Caray, Caray!

El Conde, Monday, pt. 1

The first part of this recap will be lacking because the women’s gymnastics floor routine is going on and that one is my favorite. Sorry about this.

We start with El Conde introducing David to the woman who was in on the Miguel photo con. He gets right to the point and she confesses that she was not his lover, it’s all a set up, and Pedro’s Tio Felipe was the one who paid her.

Meanwhile, Felipe and Pedro are back at the bordello (?) probably being their usual selves. I turn back to gymnastics.

Ale questions David about whether Felipe would have paid for the false photos on his own. Ale encourages David to investigate but says it’s up to David while kinda manipulating him (is the impression I got) into wanting to investigate. Don’t think David needed too much push though.

Sofia is awake! Paulina tells her about needing further tests and that Pau will be there to care for her. (Olympics pause). And then Javier is there visiting her and Pau lets him. I can’t remember if she knows where Sofia really was when she passed out but Pau seems to be ok with this boy. Alfredo is there and says he could talk to Felipe on behalf on his grandson and Pau rightfully shuts that down because Felipe. They chat about Mari and Ale. Alfredo asks if Mari ever mentioned a letter that she wanted to send to Ale and if she knew what it was about but Pau doesn’t know what was in the letter (meaning she doesn’t know about David’s parentage).

Ale and Amaranta talk about the that bad guy who killed Gonzalo and Ama doesn’t think she knows who she’s marrying. Not sure why all this is important.

Pedro and Antonio talk about Felipe. I miss the details. Back to the Olympics and feeling a little less proud of how I exercised two whole times last week.

When I come back to the show, Alfredo is talking to Memo but I missed the convo. Amaranta goes to see Paulina to see how she’s doing with her daughter and tells Pau that the Conde can send the best doctors, because of course he can. These two now have their own theme song so they are sure to end up together.

Violeta celebrates with Caye getting a part! Apparently she had to try out? Caye offers to talk to Vicente about this but Violeta is going to keep it between the two of them. Vio wants her money invested with the Conde’s help. Maybe planning a way out?

Nanny finally spills about Josefina’s lover back in the day and even knows who it was. Mari is shocked. Caras vemos, corazones no sabemos, says Nanny.

 

El Conde, Monday, pt. 2

Josefina is introduced to the American investor’s grandson, Brendan. Brandon? Something. He doesn’t speak Spanish so he doesn’t matter except that the old man American wants the boy to learn. And luckily Josefina speaks English, and she sounds pretty good at it. Brendan is less good about faking an American accent, but at least he’s not pretending to be Spanish.
David meet with Lorena and tells her he’s investigating the photo thing. She’s afraid of all this but David is in this investigation, cueste lo que cueste. Smooches happen so I guess she forgives him.

Nanny finds out Sofia is staying in San Jacinto and everyone is happy until Josefina starts talking. She’s planning a big dinner to pawn off – or “introduce”- her granddaughter to this rich American Brendan kid. I guess he does matter, but it’s going to be an awkward dinner. Poor Sofia.

David is with Tio Felipe and might be encouraging him to drink, which doesn’t take much. Felipe readily tells him that the idea was Gerardo’s. Don’t tell Felipe secrets.

Alfredo hands over Mari’s letter back to her and asks if she remembers it. He says he read it and knows Ale is David’s papa. Mari tells him the whole story, including about marrying Gerardo to give her baby a father and her father being sick. Alfredo says he’ll keep the secret- and he’s no Felipe- and Mari is grateful. Alfredo is behaving like a father to her, offering advice, and invites her to talk to him whenever she needs to. He’s good people.

Felipe is not, as he gives David all the details. At least until Josefina interrupts and gives him the what-for. Then she invites David to the dinner to meet Sofia’s new beau (that Sofia doesn’t know yet) but apparently Josefina doesn’t know about David’s journalistic goals because she doesn’t say anything to him about his idiot uncle’s blathering.

Alfredo is back to giving life advice, to Ale this time. He asks him to be less hard to Mari and defends her choices. Ale thinks she had no reason to “have to” get married but Alfredo isn’t so sure. He tells Ale it’s important to (something- be better to her?) but doesn’t say why. (David).

Next day. Felipe is hungover while Pau nags him about the dinner. He yells at her to shut the curtains and goes back to lying down. Too bad Pau didn’t save that poison. Her face looks like she was thinking the same thing.

Pedro is at the bordello with Antonio and doesn’t look so great himself. Antonio tells him a bit about Felipe when Pedro asks, but Antonio stops when he gets to the part that would be most interesting to Pedro. I’m not sure how much Antonio knows about Pedro's parentage or the murder of his mom, but he seems to know something about Felipe’s past with the prostitutes. Did Antonio help with the hiding of Aracely’s body too?

Lucrecia prays for her sister when Caye interrupts. Lu tells her her sister was murdered and that the murderer is free. When Caye asks if she knows who the murderer was, Lu says no. No? No no, or would-rather-not-say no?

Alfredo, who is getting all around San Jacinto in this capitulo, is now with Vicente. He’s come for an answer and hopes for the truth. He asks if Vic worked with Gerardo to ruin his hacienda. Response pending until tomorrow.

Ale happens on Mari when she’s at the cemetery talking to dead Ale. She goes in for a hug and El Conde looks conflicted. Venganza is so hard sometimes.

K

 

"CONDE" HIGHLIGHTS DISCUSSION/OT:

Anon: Howdy from the Alamo City CararyCaray Family. Enjoyed Part I of your recap of last night's episode.

Buji Nanny FINALLY spilled to Blabbermouth Mariana about Josefina & Antonio.

Now on the Women's Gymnastics Balance Beam & Floor Finals of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris yesterday: Congratulations to Rebeca Andrade of Brazil on winning Gold in the Floor Finals; I also like to congratulate both Simone Biles (11-time Olympic Medalist), who won Silver & Jordan Chiles, who won Bronze.

On the Balance Beam Finals: I was shocked BOTH Biles & Sunisa Lee both fell off the Balance Beam, while Alice D'Amato & Manila Esposito both of Italy, won Gold & Bronze respectively.


 

Well heck. I thought I posted part 2 last night and now I'm at work. So let's see what else I remember.

Alfredo gets all around town in this chapter. He talks to Mari about Ale and David, telling her he read the letter. She tells him she needed to give her baby a father. He gives her some fatherly advice, and offers her a friendly ear if she ever needs to talk. He's good people. Then he does the same with Ale and tells him to cut Mari some slack. She had just lost Ale, her dad was sick, and (more fatherly advice here). And finally he goes to Vicente to confront him about whether he burned down Al's fields, or if he did it. Can't remember exactly but Vicente didn't look happy. Good. But I hope he doesn't take this out on Violeta.

Josefina meets up with the rich American investor who introduces him to his grandson, Brendan. Or Brandon. He doesn't speak Spanish and didn't seem to matter much until a later scene when she ruins a nice scene with Pau and Sofia to tell them she's planning a dinner to introduce Sofia to Brandon(?). I'm sure Sofia will love spending time with a stranger who doesn't speak Spanish. Pau tries to deflect given that Sofia just got out of the hospital, but no luck. Josefina is seeing dollar signs and seems ready to sell of Sofia to get it.

David, meanwhile, gets Tio Felipe drunk (not hard) and prompts him to talk about the fake photo of politician Miguel. Felipe isn't very good about keeping secrets and has no problem spilling to David that it was Gerardos's idea. David doesn't get more because Josefina comes in to yell at Felipe about being drunk and tells them about the dinner to sell/introduce Sofia to the Americans. She doesn't say anything to David about what Felipe told him so she must not know about his journalistic goals.

Felipe is hung over the next day and yells at Pau to close the curtains. She does but looks like she wishes she had kept some of that poison. Pedro is also nursing a hangover, but he's at the bordello/Antonio's bar. He talks to Antonio and ties to get more info from Antonio about Felipe but the convo stops where it could get interesting- IF Antonio knows about Pedro's parentage- and Antonio tells him to drink his juice. It's good for el crudo.

Final scene was Mari at the cemetery talkign to Ale's grave when Ale himself shows up. He wants to give her some space but she goes in for a hug instead. Ale's plan for venganza against Mari just took a step back based on the look on his face.

K
 

conde

Thanks very much, K, for this helpful recap. I can't imagine doing a recap while trying to watch the Olympics, but you definitely succeeded.

I confess that when I first looked at the Caray page and saw your 'Part 1,' I wondered whether that meant there would be more. When I've done recaps, I try to put all parts up more or less at once, so I'm able to say "Part 1 of 2" or whatever. I suppose I could also have said "Part 1 of ?", indicating simply that there's more to come. One other strategy is to do what dondi does. She always ends her recap with "and we are out," so until we see that, we know there will be more.

In Part 1, you said you weren't sure why Ama is concerned with the woman who is planning to marry soon. It's because the guy is Ramiro, a VERY nasty piece of work who, many years ato, was the guy who murdered Miguel Aguilar's parents. Alejandro heard shots, ran to see what was happening, saw that the Aguilars had been shot, and ran after the assassin. He caught up with him, was able to cut his left arm, but the guy got away and the police arrived and arrested Ale as the murderer. Now, as El Conde, Ale sees Ramiro and sees the scar on his left arm where Ale cut him. Ale wants revenge, or, as he prefers to put it, "justice." Ale has Ama trying to get information about Ramiro from Ramiro's fiancée, whose name I think is Esperanza.

Wow, Josie never misses an opportunity to be a bitch. As you point out, as soon as she meets the American's grandson and learns he's single, she decides (with dollar signs in her eyes) that he's the one for Sofia. I also loved your comment about her anger at Felipe: it "looks like she wishes she had kept some of that poison." There are lots of nasty characters in this novela, but I'm tempted to nominate Josie as the most vile.

Well, David is really getting some painful but important information about his father. Not only was Miguel Aguilar set up, but the mastermind of the "scandal" was Gerardo, whom David had loved and respected. With any luck, David will soon (or at least eventually) learn about Ale's role in his life.

Even before Gerardo learns that he is not David's biological father, he finds that his wife will no longer sleep with him. Mari says she'll stay, but only for the children's sake.

I enjoyed Violeta's ecstasy at learning that she has passed the audition. And, as you say,K, her wish to invest money with El Conde suggests that she is looking for a way out of her increasingly awful marriage to Vicente. Brava!
 

Conde

Thanks K. Were Pau and Mari good friends before Paulina's marriage? As I recall Josephine saw Paulina soon after her grandparents died and saw money signs for Felipe and somehow instigated the marriage. I had the impression P was back from Europe so sending Sofia off to finishing school has precedent. I guess Pand M could have been childhood friends. At any rate I would have thought they weren't BFFs so I doubt Mari would have confided in her then. I guess I could rewatch the first 2 episodes again now I actually know the characters but I really hated watching those episodes. The youthful timeframe on the lead actors really bothered me.
 

Conde

K..Thank you for bringing us all the news.

Cay and Vi are the sugar in this tale...beautiful , voluptuous , vapid girls who don't seem to realize how dangerous and ruthless the people around them are. Vi is especially in jeopardy having an affair with Antonio and trying to get a part in Cay's movie after Vic told her no way. Yikes... But right now, they are all girly...squeeeeee!!!

Last scene was the best..Mar just finally propels herself into Ale's arms. Did his face reveal his stonecold heart melting ? I hope so . We need some love and romance.
Susan
 

Conde

Thanks, K. All the deets I needed. I didn't catch that Amaranta and Pau now have their own theme song.

David has been such a straight arrow that it was impressive seeing him getting his Unc drunk to spill the beans. He himself pored out his drink in the potted plant. Poor plant.

Great seeing Cayetana and Violeta so happy with their acting roles. I don't see how Vi can keep this from Vicente though.

I'm sure Josefa will want to hide that Sofia has epilepsy lest it hurts her efforts to hitch her to the American.
 

conde

Thanks so much for your clever, witty recap, K. Watching women's gymnastics is addictive! I liked "being their usual selves" about Pedro and Felipe. I can hardly wait until these two sleazy, zero moral fiber blood relatives find out the truth! I wonder if your Part 2 might have gone the way of some other posts here. Sometimes the Blogger back end manages to randomly call someone's post spam.

I think "Our Team" (Ale, Memo, Ric, and Amaranta) want to ruin Ramiro's relationship with the young woman. She seemed sort of ditzy. Guess she'd have to not be the sharpest knife in the drawer to not see the pure evil in this guy. In addition to ruining Ramiro's wedding plans, Ale has probably saved Esperanza from a lifetime of misery.

The scene with Pau and Amaranta was well acted. We saw Paulina's embarrassment. And obviously Amaranta really cares about her because she urged her to return to Casa Conde to paint.

I get hives in the scenes where Josefina bullies everyone in her household. Possibly epileptic kid ordered bed rest by a doctor? Not as important as a possible marriage connection with the rich gringo.

Yes, David dumped his drink while coaxing the truth about the "frame Manuel Aguilar" plot. More evidence of his being a really good young man. I can hardly wait for the big expose of the entrapment by Ale's newspaper. [He swore the guy he bought it from to secrecy about his ownership but offered to be completely hands off on the content.]
 

conde

#26 – Part 1 of 3

We continue with Mariana and Alejandro talking near Benjamín Zambrano’s grave. She tells him that today she’s especially sad because she discovered that her stepmother was unfaithful to him. He knew and must have been so sad; he loved her so much. When Ale asks why she was telling her father’s grave she was sorry, Mari replies that she blames herself for not being more with her father when he needed her. Because she was in love. She needs to know what’s been going on with Josie and Antonio. Ale offers to help, and with pleasure.

Alfredo is confronting Vicente about his helping Gerardo to ruin him. Vicente gets all huffy, insisting he got where he is partiendo el lomo trabajando (breaking his back with work). Vicente says it would be impossible for him to bite the hand that feeds him. (Referring to the fact that he was the foreman of Alf’s hacienda). Vicente says he had to leave San Jacinto when his wife abandoned him and his children (!!) He met a person in the capitol who wanted to invest. Alf: “I don’t believe a word you say. Nadie puede tapar el sol con un dedo." (One of my faves: You can’t block out the sun by holding up a finger…or you can’t deny something so obvious forever.

Rodrigo Gallardo tells Leticia he’s worried about his father. He seems to be hiding something.

Ale thinks about that embrace with Mari and remembers Alfredo telling him he should not judge her so harshly and Mari saying that she truly loved Alejandro from the instant she met him. While he’s thinking Caye is trying to get his attention. She tells him that Violeta passed her audition. Ale doubts that Vic would let her be in the film. She goes on to tell him about Violeta asking for the Count’s help in investing. Ale tells Caye that he thinks she wants a nest egg to leave Vicente. Smiling, he says he’s happy to help.

David comes to tell Mari that his father arranged the montaje (set up, fake photo) against Aguilar. Felipe got drunk and was muy orgulloso de la cochinada le hicieron (Proud of the dirty trick they arranged against Aguilar.) Mari gets scared. She wants David to back off. But he says he’s going to turn in his article that very night for publication the next day. She says he doesn’t know what his father is capable of. David replies that he’s starting to realize that. David: “Why are you with him? You don’t admire him, much less love him. Is it fear?”

David tells his mother that he loves her with his whole heart. She should not worry for him. He’s going to submit the article. He leaves. Mari: Es igualito a él. Igual a su padre. Alejandro would be so proud.

Josie welcomes Mr. Harrison and Brendan (in English) and introduces Felipe, Pau, and Sofia. Brendan looks more than willing to meet Sofia. Sofia takes her mother aside and asks that she be excused. “Why is she the boss of our lives?”
 

conde

#26 – Part 2 of 3

Violeta tries to talk to Vicente about being bored. She never gets out what she wants to do. He blows up at her and tells her to be a mother to their son, to his daughters and be the lady of the house. Dejas los sueños guajiros (Cuban peasant dreams).

Josie is the perfect hostess. When Mr. Harrison says that Brendan will spend some time in Mexico, learning about the whiskey business and learning Spanish, Josie offers Sofia as his teacher. Sofia responds in English: “I’m not a teacher; and, if I didn’t go to France, it’s because I’m very sick.” Josie interrupts her right away and it looks like the Spanish lessons are on.

Memo also tries to convince Ale that Mariana was a victim of Josie. “She suffered your loss and then the loss of her father. She was alone and distraught; what could she have done?” Ale: “Anything but give herself to the man who condemned me to death.” Memo, like Alfredo, hopes his thirst for vengeance doesn’t break his noble heart.

Mr. Harrison confesses he has feelings for Jose. He says that he only comes to San Jacinto to see her. He kisses her hand. As he leaves, she wipes her hand on her skirt.

David’s article is on the front page (by Silvestre Dávalos). Gerardo is raving at the breakfast table, and Sendel gets to throw the newspaper. When Mari says something about the children, he asks David to take Gabriela to her room. Mariana, Gerardo and Felipe remain. She tells Gerardo that he needs to keep the respect of his children.

We see Ernestina, Manuel, and Lorena Aguilar enjoying David’s article. Ernestina admires the reporter’s talent. While Gerardo isn’t directly named, anyone would realize… Smiling ear to ear, Lorena agrees that the reporter is terrific.

Ale has come along with a specialist who’s just examined Sofia. She’s very grateful, as is Paulina. But Sofia still doesn’t think she’ll live long. Ale urges her to believe she’ll have a long, happy life. After Sofia leaves, Pau tells him that what the Count said to Sofia is what she wishes her husband would have.

Now Sofia and Javier Gallardo are at that same lovely body of water where we saw David and Lorena a while back.

Mariana burns the letter she wrote to Alejandro Gaitán in front of Nanny. She tells her that Alfredo read it. Then she says she wants Nanny to come with her for something important.

Next we see Mari with Nanny in the office of the lawyer Josie paid off all those years ago for the fake will. She says she wants to see all the documents relating to her father’s properties. At the time she believed what her stepmother and the lawyer said. But now she wants to know exactly what her father owned before he died.

Carmen gives her younger daughter a dress (sorry, forgot the girl’s name). Violeta confides in Carmen that she has what she thought she wanted: money, a family. But she isn’t happy. “Vicente is macho, controlling, and not a gentleman. He’s aggressive.” Carmen gets worried, asking if he’s violent with his daughters. Violeta says that sometimes it isn’t just fists that can hurt. “Now I understand why his first wife left him.” Carmen gives her daughter a doll like the one her older sister used to have.

 

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#26 – Part 3 of 3

Alfredo welcomes Ale to his house. Leticia and Rodrigo are grateful to him. Leticia tells him the crops are better than ever. Mari walks in, to Ale’s surprise.

David talks to the publisher, Linares. There’s been quite the hullabaloo about the article. David says that he himself interviewed the woman who was part of the fake photo. Gerardo arrives and David leaves the room. Gerardo is breathing fire and slams the paper on Linares desk, saying it’s all false. He wants to know how much Linares got from the Aguilar campaign. Linares is calm. Gerardo glares at him and says that the newspaper was on the verge of bankruptcy. Yet, somehow, the debts were paid, like magic. Felipe pipes up about a defamation lawsuit. Linares: “You can do what you like. But, if you keep throwing logs on the fire, you’ll be the one who suffers.” Gerardo wants to meet the reporter. When Linares tells him that he’s not going to be available, Gerardo rips up the paper, balls up the pieces and throws it at Linares’ chest. David comes out, looking shaken. He heard it all.

At the Gallardo’s dinner party, Alfredo says to Ale and Mari, “Nunca es tarde. He makes a toast: “To happiness, the only thing that matters.” Leticia reminds Mari how upset Josie was when Mari played piano and sang at that party. We get a flashback to Ale’s face watching her smiling, playing, and singing, with Gerardo leaning over her. Ale looks like he’s enjoying this gathering, almost a smile.

Linares tells David he’s risking a lot. David said he didn’t know his family would be involved when he began. But he needs to write the truth.

Mari is very sad and leaves the Gallardos to go to another room. Ale follows. She tells the Count that she was the happiest woman in the world once. He says he hates to see her sad.

Nanny has one of her hissy fits, noticing that Sofia is gone.

It appears Sofia and Javier haven’t been as careful as David and Lorena. She tells Javier that maybe they did a bad thing; this should have happened on her wedding night. He creates a ring from a piece of burlap and proposes. He tells her he’ll love her forever.

Vic has come to see Gerardo to tell him what Alfredo said to him…that he knows everything. That the two of them conspired to ruin him.

Alfredo makes a little speech about forgiving others and forgiving ourselves for our mistakes. It’s pretty clear that he arranged for Mariana to appear at the dinner to thank the Count.

Vic tells Gerardo that Alfredo must have some proof about what happened or why would he bring it up. “He hasn’t said anything all these years and now… If you’re wondering if he asked about the murder of Aguilar, no, he did not.” But Vic reminds him of the burning of the Gallardos' hacienda, for stealing his crops, the killing of Aguilar. “You and I are metidos hasta las cachas! (Up to our hindquarters in this) Did you forget forcing me to lie at the trial of Alejandro Gaitán?

Vic: “I’m not the problem. It’s that viejo que anda escarbando en el pasado (old guy digging around in the past. Maybe he’s looking for revenge against us. Gerardo’s eyes bulge a little bit.

 

I am not happy about Blogger's current setup. I used to paste in each part of my recap and then select preview. This made it easy, at least for me, to see what I'd pasted from another document, the whole comment or part of a recap. That preview is no longer available, and I have to slowly scroll through what I pasted, taking a LOT of time. And I don't have the quick ability to see mistakes before I post.
 

Conde
Novelera, even with the handicap you did great. I like how you referenced Javier and Sofia's tryst.

I chuckled when the American businessman hit on Josie. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

Sofia is around 16 right? (As are David, Lorena and Javier). A bit young to be trying to marry her off wouldn't you think. I would imagine 18 would be more acceptable. Of course TN math may be involved and the 17 years later is actually 20. The younger members are in college I believe.

Who remembers the burning of Carmen. Did that also occur at the same time as Ale's incarceration? That would make Vic's girls in their 20s.

Alfredo better watch his back. Hope nothing awful happens to him tonight (my turn to recap). Hopefully I remember to cut and paste mine in. So far I've only ever done anything on my phone.
 

"CONDE" HIGHLIGHTS DISCUSSION
EPISODE#26:
Novelera: Enjoyed reading your recap of last night's episode. It was on FIRE baby! I'm getting very nervous about Alfredo because the way Vic & Scumbag Villarreal are discussing how to handle the Alfredo problem, it might NOT end well for Alfredo.

Kat: Had no idea both Javier & Sofia had their secret escapade. Why do I get the feeling that there's not going to be a happy ending for them ?

Laughed when Buji Joise wipes her hands after Harrison left LOL. Germaphobic.



 

Conde
Novelera, thank you for a great account of all the events .

Alfredo is being foolish rattling Vic's cage . Vic, Jo, and Ger are getting suspicious .

I liked seeing Ale,'s slight smile as he talked to Mar , and I liked Mar hugging him .

I think that the actor playing Javier looks more like Fernando than the one playing David.

Chantals English is good.

Interesting that Vi is confiding in shy, wounded Carmen. That will be an interesting alliance. Vi is playing with fire.

I don't see how Ale can protect all the innocents. Susan
.
 

Steve, I found your comment and was able to say it wasn't spam and should be published. As you can see, it's now here. I have no idea why the Blogger software identifies some legitimate posts as spam. Whenever it happens, the best thing to do is post a calm message here, and if/when I see it, I'll investigate.
 

Novelera, until today, there was a preview button that I pressed to see what the message looked like and if I could spot any errors. This morning, that Preview button is no longer here. I have no idea why this change was made. I do know that it's a terrible change!
 

Thanks verY much, novelera, for this splendid recap! It helped me understand several scenes that had puzzled me, and provided me with LOTS of very useful Spanish.

I admired Alfredo's courage in his confrontation with Vicente, and his insistence that "you haven't answered my question!" But I'm also fearful. Vicente has no scruples and lots of experience doing nasty things.

I too noticed Josie wipe her hand after Mr. Harrison exits after kissing it.
I winced when he said he came to San Jacinto mostly to see her.

I loved Memo's suggesting to El Conde that perhaps Mari is a victim, too. And his warning "Don't let your thirst for justice corrupt your soul." IMHO he and Alfredo Gallardo are the two wisest characters in this novela.

I was stunned when Mari entered the room where Alfredo and the others were. She looked happy and gorgeous! I thought El Conde would immediately fall for her again, but.... Sigh.

Wow, so Sendel has thrown a newspaper three times in one episode. I bet that beats his phone record!

Like Kat in SC, I'm wondering whether David, Lorena, Javier, and Sofia are old enough to be talking seriously about marriage. I don't think any of them are in college yet. The fancy school in Paris that Josie tried to force Sofia to go back to didn't sound like a college, nor do I recall any of the young people preparing applications or taking entrance exams.

 

Conde

Gracias, Novelera. Fine recap.

ITA it was great seeing Ale almost smile. He's finally thawing out about Mariana. Plus anyone can see that Mariana's marriage is not a happy one.

Likely our young lovers didn't use protection and think one can't get pregnant the first time.

I worry too that Alfredo is putting a target on his back.

It would be wonderful to see Carmen and Vi working together to free Vi, but they'd be in way over their heads trying to sink Vicente. How many good guys can Ale help?
 

Apparently that treasure chest that Ale was given access to is magical and keeps replenishing. Or the old man in the prison was VERY good at obtaining wealth. It sure seems like he'll run out of money one day given how much he keeps tossing around to everyone. YOU get a tiara and YOU get a tiara...

But Sofia, however old she is, had a very good question asking why Josie gets to run their lives. She and Paulina could ask the Conde for a new house. I'm sure he'd provide.

K
 

Thanks Novelera for your translations of some of those interesting Spanish refranes! That’s a great idea and much appreciated. Please keep doing that. Also, I am enjoying your recaps— Thanks so much.
I thought the reason Josie was wiping her hand was just out of pure disgust for the Gringo guy..not because she was a germophobia —-just my thought.
I do hope we don’t have to wait too much longer for Ale and Mariana “to connect.” If they wait too much longer, it will seem silly.
I have been watching these telenovelas for many many years and this happens to be one of my favorites! I wish they would do more of these novelas based on famous historical novels. I never read the Count of Monte Cristo so would like to know how closely or loosely this is based on it. CW
 

Conde #27 part 1

Gerardo and Felipe are demanding of a trembling Lucretia, where is Conde. Cayetana rescues her and says he isn't there.

Conde is at the home of Rodrigo and Leticia celebrating with Alfredo and Mari the success of the hacienda. Conde offers Letty and Rid the hacienda to live in with Alf but they refuse. Leticia uses the dressmaking business as her excuse for remaining where they are.

Delores runs into Pedro at the hotel and wrangles a dinner ( lunch, not sure what time of day it is) date with him.

Ricardo finds a very agitated Lucretia. He pulls out a necklace with a jade type pendant on it and proceeds to hypnotize her. Caye makes him stop. He learned the art of hypnosis when he was in the Chinese circus. He then jokingly tries to hypnotize Caye.

Javier rushes home from his romantic tryst with Sofia, but he missed dinner. Alfredo covers for him saying he was working far away on the estate. Next scene Alfredo and Javier are riding on the estate inspecting crops and talking. They encounter Ramiro and 2 others. Alfredo says they are trespassing, this is now the Conde's land.

Mari and David talk. She is worried about him and wants him to stop digging up information and having it published. He says his not afraid of Papa. She rolls her eyes.

Back to Alfredo and Ramiro. Alfredo accuses him of being an assassin. Ramiro in turn threatens him and his grandson.

Ric and Caye...can you really hypnotize someone? Ric, it's on the house, lie down while I count down from 5. She remembers a party from when she was a child. And her papa. ( I think it is Vincente's former hotelier partner but not positive. Can't remember which episode that storyline was developed).

Mari meets with David's novia. She discovers she knows who the journalist is. Mari wants her to try and get David to stop digging up stuff because she is afraid for his safety. Julia ( still haven't got all these characters figured out)agrees.

Ramiro meets with Gerardo. Alfredo accuses me of being an assassin and claims to have proof.

Memo gives Mari a manila envelope with information she requested. (Not sure what that information is.)
 

Conde #27 Part 2

Alfredo and Mari talk. Alf says the conde is a good person. Glad to see you 2 are becoming friends.

Josefina checks on Sofia who is resting in bed. Sofia claims she is very tired. Josie calls her out on that. You went horseback riding yesterday. Time for you to start teaching Brendan Spanish. Josie hands her a gold case. Not sure if I missed something about that. Not sure what it's significance is but the camera panned to it so ?

Alfredo and Mari talk about The Letter. He assures her hell never divulge its contents. He then asks why do you stay with Gerardo when he makes you so unhappy. Leave him, you are a strong woman.

Ric and Conde. Conde berates him for using hypnosis on Caye. The mind has hidden things for a reason and it will remember when the time is right. Conde alludes to things that happened to Caye in San Jacinto(?) and that she suffered greatly. Ric is mad at conde for using Caye ( and Lucretia) for his purposes.

Violeta is in her closet removing money from a safe and putting it in a suitcase. Delores almost catches her. Violeta talks about hats. The two discuss clothes.

Pedro and Ric..Pedro tells Ric he found the perfect matrimonial candidate, Delores is crazy for him and she's perfect. Stupid and rich ...

Alfredo at the hacienda drinking. Gerardo lets himself in (G, this was my place for many years). Alfredo asks him what does he want.

Mari walks down the stairs of some place in the city. A drunk accosts her.

Alfredo goes into all the things Gerardo and his father did to him to bring his downfall. Also about the assassination of the Aguilar's. Alfredo brings up Gerardo's dead brother, who I think was the favorite son. (Is this the first time we heard of him? I don't recall).Gerardo blusters you have no proof etc...Alfredo tells him to leave Gerardo draws out a pistol.

Violeta goes to Antonio with her suitcase of hats. Under item is the money and jewels. It's an inheritance from her rich aunt. Antonio doesn't buy that story and knows it's Vicente's. She wants Antonio to keep it safe for her. El Conde is going to invest it for her and she will have a lot more money.
 

Conde #27 part 3 of 3

Alfredo is really goading the dragon (Gerardo) now. You don't have the guts to kill anyone yourself, you hire the jobs out. He turns his back on Ger who then fires the gun at the wall (aha, a piece of evidence because we all know where this is heading). Alfredo faces him again and tells him to leave. Once again Alf turns his back on Gerardo who then clobbers him over the head with the gun. Alfredo falls to the ground and Gerardo continues to be at him over the head.

Mari still being mauled by the drunk is rescued by El Conde and whacks the guy with his cane. Conde tells Mari I knew you would come here after you got the information (I'm still in the dark about this, can anyone enlighten me). They then kiss. Commercial break. I thought it was the end of the episode...

Alfredo son tried to call his father at the hacienda but gets no answer. He and Leticia discuss the counts offer. Leticia doesn't want to abuse the counts generosity.

Gerardo leaves the hacienda rather shaken and meets up with Ramiro who I guess was on lookout duty. He confesses to killing Alfredo.

Mari pulls away from conde. I'm a married woman and this is wrong....conde, at least let me see you home, this is a dangerous part of town.

Gerardo and Ramiro watch the hacienda burn ..he was an old man. He was probably drunk and caused the fire ... The end..... 6 a m. Is going to come way too soon!
 

One last thing. Conde has a picture of Mari in the head of his cane...he said something that I didn't write down when he looked at her photo, but I think he is definitely softening to her ....
 

Thanks VERY much, Kat in SC, for this helpful and reassuring recap. I say "reassuring" because I was puzzled by some of the same things you were. For example, the significance of the gold case Josie gives to Sofia. As you say, the camera focuses on the case, seeming to stress its importance, but... And, of course, there's the mysterious contents of the envelope Memo gives to Mariana from El Conde. The Count even says he expected her to come after seeing the contents. Oh well....

I was disturbed and puzzled by Alfredo's confrontation with Gerardo. As you say, Alfredo was "goading the dragon," a terrific phrase. It was almost as if Alfredo wanted to be killed, but that makes little sense to me, given the wise and sensible person Alfredo has been. I really don't understand why he acted as he did with Gerardo.

And yes, El Conde has a photo of Mariana hidden at the top of his cane. I think what he said was "I continue loving you just as I did from the first day." (Hey, buddy, how about letting Mariana in on the secret.)

I'm still having some problems identifying who's who, but I think David's novia is Lorena.

 

Juanita, I'm glad I'm not the only one confused by certain events. If I wait until the next day to watch the CCs are offered in English as well as Spanish. Really wish there was an edit feature on the blog. Or even a way to delete something and repost with the corrections without it showing the "this comment has been removed". Lorena, that's her name! I referred back to yesterday's recap to get Alfredo's son's name.

OT
After the fact I remembered the idiom I was searching for...poking the bear. I think the dragon one has to do with their tail so I made up my own, lol. I used to pride myself on my extensive vocabulary. Some things are starting to slip from my memory banks. I think it is because I am filling the my brain with this new to me language (17 months so far). I'm also doing French on Duolingo (I took that language in high school and college 40+ years ago.) Add a smattering of Mandarin as my grandson is about to start kindergarten in a school that teaches in both languages so we do Duolingo in His (he is 1/4Chinese) language together.
 

"CONDE" HIGHLIGHTS DISCUSSION
EPISODE#27:
Kat: Awesome job with the recap of last night's episode. RIP Alfredo: WTH were you thinking goading & poking Scumbag Gerardo like that all by yourself to boot ? DAMN Alfredo.

Ric is becoming more annoying. Dude is becoming a liability to Alejandro's revenge mission.

Juanita: Does everyone seem to get annoyed with Buji Josie ? I want to see her Karma anvil ASAP & the sooner, the better.


 

Conde

Gracias, Kat in SC. Super recap.

Such a shame about Alfredo. I kept hoping that someone else would show up to interrupt him and Gerardo.

I'm glad Ale rescued Mariana from the drunk, but honestly she's got to learn not to let a stranger get in her personal space.

Ric knows hypnosis? I'm impressed.

Wondering if Antonio will come through for Vi and safeguard her cash and jewels.


 

Conte
Kat, thank you for an excellent recap of all the sad happenings .

I can't understand why Alfredo decided to put himself and his family in danger by confronting Vic and Ger. Alfredo knows that the conte is Ale and that he is wealthy and plans revenge on the bad guys. It made no sense that Alfredo went after the bad guys knowing that.He should have stayed alive to help Ale.

I wonder what was in the envelope that Memo gave Mar? Is she now sure that the conte is Ale? She has embraced him a couple times ..yay. Mar's photo in Ale's cane was a sweet, romantic touch. Will Cay find it ?

I have seen the actor playing RIC in several shows .....I am tired of the hat.

I suppose we will have one or two teen pregnancies . Jo and Ger will hit the ceiling.

Vi...say goodbye to that money. Susan
 

Susan, I'm not so sure that Antonio will keep Vi's money. He may expect a cut of her gains after El Conde invests it for her though. It's my first time seeing Ric so the hat doesn't bother me. Wonder what other "tricks he has up his sleeve" after his time in the circus. I'm wondering if the envelope has something to do with Josie stealing her inheritance.
 

Terrific recap, Kat. Thanks so much for all your clever asides: goading the dragon indeed.

I think Lucretia freaked out when Gerardo and Felipe came looking for the count because she knows Felipe killed her sister.

That guy playing Ramiro has amazing scary cred. I'd run if I saw him on the street. It was awful the way he threatened Javier openly when Alfredo confronted him. Speaking of Alfredo, I kept hoping this was a red herring all the times that Alfredo "poked the bear" (yep, Kat...that's the one). But they went there and I was sad. Such a noble guy. Can we hope that Gerardo ends up on La Isla de Dolores? Death is too good for him.

Well, they've hinted a lot that Caye might have been the victim of a pedophile. Vicente?

Josie just doesn't disappoint, does she? She threatens poor Lorena with sending her back to Paris if she doesn't get busy with the Spanish lessons.

I kind of liked seeing Ric lose his temper with Ale a bit. It also seemed like a hint that, besides peeking at her nakedness, he is starting to have feelings for her.

OK, TN award for disgusting perv AND worst punch ever to the guy who accosted Mari in the street.

I liked what Violeta said about the money. Viewerville might have thought she was taking it from Vic's safe, but it looks like it's her money, slowly accumulated over time, probably inflating how much dresses cost. I think Antonio may be in lust enough to not steal her money.

I'm not positive, but I think Mari might have been looking to actually witness Josie and Antonio together. Could they be getting busy inside the bordello? And that's the shady neighborhood.

And speaking of the kiss, I fully expected Mariana to recognize Ale and speak up about it.
 

Conde

Novelera, I was puzzling over why Mar was out alone in that neighborhood, and you have a good theory. Was Ale following her? Susan
 

Novelera, interesting theory about Caye. I actually thought maybe she witnessed her dad's death at Vincente's hands ( he shoved him over the wall, if that was her dad ).

Ric definitely is enamored of Caye....

And yes, Violeta stashing money makes sense. I doubt Vicente would keep his safe in her closet and that she would dare steal his money without fear of being caught.
 

conde

Kat, thinking about Caye seeing Vic kill her father. That's an excellent theory. But the math confuses me. The child they show in the flashbacks looks around 10. Would Vicente have pushed her father off the building 20 years ago. I'm assuming Caye is at least 30. Oh well. We're already wondering about how Gerardo thinks David is his. Unless Mari supposedly didn't even grieve a month before marrying him. Or the doctor said it was an 8 pound premie.
 

I can’t blame Violeta for wanting to keep her money safe from Dolores. I thought it was savings she had squirreled away over the years and Dolores is the type to take it and tell dad (and she doesn’t deserve a stepmom as nice as Vi). But why the heck did she hide it with Antonio? I’m hoping he’s decent enough (to her anyway) to not steal from her. He seems to only be a jerk to other jerks (Pedro, Jose), but Vi really should have left the suitcase with Cayetana. Sigh.

K