. He claims he has no pills and doesn't know anyone who does. The friends he knew who might have them are mostly now dead. She continues pleading with him, she's desperate to save Mateo. Finally, Faustino says he might know someone. Rocio is furious with him for getting involved, and getting Sofia involved.

Faustino approaches a friend who is now on the police force. Faustino suggests that his friend has access to drugs that the police have confiscated. The friend points out that stealing what's been confiscated is illegal. Faustino says that the guy could give him the pills Sofia needs, she'll give them to the bad guys who are threatening to kill Mateo, and after they let Mateo and Sofia leave, the police can close in and arrest the baddies and re-confiscate the drugs. Faustino's friend will be a hero. So Sofia gets the pills she needs and races off to give them to the baddies in time.

She gets there in time, but the guy she gives the pills to insists that she come with him. He wants to know who gave her the pills. Who is his competition? He and another person force her into a car. They take her to where Mateo is tied up. The police give chase and capture most of the baddies, but not before the baddies throw the tied up Mateo into the water while he's weighted down. Sofia dives into the water, manages to cut the rope holding the weight, and brings Mateo to the surface. He looks pretty far gone, but of course Sofia performs CPR and saves him.

Meanwhile, Epifanio learns that someone is following him. He's shown photos of the same car following on three different occasions. He gives the order to find out who is following him and why.

I think some of the guys involved in kidnapping young women spot Oleg, Jonathan, and Teresa as they're looking for the Black Horseman. The usual gunfight ensues, and once again the good guys are shown to be more skillful fighters and shooters than the bad guys. At one point Oleg is in a hand-to-hand fight, and he manages to push the guy over the rail, and he falls several stories down, presumably to his death. Oleg seems traumatized. He kees staring and not moving. Jonathan has to pull him away before the other bad guys come looking for them.

Later, Oleg is drinking. Jonathan and Teresa note that he froze after the man fell to his death. Teresa asks whether he's remembering Yulia's death. He admits that he is. We learn that his son, Fedor, is on his own in London. Oleg wants the two of them to be together, but Fedor doesn't want to go with Oleg. He blames Oleg for his mother's death. "With good reason," Oleg says.

Teresa meets with several women whose daughters have been kidnapped. She tells them she wants to help them and convinces them to trust her. She shows them the one photo she has. It turns out that the girl in the photo is the daughter of one of the women Teresa is talking to. The woman shows Teresa a short video her daughter managed to send her. The woman also shows her a "Missing" flier with a picture of her daughter and her name. Hmm...her name is Tatiana Diaz Vargas. The girl in the poster Jonathan saw was Mariana Vargas. Is all of this unrelated to the fact that the president of Mexico is Epifanio Vargas?
 

reina3

Here's the rest of my ramblings:

I'm totally mystified by the scene near the end. It looks as if it takes place in a jail, but we see women fighting in a ring, and so perhaps this is the "cholet" that Jonathan, I think, mentioned as a place where female fighters compete. But there are also lots of uniformed police at this place. There's also a mysterious old man with white hair and a white beard who sits and writes. He then hands something he has written to someone, who hands it to someone else, who hands it to one of the police, who hands it to another police officer, who carries it to a woman at a desk, who takes it to yet another, higher ranking officer. This officer calls his superior on the phone and says, "I have what you asked for, Comandant. You can send for it." He then puts the paper in a brown manila envelope. Huh??
 

reina3

This was definitely a recap Juanita and a terrific one! Thank you! I have two more weeks of intense travel with work and then hopefully I can commit to recapping on Wednesday nights.

The whole envelope thing is tied to Pablo. He first received that mysterious envelope from the guy who delivered the money in Bolivia. At that time there was reference to finding the Black Horseman quickly. The message was, if Epi fails, then they would all fail and Pablo’s plan would go out the window. Whoever the old man is in the prison, he is connected to Pablo. Last night, Pablo started to read the letter that the old man wrote and sent along with Epi’s mule.

I really felt bad for Oleg. He has PTSD from watching his wife fall to her death. I did not realize that Fador was a young man already but I guess a lot of time has passed since we met Oleg’s family in season 2.

The sexual tension is already building between Teresa and Pablo. Oleg and Jon were quick to pick up on it. Stay focused Teresa!

I am sure Faustino was happy to get back into some action. His life of selling clothes, cell phone and booze is boring compared to what he used to do.

It is nice to see a Priest back in a novela. He really seems to care for Mateo.

Is there a Vargas connection or is this a red herring to throw us off? It does seem too coincidental. Very grateful for the recap Juanita!

 

Thank you, Juanita. Great recap!

After moaning so much yesterday, I really enjoyed the episode last night. Go figure!

The cholitas are indigenous Bolivian women wrestlers who compete in their traditional clothing. They are legit.

Glad that Sofía is out of danger for the time being at least.

Poor Oleg.


 

reina 3

Thanks for the aka "recap,” Juanita. Much appreciated.

I too felt like S3 started to click last night. I enjoyed the Bolivian scenes and the Bolivian actresses. Nothing against Colombia -- I like trying to decipher what Faustino is saying (come to think of it, I understand Mateo better), but Colombia has been featured a lot in the previous reinas.

Still trying to wrap my head around Epifanio being Mexico's president. So someone is following him. I Googled Mexico Secret Service to see if this is plausible without agents noticing and found a 2018 Newsweek article saying "President-Elect Obrador Will Replace Secret Service With Unarmed Civilians."
 

reina3

MANY thanks, VVS, Jarifa, and Niecie in MD, for your informative and supportive comments.

VVS, I found your discussion of the old man with the white beard very helpful. I hadn't quite connected him with Pablo, but I'm sure you're right. Pablo even remembers Delio's remarks about the need to find the Black Horseman when he reads the bearded man's note. I'm still not sure whether the old man and the others were in a prison. (That's #238 on my list of things I'm not sure about in the novela.) And I too was surprised to see Fedor as a young man. Supposedly only four years have passed since the events of season 2. IIRC, Oleg's son looked MUCH younger then. And I'm glad that you too are wondering about the "Vargas" names. And please, please, please, let's not have Teresa take up sexually with Pablo. I found all three of the men in her life in seasons 1 and 2 quite attractive, but not Pablo. (And wow, it would be terrifc if you're soon able and willing to recap!!)

Jarifa, I too am relieved that Sofia is out of danger, at least for the moment. I somehow doubt that that moment will last long, however. I confess that I've had enough of Sofia in danger in season 2. I'm not at all eager to see more of that in season 3. Surely the writers can/should do better than that.

Niecie, I loved your mention of the article you found about the actual Mexican president-elect in 2018 replacing the secret service with unarmed civilians! Art imitates life (and the reverse is true as well).
 

reina3

Thanks so much, Juanita. Your non-recap was quite good!

Yes, it's Ernie, not Eddie. It drives me nuts that he and the sinister Charlie have figured out now that Sofia is in Colombia and that she parachuted in. Just like the heroes are amazingly competent, so is Ernie. I can't stand the guy and will be furious if he gets his hands on Sofia.

The priest looks very familiar. Wiki tells me he was in El Señor de los Cielos. I watched the first and second seasons and then gave up on it. His name is Fernando Solórzano.

The telephone conversation between Sofia and Teresa was interesting. When Teresa chewed her out for her risky behavior and went on to forbid her to see Mateo anymore, Sofia fired back with her mother's "line of work" having caused her a LOT of problems. Then Teresa puts her head in her hands and tells Oleg that it was a lot easier when she was eight.

I have a hunch the bearded guy in prison could be Pablo's father. Getting him out could be "the plan" of his that Delio mentioned. Like dondi, I really don't like Pablo. They'll have to go a long way to convince me he'll be Teresa's love interest.

I am enjoying the indigenous women in the cast. I have seen those little hats they wear in a Carneval Parade in San Francisco. There's usually a Bolivian contingent in the parade. They also wear pants with bells on them that jingle as they dance.
 

reina3

I have book club tonight. Any volunteers to put something up? Even a few lines to get the conversation started would be very helpful.
 

reina3

I figured out why I'm struggling a bit with the Pablo actor's accent (Pepe Rapazote). He's Portuguese, graduated with a degree in architecture from a school in Lisbon. Wiki says he speaks 5 languages. Good for him, but his accent in Spanish causes me occasionally to back up and listen again.