Caray, Caray!

jefa

I actually watched two last night. Thanks so very much, dondi, for the splendid recaps. The finish line is in sight...at least for Season 1. I'm sorry I failed on once a week recaps, but I was tired of all the rather repetitive evil.

I'm glad you mentioned Duque's talking to the regular old thugs about Nacho's behavior. He expected to escape, maybe kill Nacho, and take over leadership of the Tijuana cartel. He was setting it up so they wouldn't turn on him when the boss died. I was frankly surprised they caught Duque. I'm doubtful they can keep him. I think Nacho is off the table. A helicopter from the DEA is pretty hard to intercept.

Miguel FINALLY got "scared straight". As the mother of a son, his lapses into crime gave me the willies. Let me hasten to assure Viewerville that my son is a hardworking, loving husband and father.

Mono...some tough guy. He got knocked unconscious with a broom handle?

Pretty sure I cheered out loud when Mateo, Laura, Dani, and Gael jumped into Fercho's car. Is Dani part feline? The kid's been near death 5 or 6 times. Does he only have 3 more lives left?

I kept expecting Duque to kill Nacho rather than Nacho being taken into custody.

I'm surprised Yadi told the truth, that she's not sure whose baby it is. Faced with a gun pointed at me, I'd have positively said it was Duque's.

These actors must enjoy all those scenes full of gunfire. As always, it's laughable what poor shots they all seem to be. Felt like 200 rounds and only a few actually shot.

How I loved that slap Gloria gave Duque! It made him furious, and he lunged toward her...to no avail.
 

velvet

Excellent recap, Kat. I agree with Juanita about your clever asides, such as:
"ice maiden pose" and Mateo having "phone book sized" lists of former bedmates. Telenovela cliches strike again; I don't believe that womanizers as old as Mateo seems to be reform once they fall in love. They might stop hunting for a year or two but are likely to be on the prowl again once the novelty wears off.

Does Enrique own shares of Velvet? Or are the ones he's hoping to join with Valeria's to gain control those of his father? If they're daddy's shares, he might be counting his chickens too soon. His father was pretty disillusioned with his business prowess after sneakily getting rid of Raul and hiring a guy who never performed. I'm not sure about his intentions. Others seem to think he wants Velvet to close; I rather thought he wanted his family to own it.

Every scene with Clara is close to FF>>> for me now. She might deserve Mateo accepting the most recent breakup she throws out there. And...Clara and the Three Harpies sounds like a metal band.

Yep, Pepita is a real nutcase and I'm pretty sure she'll be making trouble for Blanca. Doubt she already knows because she'd have run to HR like a shot.

Back to Enrique. He's rich, so why did he marry Barbie? He's willing to buy her a new car to keep her from wanting sex.

We got some of the "same old, same old". A female character who's been celibate a long time starts a sexual relationship, and everyone notices how good she looks.

Ramon got a beating and reformed? We'll see.
 

velvet

I'll put up something tonight. I'm watching too many novelas and thus find myself short on time. When watching only one I didn't feel doing a long one once a week was a problem.
 

velvet

Ramon is not to be trusted. Hard to see the background but it looked festive. A bar? Strip club? Whatever it is, I don’t get why Luisa would be happy about him coming back. He was terrible and better off gone from her life. He’s going to cause problems if she tells him about Fernando, and you know she will. Hope she focuses on singing.

K
 

velvet

Part 1 of 2

Gloria starts the day with a Bloody Mary. Valeria needs to learn not to tell the witch what she plans to do…in this case to tell Alberto about his mother.

Mr. Slick, aka Carlos, is in Alberto’s office pitching a podcast with some famous podcaster in the New York area. It will be about Velvet and Saghattan, and Ana will be the one interviewed. He mentions her being an inspiration to other Latinas.

I want some of Isabel’s tortilla soup, but we never see it eaten.

Mateo invites Clara to dinner with the Three Harpies.

Isabel has pretty much won Blanca over. Blanca tells her about the great job her daughter arranged for her in Miami, but she feels too attached to Velvet. Isabel senses it’s a man and advises her to grab onto love despite what Blanca says about it not lasting.

Gah! More Cris and Barbie at lunch. Ms. Possibly the Most Spoiled Brat in New York City tells Barbie about her lunch with Carlos, the one in which he raved the whole time about Ana. Barbie’s not that interested. She says she’s sure Enrique has a lover.

Valeria tells Enrique about her conversation with her mother the night before. Enrique seems to think that they’re a pair because his mother and her father killed themselves. Valeria looks him right in the eye and tells him their whole relationship is a joke.

Carlos tells Ana about the podcast. Ana is kind of overwhelmed, but Raul chimes in that it will be very good for Velvet. [Carlos is supposed to be a tycoon (Rodrigo said tyrant), but he somehow can spend all of his time hanging around Velvet and around Ana.]

Valeria has come to tell Alberto something. [Probably about his mother being alive and about how she now owns her mother’s shares.] But, of course, Gloria bursts in. Valeria changes up and says that what she wanted to tell him was her idea about auctioning off the dresses they have on site like museum pieces so as to fund the Márquez Foundation.

Clara and Marga talk about the dinner invite from Mateo. Marga suggests more conservative clothes [!!]

Max tells Emilio how much he’s in love, but not with whom.

Valeria and Gloria are with Gloria’s lawyer to sign the papers giving Valeria everything Gloria owns. The paper is signed by both. But there’s another document Gloria has had prepared. In this one Valeria promises to give it all back when “the danger has passed”. We get, of course, a commercial break just then. But Valeria refuses and says she’d consider it if Gloria goes to rehab. Slap!!
 

velvet

Part 2 of 2

After being slapped, Valeria goes after her mother big time. “You only destroy the lives of the people you say you love! I was always a broken toy to you, useless. I wasn’t good at ballet and tennis. I gained weight! I couldn’t sing. All you did was criticize me my whole life. My father, he did love me. In that letter he asked Alberto to take care of me. He didn’t even mention you. Why do you think that was?”

We see a bit of the podcast. Emilio and Isabel look on proudly. Then we also see Carlos doing the same.

There’s a board meeting, but only Alberto, Valeria and Enrique are there. Valeria tells Alberto about her mother signing over the Velvet shares. The purpose of the meeting is to vote on auctioning off the iconic dresses to support the Foundation. Enrique, of course, votes no, almost with a sneer on his face. But he’s outvoted by the Márquez siblings!

Clara comes to dinner, dressed appropriately. There are some snarky remarks from one or two of the harpies. Clara is on her best behavior. But before they sit down to dinner, Clara gives the dog a piece of chicken. The dog looks pretty bad, having an allergy to chicken. This time Mateo seems to side with his mother and aunties.

At the bar in Queens, Luisa is singing a salsa song and doing a very good job of it. People are dancing, and Susan is all over Pedro. Marga looks on sadly. [My God, I'm sick of this travesty of a triangle.]

After the podcast Carlos starts raving about a dress that, I think, is in Ana’s apartment. He recognizes it as a “Carmen Garza” [the name Ana chose for her Alondra creations]. He practically gets bug-eyed and salivates over the dress. On his way out, we get to see another of his weird facial expressions. [I’m starting to think he really does have a thing for her and isn’t part of a plot to trip her up. But it kind of looks like obsession and control.]

Emilio and Isabel again disagree about Carlos.

Alberto and Valeria have a very close moment at the apartment where they all seem to live together but separately. When he goes off to bed, Gloria waltzes out, drink in hand. She admits that “that woman” married Benjamin first. She doesn’t quite come out and say that’s why Valeria got everything, but…

The next day is what would have been Benjamin’s birthday, and Alberto talks with Ana about it. She remembers how Ben apparently bought things each year for the employees on his birthday. They get very close, looking about to kiss. I’m staring at the open door, expecting Cris. But it’s Valeria who comes in. She lights into Alberto.

Max and Blanca are once again in that storeroom. He declares how much he loves her. He brings out a ring and proposes! Unfortunately, the increasingly nasty Pepita is watching them.
 

velvet

Thanks for recapping, novelera, despite having novela/dizi overload. I’ll cosign your spot-on asides.

Mr. Slick is a good nick for Carlos.

“I want some of Isabel’s tortilla soup, but we never see it eaten.” We don’t get as many food scenes in TNs as we get in the dizis.

I kind of enjoy the Three Harpies sticking it to Clara. I still think Mateo is a crappy boyfriend.

IIRC, Isabel knows Blanca’s man is Max. Yikes, now sicko Pepita is sure of it.

Huh, Barbie didn’t care about Enrique’s past flings, but she senses something is different this time around. Not that I feel sorry for her but buy that car, Barbie…maybe a vacation house, too.

I liked Valeria in this episode. The actor did well to convey her disappointment and conflicted feelings while trying to keep it all under control. The scene with Albert was good. I hope they continue to grow close and trust each other.

I thought that Carmen Garza dress wasn’t very attractive. Yucky colors.

 

velvet

Thanks very much, novelera, for this terrific recap. You nailed everything important, and I loved your delightful names: Mr. Slick, the Three Harpies, and Ms. Possibly the Most Spoiled Brat in New York City.

I was a bit surprised that Blanca and Isabel are now bosom buddies. But I guess Isabel has been providing insights and support that Blanca needs and appreciates, and that has melted Blanca's resentment and created a friendship.

So Barbie is aware that Enrique has had flings before, and she hasn't seemed to be much bothered by them. But this one, she tells Cris, is more serious.

I loved the double exclamation points after "Marga suggests more conservative clothes [!!]." They certainly capture my response as well.

I was surprised when Val said she wouldn't give back all the resources Gloria signed over to her, and I was also surprised (and perhaps a bit disappointed) when Val added "unless you go into rehab." The proviso does show Val to be a good person, and I guess my disappointment shows me to be a mean one. Oh well....

I was again impressed with Luisa's singing. I wonder whether IRL she's primarily a singer. She's really good.

Arrgh, how long is it going to take before Susan is out of the picture?

I'm a bit confused about the scene where Carlos recognizes one of Ana's dresses as a "Carmen Garza." I had the impression he not only recognized the brand but somehow correctly recognized that she is Carmen Garza. Am I mistaken?

Pepita again. Uh oh.
 

Velvet

I watched about 15 minutes of this last night but the sound only played muted music, no dialogue. I had to read the CC's so I gave up. I'll catch it later.
 

velvet

To answer you Juanita, Jeimy Osorio is also known as a singer. She played the young Celia Cruz in the Telemundo novela based on Cruz’s life.

You were not mistaken. Slick knows that Ana is Carmen. He said her secret was safe with him. He gets creepier as time goes on.