Caray, Caray!

[I watched some of Thursday’s episode so I can fill in a little bit. I am concentrating on summarizing those things that happened that advance the plot – even a little.]

We open with Andres and Valeria kissing by the lake while Maite watches them fondly from behind a tree. They see her and she goes up to them and is presented to Andres as the mother of Veronica. Andres asks if they have met before, which of course they have but I don’t think Maite knows that this is Unibrow’s son.

[Last night we found out that Nutria’s tests have revealed that she has malady beloved of soap operas – a brain tumor]. She calls Unibrow and tells him and he says he will take the first flight home.

Maite tells Andres and Valeria that in spite of the fact that Jacinta has forbidden Valeria to go out with Andres, she will support them. She doesn’t tell them why, of course.

Veronica appears and gets Excedrin headache #3 – changing into one of her multiple personalities. She turns into Vera and is annoyed at Valeria for concealing that Andres is at the cabin and vows that they will pay for this.

Manola tells her father that she will kill Gustavo before letting him find out the truth about Rodrigo’s true father.

Federico and Juana bring found objects to the reception desk – the blond wig from the school and the slinky dress.

Maite’s two suitors, Sergio and some other guy, arrive at the restaurant at the same time only to be told that Maite is in Canada.

Federico asks Juana about Veronica and is told that she sometimes acts strangely. Then Veronica comes in, Juana leaves and Federico figures out that that the blond in the casino was Veronica.

The creepy Rafael is playing race-car driver like a 5 year old in a parked car while Jacaranda tells him about her conquest of Nicolas and her hopes that he might marry her. She wants Rafael to make her a widow pronto so he injects something into the IV bag of her husband.

In a giant cow carrousel, some guy (I guess this is Omar) tells Gustavo that Unibrow was arrested for fraud and attempted murder. Gustavo is surprised.

Maite chats with Juana and keeps tripping up by saying things that indicate that she knows more about Juana’s mother than she was told.

Jose offers Unibrow an apartment in Mexico City so that Nutria can get the best treatment.

Some guy from her past named Octavio comes to see Remedios.

Veronica arranges for Valeria and Andres to meet at the hot tub and then locks them in. She then goes off with Federico and gets both Jacinta and Maite to go to the hot tub, hoping that they will conclude that the couple have been up to hanky panky. A confrontation is avoided, however when Andres picks the lock. Jacinta is suspicious and orders Valeria to stay in her room rather than her cabin. Maite is supportive of the young lovers and arranges for them to meet in her cabin.

The nurse tells Jacaranda that her husband is dead and she pretends (really badly) to be upset.

Omar continues to look into Unibrow’s past especially his jail time for almost killing Adolfo. Omar chats up the two gossipy old ladies who appear from time to time but they know less than we do – since we know that Adolfo raped Maite.

Remedios tells Teodoro and Baldo that she has met an old friend of the family. She is concerned that if she sees him again, people might talk and Federico might be annoyed. They tell her to not worry about what others think and do what makes her happy.

A smoking and drinking Rodrigo wearing a ridiculous bandanna on his head (maybe he’s balding and they want to cover it up) tells his mother that he doesn’t care about school – having money is what matters. He is not interested in learning the business that keeps him in fancy cars either – he doesn’t like the smell of cow urine.

Labels: barrera

From what we've heard, it's GOT to be better than "Barrera."

All recappers - including those who have already given up on "Barrera" - and also including those who've never written for us, but think they'd like to try it - will you be willing to have a look at "Heridas" when it starts, and maybe sign back on?

Is there a summary posted anywhere?

Anybody know when it's starting?

As I recall, Andrés, though he was playing a pretty stupid character in Alborada, was a hunk and a good kisser. I am even willing to go to the trouble to put the accent mark in his name. I feel optimistic.

Labels: announcements, barrera, heridas

Wednesday June 7

Ive been bad about checking in, blogging and watching the show the last couple of weeks. I humbly apologize and report that I am back in action. Looks like Barrera hasnt changed much either in my absense. I was hoping someone might have died or figured something out but the drama continues. As far as I can tell the only relevation has been that Remedios has figured out that the boss (Jose Maldonado) of Unibrow’s wine team is none other than the coward who cheated Eloisa, the father of Maite.

Veronica wanders the hotel and wonders how she got there. She wonders how she has the credit card of Valeria and how she got all the money she has. She wonders if the girls will think she stole the credit card or if they will think she is lying. She is worried about how she got to the hotel. She calls Andres to find out if the girls are coming to the hotel and cries when she hangs up.

Meanwhile Unibrow checks into the hotel Maldonado. Joan Rivers tells Unibrow that having guests is a pleasure for them and a family tradition. They wonder why Unibrow came with out his wife. Victor and Maria Teresa discuss the beauty of the city and give us a history lesson. Oh and a weather report of Quebec. Maite says she is nervous and happy, nervous and happy. Their window is like the windows of the brothel in Mexico and all the windows in this show. It shows a picture perfect image of Montreal just outside their room.

Nuria receives a cat scan while Unibrow admits to Jose how he can’t get over the girl from Aguascalientes who deceived him. Jose tells Unibrow how they abbreviated their servant’s long last name. (Mighty presumptuous of them no?) The men talk of their lost loves. Unibrow gets to save Joans dog from dying of being overweight. Seems Joan has been giving chocolate to her dog, without knowing it can kill him or her.

Valeria and Juanita arrive in the hotel suite in Sacacomie. Juanita won’t let Valeria tell Veronica the truth of about the whereabouts of Andres. She is suspicious of what Veronica has been doing. They all wonder how Veronica was able to get such a nice room. At the same time Jacinta calls their suite. Veronica answers and both she and Jacinta are surprised to hear each other. Jacinta demands the girls return to Montreal immediately. Veronica says that her grandmother LuLu sent her graduation money and that is how she got the room. They realize that Veronica will get a refund because they have to return to Montreal. Veronica acts all weird about it because she is worried about how she paid for the room to begin with. Valeria finds a beautiful dress in the closet and asks if it is Veronicas. Veronica denys owning the dress. It is the same dress that Sylvia reported of being J-Lo’s dress.

Victor and Maite arrive at the school to find out the girls have left. They are overheard and seen by Federico and Jacinta. The evil duo are stunned to see Maite. They decide to call the girls to tell them to stay so they can avoid running into Maite.

Victor and Maite continue their tour and history lesson of Montreal. Victor speaks French and knows all about Montreal. Maite looks around as if she is not paying much attention to what Victor says. Perhaps this is her way of showing that she is “taking in” the scenery of Montreal. Victor does a weird little jig for Maite.

Rodrigo finds out that he was caught cheating on a college exam. The professor has annulled his exam and wants to talk to his parents. Flash to Manola and Catayena talking about why Nicolas doesn’t answer the phone. Manola argues that her father is busy doing work. Little do they know he is busy in Jarandas bed. The ladies ask where are Rodrigos grades. He says he hasn’t received them yet. Later the professor calls Manola and she goes to see the professor. The professor thinks she is too young to be the mother of Rodrigo. (Could it be that Rodrigo looks to be 40 years old and not a young college student?) The professor tells Manola he thinks there could be a possibility that Rodrigo has a problem with drugs or alcohol. The professor says that the home is where a child learns the most. Manola tries to bride the professor to pass Rodrigo. The professor calls her on it and insists on talking with Gustavo.

The girls send Veronica to get more room keys. While she is gone they talk about what they are going to do with Jacinta coming to the resort. They can’t let Jacinta know that Andres is there. Valeria says she wants to go horseback riding. Veronica admits to being afraid of horses and doesn’t want to be left alone. They leave her alone anyway. Veronica then sneaks over to Valeria’s purse to put back the credit card. Valeria really wanted to find Andres not to ride horses alone. She meets up with him. Kissy Kissy. Promesas de amor. They ride her horse together. Better to get her arms around his tight abs.

Remedios tells Baldomero that she knows he is in love with Veronica. She tells him to fight for his love and to convince his father that Veronica is worthy of him. Baldo later finds out that a friend, Tina, has been hurt by Rodrigo. This will be a later story line Im sure.

Gustavo talks with his right hand man (whats his name?) and asks him to investigate why Unibrow was thrown into jail around 1985. He wants to help a friend (Maite) recover her friendship with Unibrow. Yea!

Jacinta finds time to visit a cathedral and talk with God about her plans to continue the Valladolid blood line. Her talks with God do her no good because as soon as she arrives in Sacacomie she is introduced to Victor and Maite by Veronica. The show ends with promises of more trouble for Thursday’s episode.

Labels: barrera

Sorry to be late with this; the blog site was down all day and wouldn't let me post! OK, here we go...

Vera-nica is wearing the sluttiest dress ever. As far as I can tell it's a backless dress that's on...backwards! She's blathering happily that finally stupid Veronica and that "babosa" (twit?) Violeta have gone so that she can put her makeup on in peace.

It's raining in Montreal and Federico is running around bumping into locals looking for the casino.

Remember the dress that J-Lo wore to the Oscars? The one that almost had no front? Well this is Vera's dress only pink, and she's wearing it along with her platinum wig into the casino.

Gustavo Arrives at the Vallodolid hacienda and is looking for Remedios. He wants to know the story of Eloisa.

Federico sees Veronica, does the cartoon bug-eye, asks her what she's doing there and what's with the wig? In French Vera says she doesn't understand what he's talking about. Then they speak English to each other. Federico sounds like he has marbles in his mouth. He says she looks just like a friend of his. Quelle surprise, she comes onto him! She speaks perfect English; I wonder where the actress is from?

Remedios tells Gustavo she, Eloisa and Griselda were the Three Amigas. Eloisa fell in love with an out-of-towner. Even though the townspeople said terrible things about her she was a good woman. Gustavo asks if perhaps the same thing hasn't happened to Maite. Remedios always believed Maite was innocent of the terrible things people said about her, but some things happened to give her doubts. One night she ran away with her daughter in her arms. She left a note explaining that she was leaving her husband for another man. She would have left but she missed the train. "Yes," says Gustavo, "I remember the scandal. Was there more?" "Yes, years later, just before Adolfo died in the car accident Maite was arrested by the Mexican civil authorities for being in a house of ill repute." Gustavo remembers reading about that in the papers. (That’s because Manola was waving the paper under his nose for days and even took a copy to Unibrow in Ensenada, remember?) "It was a round up and the photographer got a picture at the Very Moment she was arrested among the other women, hmmm..." a light bulb goes on over his head. "Why do you ask," wonders Remedios, "do you think she’s innocent? It WAS the perfect excuse for Jacinta to get rid of her once and for all." Gustavo wonders if there is another explanation. He wants to investigate but he needs absolute discretion. "Tell no one, not even your son." Oops, too bad his confidant is that bocoza (blabbermouth) Remedios.

Gustavo's maid Evelia is at the winery picking up Don Gustavo's favorite wine that doesn't give him a headache. Baldo arrives and informs them that Jacinta and Federico are in Canada for the girls' graduation. Teodoro and Baldo wish they could be there. Evelia says "el amor no lo frena ni el tiempo ni la distancia" or "love restrains neither time nor distance." They agree that even though they are many kilometers away Juanita has all their love. "And Valeria", adds Teodoro. "And Veronica," thinks Baldo. He's got it bad.

Maite and Victor arrive in Montreal. They are happy even though it's raining. She wants to take him to a special place, it's a surprise.

Valeria and Juanita are in their dreadful play costumes. They are nervous about the play and wonder where Veronica is. The director tells them to chill and to "rompete una pierna." Juanita is shocked, "Huh? Break a leg?"

Vera wins a few coins in the slots. Federico helps her scoop them up, using this as an excuse to nose-dive down her cleavage for a peek. Hey buddy, GROW UP!!!

Jacinta telephones Madre Consuela. She's tired and not used to travel, but she looks forward to seeing the Madre the next day. She says she's too tired to attend the girls' play (whew, that was close!), but she can't wait to see Valeria's face when she shows up at the graduation.

In Ensenada Unibrow tries to console Nutria but she's sick of his crap. He wants her to forgive him for continuing to obsess about Maite for the duration of their marriage. She says she thought their relationship was based on honesty. "But I have never lied to you," he reasons unreasonably. Silence. He leaves. "And you have never loved me," she replies to the empty room.

All of a sudden I think I'm back at La Fea. This slapstick scene features the long-suffering Don Jose and his household of wacky characters, the Joan Rivers lookalike (his sister?) with her doggy, his partner or friend, an old deaf dude serving dinner, and the old dude's nephew who is a portly middle-aged guy cast as a stuttering excitable kid running around in circles. I'm not sure what this scene is all about and how these people are all connected, but if it means anything I’ll get back to you later. For now let's continue with the very serious Barrera.

Ahh, it's a happy family scene at Gustavo's hacienda. Rodrigo in his do-rag is playing solitaire on his lap top and smoking a cigar, Manola alternates between pouting and looking bored, and Gustavo is cutting a deal on the telephone. Gustavo wants his clients to come to the hacienda for dinner but Manola says better to take them out to a nice restaurant. Rodrigo pipes up "better for them to see what a charming hostess you are." Gustavo wants his clients to see what a loving family they are. Manola replies that it may not work out, she has decided that she and Rodrigo have a Moral Obligation to travel to Canada for Valeria's graduation. "A moral obligation???" Even Gustavo has a hard time with this one. Of course! Manola's dad works for Jacinta and Gustavo knows how Jacinta hates to travel and what an experienced traveler Manola is. She can help Jacinta who doesn't speak English or French or anything. "But Federico’s with her." "Oh he’s great company," she sarcastically retorts. Gustavo, knowing he's losing this argument, turns on Rodrigo and yells at him for playing Solitaire instead of working.

In the casino Federico tells Vera about the coincidence of her looking like his friend who actually lives in Montreal, but of course Vera is much more beautiful. She likes this and lets him lay a big smooch on her. He wants to go somewhere where they can get to know each other better. She leaves to exchange her chips for money and he muses "No, she can’t be Veronica, but she sure looks like her." Federico is the grand poobah of sleaze in these scenes!

Remedios pines over Federico's picture. She vows to God to win back his love and respect.

Ick!!! Jacaranda and Nicolas are in bed when his phone rings. Naturally it's his wife who "wants to make sure he's OK." "Of course," he says, "here's a little kiss" as he loudly smooches Jacaranda and hangs up. She laughs at his stupid jokes because she wants something out of him.

Vera slinks out of the casino and catches a taxi. Rodrigo comes out shortly after and realizes he's been ditched. "Looks like that chick left me alone with boiling blood (la sangre hirviendo, i.e. all hot and bothered)." He smirks and adjusts his nads. Dude, gross me out!!

Maite takes Victor to the Notre Dame Basilica. I guess this is the special place. She thanks the Virgin Mother for bringing Valeria back into her life. Now she will have the pride and satisfaction of seeing her daughter graduate.

The girls are on stage. Andres arrives with flowers and Valeria forgets her lines.

Vera counts her money. She has had the best weekend of her life. "Andres, Andre...this time you're going to pay attention to me."

Maite and Victor leave the cathedral. He wants to take her to a marvelous restaurant, "La Cola de Caballo." The Horse's Ass?? I wonder what they serve?

UPDATE: My work pals just laughingly informed me that the La Cola de Caballo means The Ponytail. Whatever.

Andres gives Valeria and Juanita each a bouquet of flowers. He says Veronica told him about the play. They wonder where she is.

Don Jose is talking to Unibrow on the phone. After he hangs up he gets pensive and tells his friend how odd it is that he and Unibrow have such similar histories. "Yes," the friend says, "it's curious that you both had dashed romances in Aguascalientes." "And now he, like I, is back there working," says Don Pedro. His friend adds "sometimes life has surprises and takes us to a place that can heal old wounds." Or something like that.

Unibrow is still sucking up to Nutria who is on the laptop trying to ignore him. He's all excited because Don Jose offered him a larger percentage of the wine sales. He wants Nutria to go with him to Mexico City. "No." "Why not?" "I can't." She won't. Guess it's her last chance to wise up before she's killed off.

At the dorm Valeria and Juanita continue to wonder about Veronica's whereabouts. They worry that if she doesn't show up the nuns will expel her, and so close to graduation.

Cut to the great outdoors, Sacacomie Quebec, where Veronica wanders through the woods and removes a small animal from her head. Oh, it's her wig. She's disoriented and frightened. "Dear God where am I? How did I get here? Why?" She has something in her hand, a hotel key?

The girls wake up and still no Veronica. They're worried but they're afraid to tell the nuns. They decide to search the school one more time.

Unibrow is STILL pressuring Nutria to go to Mexico City with him, and she's STILL using her laptop to ignore him. Remember his belly? Today he is wearing a slimming black shirt. He wheedles. She uses the excuse that she has plans with Reina (the blind lady) and can't cancel at the last minute. He whines. She calls his bluff, handing him the phone and telling him to call Reina himself if it's so important. Gotcha! He leaves. Alone, Nutria calls the Dr. and tells her that after Unibrow leaves she'll come into the hospital for tests.

Vera is still wandering about in Quebec, now closer to a huge lodge. "Hey! It's the hotel that was in the the girls' pamphlet. What am I doing here? Maybe there is a clue in my purse."

Return to the hilarity that is Don Jose's house...Juana Rivers passes her doggie "Cherryita" to the deaf dude so he can feed it its special diet; she says old Tio gets deafer every day, hahaha. The "kid" wants to leave the table to finish or repair the record player. Don Jose rolls his eyes and points out that he has already dismantled every electronic device in the house, hahaha. But Juana Rivers needs help with the musical selection for her next event, a fashion show involving a designer clothing label that aids unwed mothers. It will be in a beautiful place, lots of trees, many flowers on everything. "Just like the beautiful paintings you used to make" says the manchild/electronics assassin. This sets her off talking about her days at the academy of arts and crafts in Barcelona. "Aiieee, again with the stories of art school," sighs Don Jose, "even though they never actually admitted you," hahaha. "You shouldn’t say that, some critics have called my style Neo Primitivism." Don Jose's friend pipes up, "Because it seems to be made by primitive man, but in this era." Hahahaha everybody laughs except Juana Rivers. I still don’t know why these scenes are included but maybe time will tell.

In Quebec Veronica wanders through the lodge, asks to use the telephone and is told she can make calls directly from her room. "My room? Where is it?" In her room she finds her suitcase with the clothes her mother gave to them along with the J-Lo dress that she doesn't recognize. She finds Valeria's card and thinks Valeria must be around somewhere. "Andres and his brother said they were coming here. Did I come with them? Why can’t I remember? I’m going to look for them."

Back in the vineyards Gordo, Teodoro and Baldo are inspecting grapes. Woohoo!!! My prize for the night, Baldo is shirtless and he's ripped, the hunk! Ahem...they are looking forward to exporting their wine to Canada. Remedios arrives with lunch, chicharron gorditas. No! Baldo, don't eat that fattening stuff! You'll end up all gordo!! The guys talk about what a great man Jose Maldonado is. The guys talk about what a great man Jose Maldonado is. The guys talk about what a great man Jose Maldonado is. Oops, that's me rewinding to ogle Baldo some more. Remedios screws up her face, looks all pissed and thought bubbles "Jose Maldonado is the swine who deceived Eloisa, the father of Maite!"

Labels: barrera

Hey, so there's a replacement coming soon for "Peregrina" - anybody know anything about? Could it, possibly, be better than Barrera?

Could somebody research and report, please?

Labels: barrera, heridas

Remedios and Jacinta, the Bickersisters, appear to be in a cave, fighting yet again over the "affections" of Federico (whom we know to be as cold as a scorpion and disdainful of both). AN EYE FOR AN EYE A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH quoth Jacinta the serial killer as she rejoices that Federico likes her better.

In Canada, Juanita and Valeria ask: "Have we been deceiving Veronica? No, we've just been omitting to tell her the entire truth." Veronica's other personalities have been flirting with every macho in sight and therefore she is under suspicion... Both Andres and Daniel are coming for graduation, also making sales meetings across Canada for the Maldonado wine operation.

Veronica has three mirrors on her dresser: on the right she wears a bad blond wig, on the left she has a short haircut, in the middle she sees her actual self, wincing with the kind of headache you get when you have multiple personalities fighting with each other over which boy to snag.

In Mexico City, Gustavo and his father-in-law Nicolas have dinner together and Gustavo asks, "Was Maite's mother really as sexy as they say? And is it true you and she got it on?" "Hey, we macho guys can't help it if women come after us. But all my passion turned to rancor when she rejected me." "And there are all those rumors about her in the village." "Yes, pueblo chico, infierno grande. (little town, big hell)" Heh-heh. They agree that many of Maite's problems stem from her mother's reputation. Then Nicolas raises and lowers his eyebrows like Groucho Marx as he tells his local squeeze he'll be back soon to see her again.

Maite has tiresome flashbacks.

There are creepy candles being lit in that dark cave, it must be our serial killer, my favorite character, yes, it's Jacinta, giving thanks to God that he gives her such clear signs about what she should do. Now she prays: "Let the bastard son of Pedro come to me, have him become my son and fill the vacuum left by Adolfo's death. Though I'm sorry to say it, Federico is way better than Adolfo my actual son was. Federico is an authentic Valladolid."

Meanwhile, Remedios is also praying - that her son, that same evil Federico, will prefer her to Jacinta, "after I've done everything for him." She wonders if it was worth trying to "seek justice" for him, i.e. to live with Jacinta in order to secure his inheritance.

While Valeria and Juanita watch a video of happier times on the computer, Veronica "accidentally" knocks over Valeria's precious crystal flower. A flurry of accusations and apologies follow. Veronica, eyes wide: "When did I do it? Just now? Oh, how could it have gotten so late? I forget so much! I don't remember at all! Time passes so fast." Juanita is unforgiving and disbelieving. Valeria says it's ok that her most precious artifact (given by Andres) has been broken.

Unibrow gets his two minutes of airtime. His son asks about "the woman you used to love" and, as Nutria lurks in the shadows hearing every word, Unibrow says "That love is buried. I've been happy with Nutria, she's been a good mother. Of course, I haven't forgotten, some loves you don't forget."

Federico and his mother recap an event I never saw. It sounds like Manola attacked Remedios, then the humble indigenous worker Teodoro came to Remedios' aid, and now she's trying to protect Teodoro from legal action. Federico snarls: "That INDIAN can't work here any more! You prefer Teodoro to me! And Jacinta likes me better than you do!" What substantive, mature conversations these people have.

Unibrow and Nutria are at the doctor's office. The doctor tells Nutria: "No, it's not that you're pregnant, something is wrong, we need to do more tests." Nutria has symptoms - headaches - they're not getting better - uh-oh - she's going to have to die so Maite can end up with Unibrow, what an undeserved fate.

Andres and Daniel prepare for their trip to Canada - the Maldonado wine business is going well and all are pleased. My son Zed commented that Unibrow's brows look like gigantic caterpillars. Unibrow is so incredibly unattractive. Have you noticed how they try to hide his belly behind things?

While the boys go downstairs for brotherly hijinx and reminiscing about their love for Juanita and Valeria - Daniel says of Juanita, me clave grueso, which I think means "It's hit me pretty heavy," - Unibrow and Nutria have a fight. She doesn't want any more medical tests, and says: "You don't love me! You never did! I gave you everything! I lost a child! You love her better! Don't touch me!" Then her headache gets worse, she kind of collapses, he puts her on the sofa and says, "Are you sure you're all right?" a stupid question, of course she isn't, moron. The boys come back up so she can say goodbye and we wonder if they will ever see her again. (Creepy music indicates: no.)

Juanita's pet nun says Juanita should go up to the graduation in Canada, not just to please her granddaughter Valeria, but because the nuns up there, to whom Jacinta has contributed grandly, want to say thanks. The nun suggests that Federico, who speaks English, will do admirably as an escort. Jacinta agrees to make this spur-of-the-moment trip and tell nobody!

Meanwhile, Maite and Victor are celebrating the final paying off of their mortgage, and Victor takes Maite to Air Mexico (nice long product placement) to give her a present - they're both going to the graduation! He's selling his motorcycle to pay for the trip! She's happy. The sign for Air Mexico gets lots of airtime.

Juanita and Valeria are in a play about a nun and an ignorant indigenous woman who is being taught to read. It's incredibly patronizing. Juanita, who is Nahuatl (yeah, and I'm Inuit), is wearing a big red headband and buckskins with fringes. Give. Me. A. Break. Meanwhile, Veronica tells a visitor at the theater: "No, I don't like acting. I don't want to pretend to be a different person." Is this heavy-handed irony?

Daniel and Andres arrive at the school. At the nun's headquarters they (coincidentally) find Veronica, who tells them Valeria and Juanita are still down rehearsing the play. Instead of just going over to the theater, which would eliminate a lot of troubles I am predicting, they leave - telling Veronica to tell V & J they'll be back later. She gets their cellphone number too. At their hotel, they find they may have to make an emergency trip to another province. See, it's starting already!

Jacinta gets to her hotel and Federico goes out.

Veronica has another three-way conversation with herself, decides to be a player among the guapos ("I am good at roulette") and steals Valeria's credit card.

Labels: barrera

Hello,

As far as I can tell, nobody is watching this telenovela - the comments all say "I can't stand the show, but I come visit your site to read the recaps."

But the recappers don't seem to be able to stand the show either.

I'll tape tonight's episode and I'll blog it but unless I see some kind of concerted enthusiasm, this is the last time for me.

If a better show comes along, let us know!

I hope Chris will keep it up with La Fea. Maybe I'll even start watching it.

Labels: announcements, barrera

After Valeria tells Maite that she will never forgive her mother Maite thinks "But I’m not a bad mother, I'm not!!" No Maite, you're a good mother who has let her daughter grow up in the House of Usher for the past 17 years.

Unibrow does a "woe is me" dump on Daniel. He tells him that Adolfo Valladolid was one of his best friends but "he ended up marrying the woman that was to be my wife. No doubt she married him for his money, and I discovered her deceit because she was pregnant. She made up a story that he forced himself on her." Unibrow continues with the tale we already know, I dozed off and woke to hear him concluding with "the last I heard of her she left her husband and daughter for another man." Daniel figures out that Valeria must be the daughter of "that woman who betrayed my dad." I think Daniel wins the award for being the first person on this show to actually figure something out on his own.

The girls say goodbye to Victor and Maite. Maite gives Valeria a long, lingering hug and tells her to be careful.

The Bickersons are at it again. This time Jacinta and Remedios are arguing about marriage in general, but meaning Rodrigo and Valeria specifically. Remedios says one should marry for money. Jacinta says one should marry to benefit the family which is in keeping with her family-is-livestock theory. Jacinta, accompanied by Remedios' yawns, shares a bit of her childhood with us. Jacinta's father-in-law was like a real father to her, and she like his daughter. Her own father was despicable, always tanked up; she doesn't know how her mother put up with him all those years. Her life before coming to the hacienda was a living hell, "that's why my brother Sergio went away, leaving everything behind. Ah...what ever happened to Sergio?"

Cut to Mexico City and a smarmy-looking bald man in a white suit and pyramid mustache lighting a cigarette in the dark. Who could it be? He is waiting to speak to Pancho. Who shall he say is calling? "My name is Sergio...Sergio Lopez."

Andres is working the Canada angle in order to see Valeria. Daniel, for the first time, tells Andres that perhaps that may not be the best idea. He tells Andres what Unibrow told him, how the Valladolid family wronged their father, stole his woman, threw him in the can on a trumped up charge, etc. It's because of this family that father hallucinates about bulls. Does Andres remember Maite, she of the chocolate cake? Yes, Andres remembers her cake well. Daniel reveals that she is the one who broke dad's heart and Valeria Valladolid is her daughter. Daniel thinks Andres should avoid her because of her family ties. Andres reasons that Valeria is a victim too, and by Daniel's logic they should also avoid Juanita (Daniel's potential babe) and her brother and father (they helped with the winery's success) because Jacinta is their benefactor. Daniel, realizing that Juanita is caught up in this too, agrees that Andres is right, it wouldn't be fair.

Don Jose has approved Andres' proposal to export the wine to Canada. He wants Andres to go to Canada immediately.

Pancho is at the restaurant when he gets a call that a Sergio Lopez wants to speak to him. On his way out he reminds Maite that she agreed to visit his markets. Even though she is in a blue funk because of her daughter she agrees to go as a diversion. He'll pick her up very early the next morning.

Daniel gets an e-ticket for Andres to fly to Montreal. He suggests e-mailing the girls but Andres wants his visit to be a surprise. Andres, shopping for a gift for Valeria, sees a white glass rose in a jewelry shop. Remember, he gave her a white rose when they met.

As Sergio waits for Pancho he has a flashback in sepia tones, demonstrating that he was too poor to flashback in color. His dad is driving and taking a swig of booze every 15 seconds. The kids want to know when they can go to school, but mom says no way, they have to go with daddy to buy and sell harvests and crops, they have to do everything together. Sergio smells alcohol from a nearby cask and says "How I remember that terrible odor."

Sergio meets with Pancho. We find out that Sergio's parents died in a terrible accident (drunk driving no doubt) and that his godfather, Pancho's dad, took care of young Sergio. In a nutshell, Sergio needs money and for old time's sake and in memory of their parents' friendship is hitting Pancho up for a loan. Pancho pulls out his check book.

The girls are back at school. Veronica finds the gifts that Maite bought for all of them. The girls model their new clothes. Juanita looks smashing in her red pantsuit.

Pancho's accountant Guillermo asks why Pancho loaned the money to Sergio. Pancho says it hurts him to see Sergio like that, without a drop of diginity, living on his past glories but dressed like a poor devil. Guillermo tells Pancho he's a nice guy, but they won't see Sergio again. I'm thinking they will.

Federico calls Jacinta to check in. After Jacinta hangs up Remedios gets mad because Jacinta didn't hand her the phone so she could have a turn. "Oh what a shame," Jacinta sarcastically says, "since he didn't ask for you I forgot." Then adds "siempre haces una tormenta en un vaso de agua," which I suppose is the equivalent of "you're always making a tempest in a teapot." She tells Remedios not to be such a martyr. Honest to God, is this the most dysfunctional relationship in telenovela land? I don’t have much experience and would really like to know. Comments anyone? Even my sister and I don’t bicker like these two biddies.

Gustavo is surprised to run into Federico in Mexico City. Gustavo needs to write down a phone number and Federico gives him a card from Maite's restaurant to use, then jokingly recommends the food so Gustavo pockets the card. Gustavo asks Federico what he thinks of Rodrigo. Federico tells Gustavo not to worry, Rodrigo is only going through his rebellious phase. Gustavo doesn't like Rodrigo's superior attitude, especially around people who have no money. Federico, looking forward to the day when Rodrigo will inherit all of Gustavo's wealth is optimistic, "like they say, great companies make great men." Gustavo would prefer that Rodrigo find his "greatness" in an honest day's work.

Now we have what must surely be the oddest of all tonight's scenes...our "rebellious youth" who looks at least 40 is having it out with his mother Manola. She wants to know where he is off to, he says don't wait up. She accuses him of acting up because his father is out of town. He tells her not to be stupid and she slaps his disrespectful and timeworn face. He yells that nobody but Federico understands him. They should really go easy on close-ups of the both of them together, lest we think she gave birth to a ten year old.
NOTE: Did someone say or did I read that the woman who plays Remedios is this actor's mother in real life? Why in the hell is he playing Manola's son?

Maite and Pancho are enjoying the pre-dawn sky. Pancho mentions that he's tired of having his evening glass of wine alone, he longs for a family, children. Maite gets sad and admits that the day before was difficult for her. He offers to buy her menudo and she thinks this is amusing. They tour his vegetable and fruit markets and she does the Valeria dump. He cheers her up by saying that Valeria is bound to someday see that Maite is pure in heart.

Back in Canada Veronica is going through her mental check list of some of the men on her to-do list:
1) Andres-he's a babe but Valeria likes him and Valeria is her friend.
2) Baldomero-he's sensitive, a good person, and treats her well.
3) Rodrigo-she likes him the best, he's very handsome (at the moment she recalls his "guapo-ness" his face is screwed up behind a big chimney of a cigar), has money and they get along very well.
Pan to mirror where Veronica is seeing in 3-V. Violeta prefers Baldo but Vera is lobbying for Andres because he's the most handsome and because this choice will cause Veronica the most grief.

Valeria, standing under a tree, gazes longingly at the white rose that Andres gave to her on the day they met. It is miraculously at this moment that he appears. He apologizes to her for standing her up. She accuses him, and rightly so if you ask me, of not trying hard enough to let her know he was leaving town. He's makes lame excuses that she doesn't believe, she says he's a liar. "Why would I come all this way just to lie to you?" he asks. "Look into my eyes. I know I'm an idiot for forgetting that I had to catch a plane that day." "You are." "But please forgive me." They kiss and make up.

Walking back into the restaurant Pancho hopes that at the very least he helped Maite to forget her sadness for a while. Ulises is there waiting for her. The men kind of smirk at each other waiting for someone to make the first move. Maite, to her credit, decides they should all sit down and have coffee together; she wants to tell them both something. She wants to be very up front with them, at this time she only wants to be good friends as she needs to spend all her time and energy working on the situation with her...(daughter?)

Tivo decided that this scene should end mid-sentence. Good boy, Tivo.

Labels: barrera

• Jacinta tells Federico he should stop smoking, and asks why his mother Remedios has turned against the dreadful cur Rodrigo. He says he'll find out.
  
  
• Juanita says goodbye to her father (Teodoro) and her brother (Baldo). She wants to study her native culture and write about it someday, but meanwhile, she feels bad they've worked so hard while she's been in school and says she'll come home and work, rather than go on to university.
  
  
• The girls are getting ready to go back to school. Rodrigo greasily suggests he'd like to go skiing up there and Jacinta says, as long as you go with Valeria of course that's fine!
  
  
• Valeria thinks about kissing Andres under a waterfall. She tells Remedios he had said he'd talk to Jacinta - but instead he left without even saying goodbye. Remedios agrees Rodrigo is not the One and says: date more guys.
  
  
• Veronica's various selves have a discussion in the mirror. Violeta likes Baldo; Vera prefers Rodrigo, who is rich and could give her a good life. Baldo shows up and it turns out Veronica (or one of her other selves) has also been flirting with Andres, so Baldo is displeased. After a little flirting (and she charmingly puts on his hat), the sucker forgives her. They say they'll do internet chat when she gets back to school. As soon as he leaves the room one of her inner beings throws his hat on the sofa.
  
  
• Federico and his son Rodrigo have fun waving their cigars around, man to man, and decide the outsiders are no threat to Rodrigo's claim on Valeria - she'll give in and be his, once she gets back to Canada. Rodrigo has, as far as I can see, no charms whatever. Why did he get this gig?
  
  
• Back home, Andres is moping over Valeria even though his career is going well (we hear). "You shouldn't fall in love, it will distract you from the most important thing: The Bull!" Still he continues to mope, and so does his brother Daniel. Unibrow (getting his usual 2 minutes of screen time) points out in a dull, flat voice that vacation romances rarely last. Nutria rushes in with a nutritious dinners but the boys say they aren't hungry and walk out, which is rather rude in my opinion. Unibrow, however, tucks in.
  
  
• Manola's daddy Nicolas is in some other city. He is talking with a friend of Federico when Jacaranda rushes in and Nicolas is stricken speechless by the sight of her ample bosom. He takes her for a drink, sticks his schnozz down her cleavage, and is kissing her right there in public when his superannuated son-in-law Gustavo comes in and sees him. It's all a coincidence. Nicolas says, "it isn't what you think," Gustovo says: "Family is most important," Nicolas says, "I couldn't agree with you more," and then goes and makes an appointment with Jacaranda to get naked together after 10 pm.
  
  
• Maite is packing presents and little notes for the girls, nervous that the chauffeur Jacinta sends will know her. How right she is, it's Federico. He intercepts her on the sidewalk on her way into the restaurant, checks her out and asks if she's married or has a boyfriend. She sidles past him but then goes to hide up in her room.
  
  She calls Victor, who's entertaining the girls downstairs in the restaurant, and has him send the girls upstairs. A boring scene mostly about presents follows. While Federico grills Victor downstairs to see what he knows about Maite, Maite hears that Valeria is a good cook and makes a great tea (it's the same one Maite's murdered aunt Griselda used to make, the same one Jacinta used to put poison in so Maite would get dizzy and drop her baby Valeria down the stairs).
  
  
• Unibrow holds a family conference. Evidently they've decided as a group to abandon their various professions and go into partnership with the Maldonado brothers in the wine business. Andres perks right up when Unibrow suggests that, with his good English, he'd be the one to open branches in the U.S. and CANADA!!
  
  
• Juanita and Veronica go out to buy herbs, leaving Valeria with Maite. "You're so sweet with Veronica, my grandmother was never affectionate with me, and neither was my father, I reminded him of my mother and that made him sad. My mom was a forbidden theme, I don't know who she was or if she's alive or dead. If there were ever photos, grandmother burned them. She told me my mother was a bad woman, and I figured it out - she left my father for another man. My father suffered so - he never remarried - how could mother have left us?"
  
  Maite tries to stand up for the theoretical mother: "It can't have been what you thought. What would you do if you met up with her again?" "When I was young, I prayed for her to come back - but now that I know what kind of woman she was, I'll never forgive her."

Labels: barrera

Barrera de Amor

My VCR or more likely the tape inside malfunctioned tonight. Here is a quick recap of what I remember of the show.

Valeria tells Remedios she is in love with Andres. Remedios tries to talk Valeria into loving Rodrigo instead. Valeria stays strong and says "wait until tonight. Andres is coming to the house to talk to my grandmother."

Federico tells Remedios he is the father of Rodrigo. She is upset and says "you promised me your relationship with her (Manola) would end after I caught you together!" Federico cries about being a bastard. Remedios claims he is not a bastard he is a "good boy". She is incredulous to the revelation that she has a grandson, another Valladoloid no less. Then she remembers Valeria. She cant have Valeria and Rodrigo hooking up now! She thinks she might have to tell Federico that he is a Valladoloid.

Andres stands up Valeria. He had promised to come to the hacienda and tell the crabby old lady his intentions for Valeria. Instead he has to return to baja california with la familia. Valeria is devastated and tells Jacinta that it is over for her and the torrero. Jacinta explains that many men come to Aguascalientes for the fair iust to have fun with the girls they meet, not to find girlfriends.

Gustavo continues cracking down on Rodrigo for being a loser. He tells the guy who works for them - the one who always covers up for Rodrigos lack of a work ethic by doing all his work - that he (Gustavo) knows that the guy does all the work for Rodrigo but it has to stop.

Remedios panicked that if Valeria and Rodrigo get together they will have deformed children she tries multiple times to stop Valeria and Rodrigo from doing things together. Pissing Jacinta and Federico off in the process. How dare Remedios interfere with Rodrigo or "her son". To further complicate the process Rodrigo buys a camcorder for Valeria. Remedios tells Valeria she shouldnt take the gift if she doesnt want to be promised to Rodrigo. Valeria takes the gift to prove the point that she is over Andres. (Yes right) Later Valeria and Rodrigo laugh about the old fashioned way Remedios said she would be promised to him if she accepted the gift. They both seem to know that is a joke. But seeing what a loser Rodrigo is I wonder if this camera doesnt raise its ugly head again....

The girls get ready to leave for Canada. Gustavo and Nicolas (separately) take off to la Cuidad (mexico city) for business. MM (Manolas Mom - as Sylvia so wisely penned it) is suspicious of her husband. Jacinta is suspicious that Andres will try and meet up with Valeria in the airport. MM just hopes that her husband wont cheat on her while Jacinta takes action. Jacinta enlists Federico to go to the airport to spy on Valeria and make sure she doesnt get any surprise visitors.

Jacinta ends her plotting with Federico saying "cuentas claras amistades largas". Which roughly translates to Transparent Accounts Long Friendships or more to the point Keep business straight and you will have long friendships.

Labels: barrera

When last in Barrera-land Federico, in a grossly misguided attempt at parenting, meets some criminal in a bar and pays him to do something bad to Baldomero, the kid (Juanita's bro) who accidentally kicked a soccer ball into Rodrigo's car. (Remember, Rodrigo stopped, made racist comments and Andres gave him a bloody lip, but since Baldo is an Indian he's the guy that gets the hit.) The bad guy steals a VW Bug, that most intimidating of all vehicles, drives about 5mph in a speedy getaway, follows Baldo on his bicycle and knocks him over. Baldo is unhurt but his bicycle is busted. El Gordo drives by, picks him up and takes him home. They think the accident is very suspicious. (Ya think??? The driver is going 5 mph, has the whole road but hits the kid on the bike.)

Ulises picks up Maite for their symphony date. Oops, Victor and Pancho walk up; Pancho thinks he has a dinner date with her that Victor arranged. Uncomfortable shuffling of feet. Maite chooses the concert "because Ulises already has tickets." Now Victor has to open a bottle of wine and make fun of Ulises' name to make Pancho feel better. Pancho says it was practically love at first sight with Maria Theresa. They laugh about their prep school days. Pancho asks Victor about his relationship with Maite and Victor tells him the reason they aren't a couple is because he, Victor, is gay.

Valeria and Veronica are talking about how strict Jacinta is. Valeria excuses her abuela by relating how Jacinta was forced to take control of the hacienda at a young age. (Forced by God to kill her husband and everybody else who got in her way I guess.) Veronica says Jacinta is a control freak and does she always have to wear black? Valeria says Jacinta is very generous which is why the whole town loves and respects her. Valeria somehow misses the fact that Veronica keeps trying to light her fingers on fire during this entire conversation.

Pancho admires Victor's honesty; he would never have suspected Victor is gay. Victor gives a short tutorial on being gay: most gays are not effeminate or try to look like women; they are normal, common people. Pancho says they will always be friends. Even better now that he knows Victor is not going to "make like a fly", i.e. be buzzing around Maria Theresa, he'll have enough of this with Ulises.

Maite loved the concert, the music made her cry. Ulises wants to go out with her again but she wishes to be very clear, she only wants to be friends. He accepts her terms. He asks about Pancho and she says she met them at the same time. Ulises says he's happy just to hang out with her.

Jacinta creeps up on Veronica who is reading, startles her and asks her if she's in the habit of visiting folks and then sticking her nose into business that doesn't concern her. She thought Valeria had invited an educated young woman, "not a busy-body like YOU." Veronica replies that she didn't mean any harm, she was just alone and bored. Jacinta, ever the charming hostess, snaps that she knows Veronica's kind...she's just like a little tart who used to live in town, (presumably Veronica's mother Magdalena). Veronica asks why Jacinta is telling her this piece of info. Jacinta says it's because she can see beyond what others see. She divines that Veronica has a secret, something important. Veronica, in a cheeky and sarcastic tone, says "No, I'm just a friend of your granddaughter, and AGAIN please excuse me for going into your room. I promise from now on I won't EVER go where I'm not invited." Jacinta doesn't want Veronica to tell Valeria about this conversation. Jacinta doesn't realize she is now talking to Vera, who removes her hair clip and starts to chomp at Jacinta with it. Then Vera-nica flounces off to her bed and flops down on it. Clearly from Vera's perspective the conversation is over. Jacinta, not used to this tone of voice from anybody except Remedios, shakes her head and wonders "What's that all about? I'm going to have to crack that head with my stick." Vera-nica continues to chomp at the air with her clip...rowr, rowr.

Unibrow and Don Jose are having a farewell coffee. Uni is returning to Ensenada and Jose is also leaving. Jose says returning to Aguascalientes was very difficult for him, so many bitter memories...a woman. Years ago in this very place he loved the only woman he ever loved in his life, but she betrayed him by leaving him for another. "Wow," says Uni, "the same exact thing happened to me." (And also to about 10 million other people.) They both agree that when the past is too painful it's best to live in the present. Yep, I guess that's why Uni is always fantasizing Maite's face in place of his beautiful wife's, because he's no longer living in the past.

Valeria is cooking breakfast for Baldomero and Juanita. The girls are going into town and it will be Baldo's task to occupy Veronica while Valeria has a rendezvous with Andres.

Federico shows up at Gustavo's place. Manola is peeved and wants to know what the devil he is doing there. Gustavo announces it's because he invited Federico to be there. He says he's worried about Rodrigo being a complete waste product and has enlisted Federico's assistance. Rodrigo arrives and is not happy to hear that he will be working instead of escorting the girls to Aguascalientes. He tries to wriggle out of it but Gustavo is adamant "No, work first!" Federico offers to go with them while at the same time undressing Manola with his eyes.

Baldo shows up at the hacienda to pick up the girls. Jacinta yells at him for wearing his sombrero indoors. Rodrigo is unable to escort them into town today so Baldomero is their escort. All the girls over-emote "Oh what a shame about Rodrigo!" Then in Juanita's language she and Valeria say how happy they are about it. Jacinta yells at them for talking Indian. They are finally acting like regular kids, pissing her off and laughing hilariously about it. After they leave she mutters some more about cracking heads.

Maite and Victor are shopping for the girls and purchase every pink outfit in the store.

In Aguascalientes the girls need to run separate "errands." Baldomero will escort Veronica.

Federico and Rodrigo are strolling through what is perhaps Gustavo's dairy or plant? Anyway, they are swaggering, maybe pretending to work. (Management by walking around as one of my odious ex-bosses used to say, what a jerk.) Rodrigo says he doesn't know what he'd do without Federico's help. Federico tells Rodrigo that last night he arranged for some criminal to target Baldomero, nothing too serious, only something to give him a good fright. Rodrigo loves the news and wants details. Federico man-jokes that if Rodrigo "behaves himself" he'll fill him in. They snicker. (Yeah, that's a laugh allright, running somebody over on their bicycle.) I found this scene really funny...Federico has the confident swagger that comes from years of insolence and boinking somebody's wife, but Rodrigo is trying so hard it looks like he has hemorrhoids. Then I reversed the tape and Rodrigo looked like a duck walking backwards. He needs to take cool lessons.

Baldomero is giving Veronica a museum tour. She tells him she had a lonely childhood, her mom was sick a lot and worked nights. She only had two friends, Vera and Violeta. "Do you still see them?" "No, no, I stopped seeing them when I moved to Canada. I shared all my dreams and desires with them." Baldo says he dreams of being a professional soccer player.

Andres and Valeria are sucking face of course, this time by a waterfall. They are getting hot and heavy. "Not now," she says, "I'm not ready to go there." He agrees it's soon and maybe they should wait until their relationship is more firmly cemented. She wants to finish school and return to him. He hopes she doesn't forget him.

Unibrow and Nutria agree the trip was a great experience for them, winning the gold medal and all. All of a sudden...Mariachis!!! Nutria loves Mariachias!! Off she runs, giving Uni a chance to recall, AGAIN, another time, a happier time, when he was serenading Maite in, I swear this is true, a Mariachi outfit. This memory is thankfully short. When Nutria returns he sees Maite's face instead hers as he gazes into her/her eyes. He's such an a**hole.

Don Pedro and his entourage are dining and discussing the wine event. Oh look!! What a coincidence, the woman with them has the same plastic surgeon as Joan Rivers! One of the guys (is this the guy that was sucking up to Jacinta a couple of episodes ago?) says that Jacinta is the patron for the region. Don Pedro points out she's very, er, severe. The suck-up says she has a tough exterior but she is well-respected. Don Pedro says when people seem to be that perfect there is always something wrong. "No, not Jacinta, in her case it's all true. She is as virtuous as she seems." For a serial killer.

Andres must have excessive sperm buildup because he seems to have lost his mind. He has been thinking about talking to Jacinta before Valeria leaves. Valeria thinks this is a terrible idea. Duh. Nevertheless he wants to be up front. She tries to talk him out of it. He'll be there at 7:00. Later, when they tell Juanita, she's shocked and dismayed and says Jacinta will slam the door in his face.

Jacinta and Manola's Mom (MM) are having a bitch-session at the hacienda. MM says her husband Nicolas will go after anything in a skirt. Jacinta says "You don't still get jealous over that stuff, do you?" MM points out that during the wine event the sore subject of that "mujerzuela" (loose woman) Eloisa came up again, it's the bane of her existence, even after all these years. Jacinta says "if a man is unfaithful it's because a woman who acts like a streetwalker crosses in front of him." "Yep, that's what Eloisa did all right, she put herself in front of Nicolas, not because she wanted him but to take him away from me." Remedios shows up with the tea service and screams "Lies! Don't say those vile lies about Eloisa. I'm not going to stand here listening to you slander the reputation of an innocent woman, a woman who is dead!" "Oh, she didn't have the least little scruple about putting it in front of a married man. My huband!" Jacinta interjects that clearly for Eloisa a man like Nicolas was a means for climbing the social ladder. "Lies!" screams Remedios. "Do you know when Nicolas began to hate Eloisa? It was when he realized that a poor and lower class woman like her didn't want anything to do with him." MM says that's a total lie. Remedios adds that she has no doubt it was Nicolas who spread the lies and gossip that led to Eloisa's bad reputation. Jacinta says that Eloisa worked hard to earn her own bad reputation. She allowed herself to get pregnant by that out-of-towner, remember??? Remedios answers that Eloisa's only mistake was being in love.

Back at the museum Baldomero is giving Veronica the tour when Andres happens by. Uh oh...someone with a mirror walks by we see that it's that blond slut Vera, not Veronica, who is up at bat. Vera-nica looks in the mirror and likes what she sees. She invades Andres' personal space and insists he join them. She keeps grabbing his arm and he keeps brushing her off. She sends Baldo off to get her some hot chocolate so that she can try to crawl into Andres' clothes while he's still wearing them. She keeps rubbing him and saying "don't you find me attractive?" Baldo with the hot chocolate listens at the door while Andres gets mad at her and stalks off. She follows him outside and hears the crazy tornado in her head as she turns back into Veronica. Baldomero is pissed at her.

The Unibrow family is outside their hotel ready to leave Aguascalientes. Andres finally shows up and they ask him where in the heck he's been. "Where are we going?" he asks. "What world are you living in?" Unibrow asks. "We're returning to Ensenada according to our plan." Andres doesn't want to go, he has to talk to Valeria. Nutria tells him to telephone her. They grab him and walk toward their taxi.

Labels: barrera

UPDATE: QUICKIE RECAP

OK, so feeling a bit guilty about not recapping Tuesday's Barrera, here is a quickie...

Maite is reading the poetry book when the guy who left it at the cafe shows up to get it. They like each other. His name is Ulises Santillana. He lets her keep the book as a loan and hopes they can get together for coffee. (This guy is much better than Pancho who has unnaturally white and even teeth.) Later in her room she reads some poetry and absolutely ruins the mood by fantasizing about Unibrow. It's a totally gross fantasy with big head shots of him laughing. Scary.

At the wine competition El Gordo and Unibrow win the gold medal. They're happy and talk really fast. At the Valladolid table Veronica acts stupid and giggly with Federico.

Later that night Valeria sneaks out to meet Andres and Juanita stays in her bed as a decoy.

Federico and Jacinta are doing paperwork when Valeria runs in screaming about a scary spider. This gives her the opportunity to shake her bootie in front of Federico. After she leaves Jacinta says that Valeria reminds her of that no-goodnik Magdalena who nearly ruined her son Adolfo.

Jacaranda pumps Maite for info about Veronica...does she remember much about her childhood in the brothel? She's trying to find out if Veronica remembers when that slimeball Rafael strangled Magdalena. We find out Jacaranda's husband is old and sick. How convenient for her.

The Bickersons (Jacinta and Remedios) have another one of their "conversations." This time Jacinta tells Remedios that Federico is more like her own son than the son of Remedios. Jacinta gets creepy and talks about the hand of God laying waste to her enemies. Remedios says that she sounds like some kind of prophet or something, does she really think she can predict God's will?

Valeria connects with Andres at the hotel. Juanita hides under the covers when Jacinta comes in looking for Valeria. The decoy works. Later Andres and Valeria stand directly in front of the Hacienda gate, wearing white so as to be more visible in the dark, kissing and saying they love each other. They plan to meet the next day. After Andres leaves she nearly gets spotted by Federico, but she manages to successfully sneak back into her room.

Maite dreams about Pancho with the gleaming teeth, then Ulises (my vote), then decides that she doesn't have time for men, she has to concentrate on her children.

The boys Daniel and Andres fantasize about the girls, Valeria and Juanita giggle about the boys, it's cute.

Jacaranda recalls Magdalena's murder and drops a glass. Veronica starts to remember her childhood in the brothel. She remembers that her mother was a prostitute.

In the morning Valeria goes out riding on Jacinta's favorite horse, Archangel, who is apparently high-spirited and dangerous. She meets Andres. (At last, a man who looks good on a horse!)

Maite and Veronica talk on the phone. Maite almost lets slip that she knows people in the household but she successfully backpedals and Veronica doesn't catch on. Veronica says everybody there is nice except Jacinta who is odd. Maite tells Veronica to stay out of Jacinta's way. Veronica, bored, wanders around the house, stops in front of Adolfo's portrait, and gazes at it.

More on Thursday...

Labels: barrera

Now it's Pancho dreaming of Maite! He says it was love at first sight. He wonders why Victor hasn't conquered her. He shows up with flowers; she brushes him off, but says they can be pals. He, poor deluded soul, later tells his friend, "we'll start out as pals but then oo-la-la!"

Here is the murderer of Veronica's mother Magdalena, plotting with the wife of Don Eduardo. Don Eduardo is feeling worse every day. Soon she will be a widow and inherit everything! But she's worrying about Veronica, who perhaps as a baby saw something during the unfortunate murder of her mother, being back in Mexico. He suggests an "accident" could befall Veronica, but this woman thinks that might be too coincidental and might lead to investigation - "first the mother gets clocked, and then the daughter's tennis shoes get hung up?" (Meaning she was murdered.)

At an organically-grown-grapes wine tasting, Daniel coughs. Andres asks him a favor: go to the hacienda and pass a message along to Valeria to meet Andres at the wine-tasting that night! Daniel is executing this request, talking with Juanita, when Jacinta comes along; Juanita covers, saying Daniel is there to see her. Later in this same visit Federico surprises Jacinta in Daniel's company. He grabs her roughly and tells her not to bring her lovers to the hacienda. She denies all, stoutly. "Then why were you so nervous?" He threatens: "you wouldn't want your father and brother to have to pay for the broken plates."

There are several scenes of Maite talking with Victor about his being gay. He never told Veronica, and he never told his longtime friend Pancho - in fact, way back when Victor even had girlfriends. Maite tells him he's been an excellent father to Veronica.

Rodrigo tells his pal Omar he's not really interested in Valeria, but he'll win her for sport. Omar thinks he's playing with fire.

Remedios presses Valeria not to go after the toreador, but to stick with Rodrigo. Valeria isn't interested - there's something wrong with his character - even when they were kids he was pulling the wings off flies and throwing lizards into the fire. Veronica, listening and sort of sticking herself and stroking her palm with a huge sharp knife, says it sounds like Rodrigo needs a shrink.

Jacinta told Maite on the phone that if she tried to contact Valeria, Valeria would be told "the truth" about Maite. "All that matters is Valeria's happiness," Maite muses.

Valeria made a delicious meal, and the heavy-handed script has Veronica exclaim: "Why you could be my mother's (Maite's) daughter, you are so good in the kitchen." "Yes, she has always liked to cook." Later: "This sort of thing is inherited." Jeesh.

The girls decide to go to the cemetery to put flowers on Valeria's father Adolfo's grave. Federico insists on accompanying them. In front of Adolfo's tomb, the heavy-handed script has Veronica (also Adolfo's daughter) get all sad, ... "I don't know why." Also, Federico, while flashing back to murdering Adolfo, says he's getting all emotional because Adolfo was like a brother to him.

Daniel tells Andres he likes Juanita. Juanita tells Valeria she likes Daniel; she also passes on Andre's message about the wine-tasting.

Some padre is sucking up to Jacinta and gets her to agree to go to the big fancy international Maldonado Brothers international, did I mention it was international?, wine-tasting that night. With the ultimate aim of getting her to put money into the expansion of winemaking in Mexico.

The girls ask Jacinta if they can go to the fair. She says of course not (after criticizing Valeria's scanty blouse), but they have to go to the fancy international wine-tasting. Since that's what they wanted to do anyway, they are happy, which makes Jacinta suspicious.

El Gordo and Andres talk their way in the back entrance to the bullfight and for several blissful minutes nobody says anything.

Another customer flirts with Maite, and leaves his book of poetry. She is reading it aloud, later, when he comes back for it. She kind of likes him.

Well, look who's at the wine-tasting, it's Unibrow, Nutria, and El Gordo, and Daniel and Andres! At another table, Manola, her cuckolded husband Zamora, and her mother. At another table, Jacinta, Federico, the girls, and Rodrigo (discreetly drooling down Valeria's back). Andres sees the drool and goes off to sulk. Valeria sees Andres leave and wants to go after him, but Jacinta says "everybody has to stay seated." How bossy can you get?

A suave honcho of the international wine-tasting, Jose Maldonado, comes up to Manola, her mom and her dad (who finally arrived). It turns out he is "the" Jose who fell in love with Eloisa, left her pregnant with Maite, and "never came looking for her." He is stunned to hear Eloisa is dead and staggers off. All agree that after his dastardly behavior he does not deserve to know he has a daughter.

Labels: barrera

Permalink posted by melinama @ 4:49 PM 7 comments

Hi,

I fell asleep watching Barrera last night. Luckily I taped it. I'll watch and recap later today. Univision, save us! Send us something worth watching!

Labels: barrera

Barrera, 19 May

[I saw the hamburger!] Andres makes his bullfighting debut against what appeared to be a mangy calf with no horns but I guess that is a training bull. Anyway, there were lots of “Ole’s.” Valeria watched dreamily, Veronica turned into Vera and watched seductively and Jacinta wants to know who this kid is.

Maite meets Victor’s high school buddy, Pancho. He inherited a fruit and vegetable business. “Are you a couple?” he asked Maite & Victor. “No,” she says.

At the post bullfighting gathering, everyone congratulates Andres except for Jacinta who refuses to shake his hand, suggests that he crashed the party and points out that one mangy calf does not a great bullfighter make.

Back at Victor’s restaurant, Victor indicates that he would like Maite to be more than a friend even though he knows that she will love Unibrow forever. She is not interested, however.

The slimy Rodrigo tells Remedios that he has a thing for Valeria and is upset that she is not reciprocating. Remedios seems a little surprised when Rodrigo says that sooner or later he will make Valeria, “entrar en cintura”, or “make her submit to him,” a rather un-lover like sentiment.

Maite regrets never having told Veronica about her daughter, Valeria. Victor points out that in the first years after Magdalena died, Veronica was very unstable, didn’t have any friends and only played with her dolls – Vera and Violeta. But with love and understanding, she got better. “There will be an appropriate time for you to tell Veronica about your daughter,” says Victor.

Andres’ performance in the ring (or whatever they call where you do a bullfight) has convinced Don Marco of his talent. He gives Andres his card that will get him into another bullfight on Sunday. Andres is very grateful and swears that he won’t disappoint Don Marcos. He declines an invitation to Jacinta’s party. He needs to find his family.

Valeria refuses a drink from Rodrigo at Jacinta’s reception and Jacinta chews her out for being rude. Grudgingly, she takes the drink. We hear the Veronica-personality-changing music and Vera appears.

Manola doesn’t like the way Federico is treating Rodrigo. She thinks someone might guess that Rodrigo is Federico’s child. Federico says that they are just acting like friends and oh by the way, your cowboy hat and boots turn me on. They appear to be about to do it in the bushes when Gustavo appears and wants to know what they are talking about in this secluded place…

Having escaped from the party, Valeria tells her two friends that she is glad to be free of Rodrigo. Vera-nica says that it was strange that Andres left the post-bullfight gathering without saying goodbye to anyone. Juanita says that it was a good thing because Dona Jacinta is never going to approve of an apprentice-bullfighter as a boyfriend for her granddaughter. Valeria looks pained.

Manola and Federico once again convine gullible old Gustavo that there is nothing between them [how many times does he have to catch them together before the “we’re just old friends” doesn’t work anymore?] Gustavo gets a phone call from Unibrow. They arrange to meet the next evening at some wine event.

Jose and his sister and the other guy are in Aguascalientes for the fair. It is the first time the sister has been in the city and we get some tourist information. Jose has a flashback to when he met Eloisa. He says that he needed to come to Aguascalientes to confront his past.

Unibrow, Nutria & Daniel are in a restaurant and Andres comes in. He is very happy and he lets them believe this is only because he reconnected with his girlfriend.

More tourist stuff about the chuch in Aguascalientes.

Now it comes out that what Juanita said about Andres not being good enough for Valeria was a cunning plan on Juanita’s part to lull the suspicions of Jacinta and Veronica, who Juanita does not trust.[Those ‘indigenas’ can be very clever.] “No one should know about you and Andres,” says Juanita, “or they will put a big pile of stones in the road. (Te van a echar un monton de piedritas en el camino.) We would say, ‘put roadblocks in your way,’ I guess. Valeria nods but you know she doesn’t really get it.

Jacinta tells Remedios that she can’t believe that Valeria is attracted to that boy. “He’s young and handsome and she’s just a young girl,” suggest Remedios but Jacinta isn’t having any. She shouldn’t forget that the blood of “that woman” runs in Valeria’s veins along with the great Valladolid blood so who knows what she might do. “I won’t let Valeria be like her mother,” says Jacinta, “to prevent that, I’ll break (domar) her.” Remedios is shocked that she would refer to her granddaughter like an animal. “Very often, people act like animals,” responds Jacinta. “They let their carnal desires rule and they have to be treated like animals in that condition.” From now on she will keep a close eye on Valeria and the bullfighter is not permitted to enter the house.

Andres tells El Gordo about his initial success as a “torero” but he is upset that he had to leave the reception without saying goodbye to Valeria. El Gordo says that women don’t like to be neglected so he had better fix that.

Maite wanders around her apartment consumed with anxiety about what is happening at the hacienda. [This is the second time I have noticed that outside her window there is a thunderstorm behind the big domed building. Presumably, this was shot in a studio and they just project that outside the window.]

Valeria is outside dreaming of Andres and wondering why he left her without saying goodbye. As if summoned by her thoughts, Andres appears. He explains that he couldn’t let the day end without explaining to her why he left the reception so suddenly. She warns him that it is dangerous to be at her house. They kiss. Andres says that although he has only just met Valeria, he knows that he will love her forever. Valeria urges him to leave before her grandmother catches him there.

Maite decides to call the hacienda. Remedios answers the phone but Jacinta picks up the extension. Maite asks about Valeria and Jacinta breaks in saying, “How dare you call my house!” She warns her never to call again saying that she has only told Valeria that her mother left their home but if Maite persists in trying to contact her, Jacinta will tell her the ‘truth’ about her mother and the only person that will harm is Valeria. Jacinta summons Remedios and accuses her of telling Maite that Valeria was here on vacation since how would she have known otherwise? Remedios denies it, of course and Jacinta makes the same threat to tell all to Valeria if Maite continues to try and contact her.

At dinner, Unibrow looks at Nutria and sees Maite. Once again, she says, “What’s wrong, honey? Are you worried about Andres?” [Maybe Unibrow shouldn’t have married someone who looks like Maite. This seems to be turning into a serious psychological problem.]

The 3-V’s have a chat at the mirror. Violeta says that Vera shouldn’t not try to hurt Valeria by taking Andres for herself. Vera says that she doesn’t care about Valeria and she is going to win out over the other personalities. She goes to bed fully clothed and wearing lipstick, saying that she will get Andres and Rodrigo and maybe Federico too but first Andres.

Victor brings Maite coffee in the morning and she says that she couldn’t sleep all night. Victor says, “Whatever made you decide to call the Valladolid hacienda?” Maite now thinks that she should make up some excuse and have Veronica come home. Victor says, “Why do you want to have her give up her vacation?” Then Maite says that she feels guilty that she and Veronica have prevented Victor from having his own life. He says that it was his choice.

Veronica wakes up and wonders why she went to bed in her clothes. She doesn’t understand why she is wearing lipstick either. [Evidently, Vera & Violeta are aware of each other but Veronica doesn’t know about them.]

Making breakfast, Valeria tells Juanita that Andres was at the hacienda the previous night. He loves her. She loves him and they kissed. Juanita advises her to proceed carefully since her grandmother is accustomed to getting her way in things.

Andres is in the bullfighting museum dreaming about his future.

Nicolas and Federico present some investment opportunity to Jacinta. They says it is as safe as putting the money in a bank [so you know that very soon all the money will be lost]. Jacinta is distracted with worry about Valeria and the upstart torero. In his bootlicking way, Federico says that he will watch out for Valeria but Nicolas says that Rodrigo will keep and eye on her. Rodrigo is attracted to Valeria already and wouldn’t it be wonderful if they married and brought the families together. [I guess Rodrigo and Valeria are second cousins, they share a grandfather – Pedro.] After Jacinta leaves, Federico says how much he would like Rodrigo to marry into a good family like the Valladolids. Nicolas says that Rodrigo comes from a pretty good family himself: Linares and Zamora (Gustavo’s family). Federico says, “Rodrigo is Linares for sure but Zamora…” He chuckles nastily. Nicolas warns him against saying anything. Dona Jacinta wouldn’t like knowing that Federico was fooling around with Manola when she was engaged to Adolfo.

Labels: barrera

Maite, high priestess of tears and sobs, is having a one-on-one with the Blessed Virgin. Ave Maria is playing in the background in order to intensify the mood. Maite in words and flashbacks, recaps the sad history of how she lost her daughter and Unibrow, the love of her life. She feels that by losing her daughter she has suffered as much as if she were on the cross, losing Valeria was like losing her soul, it was like having her heart ripped out of her chest. Then she begs pardon because she has had many wonderful people in her life, Veronica (three for the price of one) and Victor for example. She thanks God for the few years she had with Valeria..."then all of a sudden she turns up in my room. Help me, help me, Madre, give me strength to carry this burden in silence."

There is a couple at the Feria, brother and sister of Jose (wronged by Eloise) I believe, buying a hideous, green 60's vase. It is the kind of thing that kids make by pasting scraps of paper onto something. The wife gets on the guy's case for flirting with the salesgirl who could be his granddaughter. A couple of townswomen who look like transvestites come up to gossip with them.

Veronica finds Vera's clothes in her suitcase and wonders whose they are. "I wouldn't buy anything like this," she thinks. She pulls out a note from Andrés, "el guaposta", that she is supposed to give to Valeria. Then she hears a crazy tornado-in-the-head noise and sees Me, Myself and I in the mirror. Violetta says "don't come between Valeria and Andrés", slutty blonde Vera sounds very Macbethian as she commands "Largate, largate." I don't know if she is telling Vera to clear out or telling Veronica to "release herself" to her bad side. At any rate, Vera wins over Violetta.

Maite, not wanting the world to know she has been crying, applies more, more, and more eyeliner on her already heavily-painted eyes.

Andrés is being teased by El Gordo and his brother Daniel. El Gordo is slightly obsessed with Andrés' love life and accuses him of being hit by cupid's arrow. Andrés, unlike every other man in the world, is staring at his phone waiting for Valeria to call.

At the hacienda Valeria and Juanita wonder why Veronica is wearing make-up and a different hair style all of a sudden. Vera/Veronica gives Valeria the telephone number of Andrés. Of course we know she has deliberately written down the wrong number and when Valeria calls there is no such person as Andrés there. Vera-nica tells Valeria no biggie, that's how all guys are. Valeria grabs the flowers that he gave her in the market and runs off with Juanita in pursuit. Vera-nica thought bubbles, "Poor Valeria, after he meets me she won't stand a chance!"

Nutria and Unibrow are in Aguascalientes on a walking tour. For the past 17 years he has been having flashbacks of Maite and Nutria has been asking him "are you OK?" Guess what, Unibrow has a flashback, Nutria asks him if he's OK, he claims he's fine, then to prove his guilt he immediately buys her flowers. Idiot.

Victor asks Maite if she is feeling better. She says yes, after praying she feels oddly tranquil. She doesn't know why but she knows that little by little she will find a place in her daughter's heart.

Juanita tells Valeria that there has to be a good explanation for Andrés giving her the wrong number. They decide to go back to the Feria to look for him. They are all giggly and excited until Jacinta shows up and demands to know where they are going.

Commercial Break: Super Especial starring Lucero from Alborada! See Lucero try to sing as a child, as an adolescent, during her Olivia Newton John phase, and even as an adult. Don't miss it!

Back at the hacienda we are seeing first hand what a sheltered life Valeria has led...she actually tells Jacinta that she and Juanita are going to the Feria to look for a boy! Sheesh. It's that boy they met, the one who gave her flowers in San Marcos. "Don't be stupid! Don't forget that lovely boy Rodrigo is coming to eat with us. Come along!!" Jacinta spits. Of course they dutifully follow her.

Unibrow is explaining the details of a bullfighting bronze statue to Nutria. He has a flashback to when he worked at the hacienda and he was doing some sort of favor for Jacinta and Adolfo.

Jacinta, in order to divert Valeria's attention from that damn "chavo" Andrés, has arranged an outing to "una tienta", "trial of the bulls", or bullfight. And guess what??? Charming Rodrigo will be there! She explains the lovelier aspects of bullfighting, and simply everybody will be there.

Daniel teases Andrés about moping around waiting for the phone to ring. It rings! It's not Valeria but Mario...there is a spot for Andrés to try out his skills in an upcoming bullfight.

Federico and Rodrigo are at the hacienda snickering like a couple of schoolboys as to how Rodrigo can suck up to Jacinto by conveying the image of the perfect gentleman at tomorrow's bull festivities. Poor Federico is so smitten by Rodrigo (whom he recently discovered is his son) that he cannot even see the obvious...news flash to Federico, your son is a slimeball!

That uber-creep Rafael (the guy who strangled Magdalena) shows up at Victor and Maite's restaurant. It's all hand-shakes and back slaps. The reunion continues when Elvira and Jacaranda and some blonde shows up. Jacaranda asks about Veronica and when Maite says she's in Aguascalientes on vacation Rafael gets all twitchy and bug-eyed.

Vera-nica hears that darn tornado in her head and once again Violetta and Vera argue about Veronica. Later, Veronica wakes up from a deep sleep not remembering going to bed. She looks at herself in the mirror and cries, "No, no, not red lips again" as she smears her lipstick off.

Victor the hunk is in the gym pumping iron, (and yes I did hit rewind one or five times), when some guy comes in who recognizes him. Apparently they went to secondary school together. His name is Pancho Rivera. Victor later introduces him to Maite. Later still Maite and Elvira are talking about Maite's concern about both Veronica and Valeria together at the hacienda.

The Unibrow family and el Gordo are dining together. Daniel keeps calling Andrés "flaco" (skinny) and asks him why he's not eating. El Gordo puts on a goofy french accent and says "love always gets in the way of an appetite." Andrés wanders off and hopes to impress Don Franco.

The final scene is in the bullfighting ring. Naturally Jacinta and her clan have box seats. I think she is sitting next to Don Franco. First the horses come out and do their stunts. Rodrigo is bored and slouching a lot. All of a sudden down in the ring someone makes the sign of the cross in the dust with the toe of his boot. Camera pan up, up, up...oh dear. It seems the director has decided that this actor's family jewels will not do for the closeup. Quick, somebody grab a braunschweiger!! What?? No braunschweiger? Then get him a big pair of gym socks, or maybe a hamburger, or maybe one of each! Now stuff all of it down into his pants making sure the bulge looks EXACTLY LIKE socks or a hamburger, but definitely not like male anatomy. There, that's much better, now on with the show...

Valeria recognizes Andrés and is smitten. Everybody sees it. Rodrigo becomes a bit jealous. I wonder what he's go up his sleeve? Valeria grabs a flower from her table, calls to him, and throws the flower down to him. He places it inside his jacket close to his heart.

In the preview of coming attractions Maite calls Remedios and Jacinta listens in on the coversation.

Labels: barrera

Checking the ESMAS sight I see that the guy who plays Federico (Alexis Ayala) and the girl who plays the older Juanita (Ana Brenda) are in a relationship that started during the filming. Also Felipe Alvarado of Alborado was on after the show last night. Looks like he wears his hair long in his real life too. I thought his hair was ok but it was the white suit that threw me off. Did he wear white because he was in Miami? In support of Miami Vice?

Wednesdays episode was mainly a beautiful tourist brochure of the history of San Marcos and the state of Aguacalientes. We got to hear a lecture by Remedios about the painters of murals and age of the buildings in the town (the town is some 450 years old). Evidently the San Marcos Fair is a time of great festivities and fun. The time of the fair (an annual event) is what brings all the characters to the same place at the same time.

Another history lesson was how boys and girls would circle the "Famous garden of San Marcos". The boys would circle one way while the girls would go another. If a boy saw a girl he fancied he would give the girl a bouquet of flowers. Then the boy would wait to see if by the next pass the girl had kept the flowers or if she had gotten rid of them. If the girl kept the flowers then the boy would take that as an opportunity to get to know the girl. I thought this was a very sweet old tradition. This tradition is used by the novella producers to explain how Andres and Valeria meet each other and through memory bubbles, to show how Maite met Luis Antonio while Maite was circling the park with her Aunt.

Speaking of memories we also learn that Maite was given an expensive, beautiful diamond necklace from her mother that was given to her mother from her father. Maite bemoans how her life would have been very different had her father not deserted her pregnant mother. In addition Maite has hopes to one day give the necklace to Valeria. While Maite discusses this necklace we meet three new characters, one being Jose, the man who left Maites mother. According to the new characters Jose greatly loved Maites mother, Eloise, and has never loved anyone else. Jose is shown still wondering why Eloise left him, and thinking how different his life would have been had she not stood him up. (Another couple has been accidentally torn apart.) The other two new characters are the brother and sister of Jose who complain about how Eloise hurt Jose.

Wednesdays episode opens with Andres spilling a tray of drinks on a man who is eating dinner with Don Miguel Franco. Don Miguel owns a large ranch that raises bullfighting bulls, a good vineyard, and is a famous bullfighter or bull aficionado. Andres pretends to be a waiter to get close to the man so he can enlist the mans help in his quest to be a bullfighter. Don Miguel says he will watch Andres bullfight. Andres is thrilled with his luck.

Rodrigo is slimmy! He arrives at Jacintas hacienda bearing a gift and flowers for Valeria. All three girls, Jacinta and Federico are all sitting around a dinning room table talking. Federico tells Rodrigo to sit down, that he is almost a son in this house. (Rodrigo never takes his cool sunglasses off!) He flirts with all the girls in particular Veronica. Good play on words Federico is doing, too bad Manola wasnt there to hear his comments.

The girls continue socializing with Remedios, Jacinta and Federico when Veronica remembers she needs to call home and let her parents know she has arrived at the hacienda. Veronica calls Maite and talks to her. While they are talking Veronica hands the phone to Jacinta to have the parents introduce themselves. Maite freaks out and hands the phone to Victor. Jacinta asks who she is talking to and says she thought Veronica was talking to her mother. Victor covers for Maite and says there was something burning in the kitchen. Close call!

Luis Antonio tells Nuria that he never talks about his past. There is some reason he dislikes bullfighting but he doesnt say why. El Gordo and Andres talk around the same subject of why Antonio dislikes bullfighting without explaining why Luis Antonio dislikes it.

Juanita and her family discuss how Rodrigo is a bad guy. Evelia says that she thinks Rodrigo is a good person in the bottom of his soul. The brother of Juanita talks about how he likes Veronica. Their father (I forget his name) says that there is a lot of discrimination against indigenous people and he advises his children to not feel bad when others are racist, but not go outside their class to date. They also talk about how they are working with El Gordo to produce wine without pesticides and of the highest quality. They speak a little Nahuatl.

Rodrogo walk up when Valeria is meeting Andres in the Jardin. Veronica is also there as herself. Rodrigo tries to send Andres away but Juanita and her brother walk up and help difuse the situation. Andres gives his telephone number to Veronica so she will give it to Valeria. Later back at the hacienda Rodrigo asks Veronica to not give the number to Valeria. Veronica acts offended that he has asked her to do this and runs off.

The last thing I want to add about Wednesdays show is that I laughed every time I saw the aged characters like Victor and Maite with their glasses on.

Labels: barrera

Sorry everyone. I screwed up on recording tonight's episode of Barrera and didn't record it, nor did I see it! I checked the esmas site and is it true that Maite discovers that Valeria is her daughter??? Man, the only time something happens and I have to miss it. So somehow Valeria tells Maite she's from Aguascaliente. What does Maite do? Anything? It sounds like Valeria doesn't know she's Maite's daughter, right?

I'll try to do Thursday night's episode.

Sorry!!!

Labels: barrera

Hello friends! I have to admit I haven't watched the show since I last blogged it (two weeks ago) and now everybody is 17 years older and they look great! I wish I aged so little in 17 years!

By the way, tonight the show started at 9:25 and ended at 10:25, so if you are trying to use Tivo be careful!

We are now up to the episode which was December 14, 2005, in the esmas recaps.

• Juanita is telling Valeria she is proud to have Indian blood, Valeria says sometimes it's a hindrance, Juanita says "Thanks to Granny Serial-Killer Jacinta I lack for nothing." Veronica comes up, surprised to see them: their flight was cancelled. Veronica's trip turns out to have been an invention, so Valeria once again invites her to go to Aguascalientes with them; when she realizes all expenses will be paid, she happily accepts.
  
  
• At the hacienda, Remedios and Teodoro are moping that the girls' flight was delayed. Granny Serial-Killer comes in and barks at Teodoro, "Get out of my chair!" and asks Remedios: "Why did you let him sit there?" Jacinta makes fun of them for caring that the flight was delayed, Teodoro innocently says: "That's just the way it is when you love somebody." "Are you implying I don't love my grand-daughter?" frostily inquires Jacinta.
  
  
• Manola and Federico, hiding under a viaduct, have the exact same conversation I guess they've been having every single day for seventeen years. "You better get out of here before my son or my husband catch you." Federico's been trying to get Manola's dad, Nicolas, to go work for Doña Jacinta. They hear her dad coming and hide, but continue to whisper little nothings about love and money.
  
  The dad sees the cellphones and keys and hears the whole conversation. Federico leaves and the dad scolds Manola. Meanwhile, Federico, having forgotten his keys, comes back in time to hear that Manola doesn't want her dad to work for Jacinta, because it will mean Federico will be around the house more and around Rodrigo more! The dad says, nobody's going to guess about your hanky-panky with Federico - but she says that's not the problem either - and now - she yells at the top of her lungs - and so Federico hears - that Federico is Rodrigo's father!
  
  The dad leaves, Manola tells Federico her husband would do some slaying if he found out Rodrigo was Federico's son. Federico says, "You oculd have married me instead, we could have lived on the money I made, but you preferred the rich old goat." She points out: "Your son will inherit everything unless the applecart gets knocked over so keep your mouth shut." Federico does a great acting job in this scene, Manola merely twists her mouth into very ugly shapes. Later she sulks and blackmails her father, yet again, into silence: "We'll all be out on the street if Gustavo finds out."
  
  
• Unibrow's sons are discussing Andres's blown opportunity with Don Miguel Franco. Daniel says Andres should go to the San Marcos fair where Mario Zulaico, a successful bullfighter whom they know and who also knows Franco, will be performing; maybe he can help.
  
  
• Victor and Maite peel carrots and eagerly await Veronica's arrival, wonder about her friends, and mull the fact that Valeria and Veronica are both daughters of the slaughtered Adolfo. They agree: "If Adolfo had lived, he would have protected Veronica and Magdalena."
  
  Maite says, "Veronica and I have this in common: if our fathers had been with us, our lives would have been different. It was sad I wasn't important to my father." Victor says he feels a father's responsibility toward Veronica. They cutely get anxious about making a good impression on Veronica's friends, and bald Victor asks, "did I do a good job combing my hair?" Since they don't know whether Veronica has told her friends they are her adoptive parents, they decide to suss out the situation and follow whatever story it seems Veronica has told. The ex-Madam shows up and it's off to the airport!
  
  
• Now we see Unibrow dreaming of Maite even though his own very sweet wife Nuria is so good to him and his boys. She's finally going to be able to visit Aguascalientes with him and meet Gustavo. She asks: "Luis, are you happy with me?" and he gives that horrible answer nobody ever wants to hear: "Uh, why do you ask?"
  
  He tells her she's made him, and his sons, very happy. Then she apologizes, poor Nuria! She feels guilty her baby died. Poor Nuria! Surely she could have done better! Unibrow plants another crummy, insincere kiss on her, moist smacking fish lips. Blegh.
  
  
• Federico, who gets tonight's actual-acting award, seems quite moved to be a father. He remembers times he spent with Rodrigo and thinks: "You and I are the same! I never had a father, but now I am one! My mother was [a slut] like Manola! She probably never even told my father he had a son."
  
  
• Meanwhile we see that Rodrigo is a total horse's ass. He presses drunken, unwanted attentions on a frightened young woman. After she flees, he calls another one: "Hey baby, I've been thinking 'bout you..." Manola waits up in the courtyard for her dreadful, drunken son to come home. They are dressed like twinsies. "You grew up too soon, you're as stupid as your father." "He's not stupid, he loves and understands me."
  
  In the late morning, the grownups sit around discussing Rodrigo's dissolute ways with more or less cheer. "That's just the way boys are." As Rodrigo breezes through on his way to more dissolute activities, his "father" Gustavo asks him to help on the farm. "Oh dad, sorry, I have plans."
  
  
• At the hacienda, a discussion about - what BEDSPREADS to put on the bed? Urracas? That's magpies? Jacinta says, "No, that bedspread's too ostentatious." (???)
  
  The servant leaves and Jacinta snidely observes: "Remedios, you're acting as if Valeria were YOUR granddaughter." Remedios reminds her of all the great things she did for Valeria, and Jacinta reminds Remedios that she was more or less a servant. Blah blah about Valladolid blood and the name dying (since Federico doesn't carry it and Valeria won't pass it along).
  
  Remedios reminds Jacinta that part of their "deal" was that Federico not know he is Don Pedro's son. Remedios rages that Federico has changed so much since Adolfo died. [Adolfo was murdered by Federico, but Remedios doesn't know that of course]. She says, "You've been stealing my son's affection," and complacently Jacinta answers: "Well, you stole my husband's affection." Isn't it unbearable to think of them having this discussion every day for 17 years? Remedios says she and Federico are leaving the hacienda for good. Jacinta says: "You can go, but I guarantee Federico won't leave. I'll tell him the whole story!... Try me!"
  
  
• After the commercial, Maite dreams of Unibrow.
  
  
• Federico goes to see his mother, and yet again browbeats her about telling him who his father was. He more or less calls her a slut and stamps out, then goes and broods (ironically under the huge portrait of his father, Don Pedro). Jacinta comes in and he says: "I'm tired of my mother's martyrdom, she says she's victim of my cruelty but she lies to me." "Parents do the best they can," pontificates Jacinta, "but you're right, your mother was a slut, there are women who have no scruples and seduce married men to satisfy their basest passions." He says he no longer cares who his father was. Jacinta thought-bubbles: "if you knew..."
  
  
• Nuria hurries to get Andres a sweater: "If you're too cold on the airplane, it could be fatal." There is more discussion between the brothers about Andres concealing his plans to be a bullfighter. Andres admits he'll have to tell Unibrow eventually, but he wants to have some successes first.
  
  
• When the three girls find out that Jacinta's chauffeur is having car troubles and that Jacinta would like them to wait in the airport restaurant, Valeria asks if she can go off with Veronica's family instead. (That would be Victor - and Maite, Valeria's actual mother!)
  
  
• Remedios asks Teodoro: "Didn't you ever think it was strange, the way Griselda and your wife got burned up in your house? They had something important to tell me, but then suddenly they didn't have the chance..." He says he was so confused and sad, he didn't know what to think, and there was no investigation...
  
  
• Did you know as a baby Veronica saw her mother murdered? No wonder she's batty.
  
  
• Rodrigo is all over his godmother Jacinta, patting her and making nice. He knows where his bread is buttered. He lies and says he'd like to stay, but he has to go work for his father. When he hears Valeria is on the way home, he suggests he could take her to the fair.
  
  
• Finally, Manola's father offers Federico money to stay quiet about being Rodrigo's father.

Labels: barrera