Caray, Caray!

Rubi

I was able to finish this - I'll be able to post a recap, hopefully tomorrow but if not Saturday. I won't spoil it, but I just got say WOW!!! WOWZERS!!!! It's not too often that they manager to throw in a twist that takes me completely by surprise, but this one has a jaw dropping all the way to the floor moment! I didn't see it coming at all! But maybe you do?

Does anyone (except maybe Diana because she might remember) want to take a guest what the twist ending might be? And, I'm telling you right now, guess something wild, because this one was outside of the box...this was not your mama's novela ending!
 

* manage not manager - I should really proofread my comments better.
 

Rubi

No guesses? Alright, then times up! You’re about to find out, and I’m telling you, if you had given me 200 guesses, I wouldn’t have gotten close! And even though there were a few beanie moments, I give it points for creativity!

So, here we go from where I left off.

Present day Fernanda finds out that Rubi has always known – since day 1 – that she was Fernanda and she played along with the ruse for the same reason that Fernanda created her own ruse, because she wanted to be able to tell the whole story! And oh, what a story, it is… now, that I now the whole thing, I kind of fault Rubi for bringing Fernanda to this house and putting her and Frank in this danger just so she can tell her story, but on the other hand, I understand why she had to.

so, the story continues…

Rubi’s romance with the prince lasts a little longer than I anticipated and they even end up living together in Spain for several months, but Prince Charming’s mother and sister HATE Miss Rubi and the Queen makes it clear that Rubi will never be a part of their family! Rubi tries and tries to win her over but when the Queen finally puts her foot down and declares that she’ll disinherit her son if he marries Rubi, well you know Rubi isn’t sticking around for that!! So, in the end it’s Rubi who leaves the prince and not the other way around, which is what I was expecting but this isn’t the surprise that floored me, you’ll have to wait a bit for that one.

 

Rubi part 2

Elsewhere, Ale has warmed to the idea of Maribel and their flirtation becomes a full-on love affair! Perhaps even the real thing because when Rubi does return to Mexico, she tries to seduce Ale again and she gets shown the door and for the first time ever! Ale doesn’t look even a little tempted by our little vixen!

Mari’s parents split up for good (or so I thought) but somehow manage to do it somewhat amicably. Which was honestly weird after mommy throwing a giant fit for episodes on in about how supposedly unfaithful daddy was and how Cristina was a so-and-so, but in the end Don What’s-his-name ends up having a very honest conversation with his wife about how lost he felt and how he lost his head over Cristina but she never returned his affections and he is sorry. Somehow this calms her down and a sad but now rational mom accepts that it wasn’t Cristina’s fault and asks dad to leave the house. But this only lasted for a couple episodes, after some time apart and reflection on both parts, these two actually reconciled and started over.

Rubi, now prince-less, home-less, Ale-less, sister-less, niece-less, finds out she is also inheritance-less!!! That’s right folks, I forgot to tell you, Rubi’s lawyer found out months ago that she isn’t getting a single penny from Hector’s estate, but she hadn’t learned this until she got back from Spain because apparently her lawyer didn’t have her phone number??? Seems weird to me, but hey with all the ex’s stalking her and the bad press following her she probably changed it and was too busy trying to become the Princess of Spain to remember to contact her lawyer with her forwarding information. Anyway, what she isn’t, is Borris-less, because he comes to find her at Loreto’s and takes her up on her months old offer to come work for her! Rubi feels bad because she has no money and can’t pay him, but Borris doesn’t care, he has savings, and he wants to protect her! We find out that Lucas fired Borris because he intervened in the previous situation with the Japanese dude, and he insinuated that Borris too is in love with Rubi – which could be, but he doesn’t seem to necessarily desire her, he does however seem very attached to her, very protective of her.

Rubi should have accepted defeat this time, but you’ve met her, and you know that she just isn’t going to accept ‘no inheritance’ for an answer so she goes back to see Hector’s lawyer and demand satisfaction!
This my friends is where our story twists and it is also where I get another lingering question answered – you see I’ve been wondering, if Rubi stole Borris from Lucas how did she end up with Lucas’s house 19 years in the future? Because I’d been assuming that was Lucas’s house, she and Carla/Fernanda were doing their interview in, but I was wrong again!

But before I get too far ahead of myself, I have to go back and tie in a comment Rubi made when Rubi the day Hector committed suicide. She described it to Fernanda as something like, ‘that was the day Hector decided to ruin my life’ at the time I thought, how self-involved and horrible can you be? But now that I know what happens next, I understand the importance of that statement. Because as it turns out walking into the lawyer’s office is the biggest mistake of Rubi’s life because it turns out Hector did leave her something!!! Can you guess what it is? That’s right? It’s a creepy old mansion! And not just any mansion, the very same mansion in which his daddy killed his mommy!!! Turns out no one has lived there since the murder… so, it’s all abandoned and tainted, but still valuable the lawyer assures!

 

Rubi part 3

Rubi and Borris take off to check out the new digs, and if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Well, maybe an old murder house doesn’t sound ‘too good’ but it was. And Rubi and Borris were the first to find out the surprise in the chronological timeline of course, but viewerville, finds out with Fernanda in the future timeline and in the worst way possible!

You see, 19 years later, Frank has finally woken up and even though he’s barely got enough strength to stand he and Fernanda foolishly decide that they must try to flee immediately! They feel the urgency especially after Frank informs Fernanda that Borris is keeping him sedated. But as they turn to flee and Rubi tries frantically to stop them things get out of control faster than Fernanda can understand what is truly going on. Frank pulls a gun and points it at Rubi, but Fernanda hurriedly tells him not to do it because it’s her Tia! A shocked Frank has no time to react before a man comes out of the shadows and declares that there are no visitors allowed here!!! He shoots Frank dead!!!! And that man my friends is no other than HECTOR FERRER GARZA!!!!

That’s right, this demented psychopath faked his own death! We have been thinking this whole time that Rubi had some sort of high-flying glamourous life away from her family and we were waiting to see if she had any regrets, but the reality is she hasn’t seen anyone in 18 years because Hector’s crazy ass kidnapped her!!! He has kept her hostage in that murder castle for nearly two decades!!! This time Borris couldn’t save Rubi (because psycho boy had too much backup I guess) but he was able to stay captive by her side. Although it wasn’t really clear I’m guessing it was Hector’s men who attacked Frank to begin with and not something Borris had anything to do with, he was just keeping him sedated so he would remain under Hecor’s radar, and he wouldn’t find out that Frank was in the house.

So that’s the biggest beanie inducing part of all this – Hector has a whole army of men working for him operating a compound keeping him ‘dead’ right outside of town. You might be wondering how he kept the strong feisty Rubi subdued, he did two things. First, he convinced her that if she tried to leave, he would kill either Fernanda or Alejandro, possibly both. He showed her that he had both of their homes under surveillance. And second, he beat her severely, leaving a scar on her face and thus ‘ruining’ her beauty – the most important thing to Rubi. So, she stayed captive. She lied to the media about wanting out of the spotlight, lied to Loreto about finding a new man and moving on and not having room for a ‘mediocre’ friend in her life and left everyone to believe she took off to parts unknown. Not surprisingly, most people didn’t really even protest her disappearance much because Rubi had burned her bridges prior to being kidnapped.

Rubi lived alone in that house with her tormentor and Borris until she got desperate enough that she reached out to Fernanda for an interview because she HAD to make a connection with her niece. And because of that weakness Fernanda’s life was touched once again by tragedy and her husband was killed by Hector. Hector’s plan was to kill Fernanda next to contain the witnesses and get back to his miserable ever after, but Rubi finally has something to fight for and she’s not going to let that happen. Borris is team Rubi as always and he gets himself shot trying to rescue both Rubi and Fernanda and somehow (another beanie moment) manages to get taken to a hospital even though no one else has gotten medical treatment at this house! And he gets to not just any hospital – but Ale’s hospital and brings him Rubi’s necklace and a paper with the address and says ‘save her’ before passing out!

 

RUBI

Oh my Darcy, this was magnificent.

"Rubi, now prince-less, home-less, Ale-less, sister-less, niece-less, finds out she is also inheritance-less!!! " Perfect and price-less!

Much of what you astutely and dramatically outlined were events I didn't recall. Mari's parents reconciliation being one of them. Like you, I did think she ended up at Lucas' so was shocked when you related where she actually landed.

"what she isn’t, is Borris-less". Indeed! :) While not the main plotline, Boris' complex feelings for Rubi were one of the many interesting aspects of the storyline. Unbreakable, almost slavish like devotion.

If my (poor) memory does serve me, I believe there is a bit more in the ending? Rubi receiving a "visitor" (not sure when that occurred) and the very last scene which was a shock to me when it aired as it so differed from the original.

Darcy, thank you. What a marvelous read! I wish I'd gotten to watch the rest of it.

Diana
 

Rubi part 4

So, as Ale is off to save her, we learn a couple things about our other characters… one Cristina has a heart condition, I believe the same one her mother had and Ale is her doctor. The second is that Ale and Mari are still together after all these years so I guess you were right about those two, SpanProf! They had staying potential – she’s not thrilled, however, to find out he’s risking his life to go after Rubi. She wants him to leave it to the police, he doesn’t.

When it comes down to the big showdown, Ale is as shocked to see his old BFF still alive and kicking as I was, but of course Hector dies again in the stand off and the bruised and broken Fernanda and Rubi are left standing. Rubi throws herself into Ale’s arms thanking him while trying to hide her scarred face.

While Fernanda embraces one of the other policemen, I think it’s the same cop that has been involved with her family since she was a kid, but it might have been one of her husband’s friends because Frank was a cop. Rubi and Ale have a heart to heart. I hated this part! Honestly, who needs to still talk about their regrets from 19/20 years ago at this point? Suspend disbelief I know, I know. Whatever. Rubi says he is still the love of her life and Ale says she was his most profound (or impactful) love but it’s too late now and he’s with Maribel. Rubi says she knows but then she kisses him, and HE LETS HER!!!! This dude sucks!

Back in the big city, Fernanda is reunited with mom and Rubi awkwardly greets her sister as well. Cristina isn’t cold to Rubi but she isn’t exactly exuberant either, they are spared lingering in this awkward moment by Loreto showing up and Rubi running into his arms like nothing ever happened. Loreto holds no grudges and agrees to get her immediately out of there. The press was all over the place, btw, but Rubi wanted nothing to do with it! On their way out, they run into Ale, Mari and a little boy in the hallway. It’s their son. Rubi stops to talk to the boy, she draws close to him and speaks kindly and says all the right things, but there’s something almost ominous about the interaction. Mari looked downright alarmed!

We see flashes of people moving on in the next few scenes. Fernanda writes a book about Rubi and you see how she struggles between laughter and anger thinking about the good times and dealing with her grief over losing Frank. Rubi goes to visit Cristina in her humble casa with her husband (forget his name but it’s clear he’s not rich) Rubi stops to look at the picture of Cayetano and it’s clear that Rubi feels something more than the nothing she’s shown in the past. The sister’s interactions are awkward but not hostile. They behavior as if they’d like to reconcile but don’t know how.
Finally, we see Rubi get plastic surgery and then her own plane!! And then she’s in her signature high heels, red dress and red lips but we don’t think she’s off to seduce a man because Fernanda’s voice over tells us that Rubi has learned to depend on herself and she now understands she doesn’t need a man to succeed in this world. It was unclear to me where the money for the jet came from (I probably missed it) but maybe she inherited Hector’s fortune after his real death??? Or maybe she got a piece of Fernanda’s book sales? I don’t know but if she has private jet buying money… I wonder how Hector stayed profitable while ‘dead’ for 20 years? Okay, I’ll stop asking and suspend disbelief.

Anyway, that’s how our story ends….

Did Rubi learn anything? I don’t know. I’d say Fernanda didn’t know judging from the tormented outlook of her writing the book, crying and throwing things one minute, laughing and remembering the next. Rubi showed moments of true remorse, she did beg Fernanda to forgive her and to not hate her, but then she turned around and kissed Ale knowing that he was married to Mari and she leaves our screens walking off in full femme fetal garb so…. You decide. Repentant or not, 19 years trapped with a psychopath cut-off from everyone and everything you’ve ever known or loved was a very high price to pay.

 

Rubi

Diana, did I get the visitor you were talking about? I feel like I did miss something at the end... I almost went back and rewatched, but I didn't have time. I was confused as to how Rubi ended up with the $$ but I just figure she must have gotten Hector's money in the end when he really did die since his other will was fake.
 

RUBI

So sorry for commenting prematurely Darcy, I didn't realize you were going to recap everything tonight! What an amazing job...

Yes, Hector being alive and everything that transpired thereafter was a series of shock waves with devastating consequences.

I too was shocked that Ale kissed Rubi. Yet another disappointing "galan". Maribel was right to be "alarmed" as she surely finally realized Rubi was Ale's Achilles heel and that she would never feel completely confident in Ale's affections.

I didn't understand the first time as to where Rubi ended up getting her money from and I sure don't know now either!

Darcy, I recall a scene where Rubi (in what I think was her prison) was dressed in a sexy outfit waiting for someone. I don't think it was Hector as I seem to recall a car pulled up and a man entered and they had some kind of interaction. I can't recall who the man was. It seemed she was being shamed which the man took delight in. Is this ringing any kind of bell with you??

"Repentant or not, 19 years trapped with a psychopath cut-off from everyone and everything you’ve ever known or loved was a very high price to pay" was exactly right. Did she deserve it? I feel she did for Cayetano alone. Still, she came through on the other side. We wouldn't have expected anything else...

Thank you Darcy! Your writing was stellar.

Diana
 

RUBI

Diana, thanks!

hmm... Rubi doesn't go to prison. She does go through plastic surgery, and she does end up dressed in a sexy outfit on her own private jet - but she's alone. I don't recall a guest... Someone may have come to see hew in the hospital when she's recovering from surgery. Maybe that's the part I missed. I do know the very end seems to imply that Rubi ends up alone and not dependent on a man.

One thing I did forget to write is that Borris did make it. He survived the shooting and is seen rehabbing, in the montage scenes of everyone moving on.
 

RUBI

Darcy, thank you for confirming Boris survived. I thought he did but wasn't sure.

I did get a kick out of watching Rubi board the (adorable, strange word but truly fitting) plane, back ramrod straight, perfect posture, like royalty.

What a fabulous rendition Darcy. Such a joy to read one of your recaps again!

Diana